Off the field issues aside, Ezekiel Elliott is clearly one of the top running backs in the NFL. The problem for the Cowboys is that he wants to get paid like it.
According to PFT's Mike Florio, Elliott has "privately said that he will hold out of training camp unless he gets a new contract."
Since the Cowboys report to training camp on July 25, this could be a problem very soon.
Meanwhile, Yahoo! reporter Charles Robinson says Elliott hasn't made a decision about a holdout yet.
1. Elliott hasn't made a decision to hold out of #Cowboys camp...yet. But he's absolutely thinking it through and definitely wants an extension in the works. This was going to be a week where he and his people laid out their options and made continued overtures to the Cowboys.— Charles Robinson (@CharlesRobinson) July 15, 2019
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But it's clearly on Zeke's mind. And he clearly wants a contract extension.
For a team that still has to pay Dak Prescott and Amari Cooper - both more pressing since they'll be free agents after the 2019 season - this could be tricky. It's hard to imagine the Cowboys giving Zeke a big contract before figuring out Dak's new deal.
Elliott, 23, might have a problem staying out of trouble off the field, but he creates a whole lot of trouble for opposing teams on it. There's really no denying his talent. In his first three NFL seasons, he has rushed for over 4,000 yards and has over 5,000 in all-purpose yards. Just 11 players in NFL history have more all-purpose yards in their first three seasons.
And because of that success and because he knows the Cowboys will rely heavily on him this season and next, Elliott is trying to maximize his value. He's trying to get some coin in his pocket now before that value potentially plummets because usage or injury. That part makes sense.
The problem for Elliott is that the Cowboys probably don't feel highly motivated to pay him just yet. With his fourth contract year in 2019 and his fifth-year option year in 2020, the Cowboys hold his rights for the next two seasons at cap numbers of $7.9 million and $9 million over the next two seasons. Based on his rookie contract AVY, Elliott is the 10th highest-paid running back in football. That's a steal and based on recent history, no team should be rushing to pay top-tier money for a running back.
Elliott won't become a free agent until after the 2020 season, so I definitely get why he's trying to secure his financial future before the Boys run him into the ground over the next two seasons. He doesn't seem to have a ton of leverage because of how far he is from free agency - he's not going to sit for two years - but we saw how his suspension sort of wrecked the Cowboys' entire 2017 season. Now, the Cowboys are coming off a division title and have serious championship hopes this year; if they're going to be a great team, they're going to need Zeke to do it.
The Eagles don't play the Cowboys until Oct. 20 and it would be pretty shocking if Elliott isn't playing by then. The Birds obviously don't have a running back as good as Elliott, but they have cost controlled options and they already figured out how to pay their franchise quarterback.
The messier this gets for Zeke and the Cowboys, the better it is for the Eagles and the rest of the NFC East.
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