Saquon Barkley Addresses Ezekiel Elliott Situation With Cowboys

New York Giants star running back Saquon Barkley has weighed in on Ezekiel Elliott and his contract situation with the Dallas Cowboys. Barkley was recently at the NFL 100 Kickoff event and said that Elliott is the one that makes the Cowboys go.

“I’ve played against [Ezekiel Elliott] two times [last] year, and my teammates that were here before me have played against him two times a year,” Barkley said to the NFL Network via CBS Sports. “If you ask anybody in the NFL that’s played against the Dallas Cowboys, ‘Would you rather play the Dallas Cowboys with Zeke, or without Zeke?’ I think everyone knows what the answer would be. He’s a very important piece of that team.”

Barkley continued and said everyone on the Cowboys rosters important, but he understands have valuable Elliott is and has been the last three seasons.

“No one’s more important than anyone on any team, to be honest,” Barkley added. “It’s just how I feel. I feel like if you want to win a championship, it’s not just one person. Even though one person might get most of the credit, it takes 11 people, but when it comes to paying someone — you don’t just pay them because of the position they play.

“You pay them based upon how valued they are to your team. And I think, in my personal opinion — no disrespect to anyone else on that team — I think Ezekiel Elliott is the most important piece on that team.”

The fact that Elliott is vital to the Cowboys is the reason he is holding out for more money. It’s likely a deal will get done before the season begins, but it’s likely that Elliott is looking to be the highest-paid running back in the league which is why contract negotiations are still going on.

But what could help the negotiations go faster is if Elliott was in Dallas instead of Cabo according to team owner Jerry Jones.

“Of course, you eliminate…that’s always been the issue with me and my approach to managing the Cowboys. When you cut out people in between the money and the player, we all know that agents, attorneys all have an agenda,” Jones said on 105.3 The Fan this week. “By the way, they are all taking money out of the pie too where they’re there. The straighter it goes from the source to the once receiving it, nine times out of 10 that’s efficient.”

Barkley is looking to be on the same level as Elliott and he’s off to a strong start. In his rookie season last year, the Penn State alum rushed for 1,307 yards and 11 touchdowns while recording 721 receiving yards and four touchdowns.