On Thursday afternoon during NFL live on ESPN, a report from Adam Schefter left us with an answer we’ve been waiting for.
Schefter said that during the NFL combine, the agents of Dallas Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott will “figure out his value at the combine” and then decide what he is worth.
If Zeke refuses anything the team puts in front of him, he could be released.
Adding the video from NFL Live.
Note that Ezekiel Elliott has no more guaranteed money left on his contract and Tony Pollard is a pending free-agent.https://t.co/YPRehOFvcZ
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) February 16, 2023
Ezekiel Elliott has no more guaranteed money left on his contract, and Tony Pollard is a pending free agent. For now, we expect the Cowboys to use the franchise tag on Pollard, whether he would play on it remains to be seen.
Whether it is a pay cut or restructure, Dallas would have to pinpoint a way to lower his cap hit for this upcoming season.
If he were to play tomorrow on the current deal, it would cost the Cowboys $16.7 million against the cap, given the production he has produced the last year and a half, so not worth it.
On Wednesday, I noted three moves the Cowboys can make the get under the salary cap in 2023. Cutting Zeke was one of them. He told the Cowboys he would take a pay cut to stay with the team. A post-June 1st cut would save Dallas nearly $11 million.
The NFL combine kicks off on February 28th and runs through March 6th. That is the window for his agents to get together and see what Elliott is worth nowadays. It sure isn’t $16 million.
What will Dallas do if both sides can’t agree on a number for Zeke to play next season? You better hope Pollard recovers enough to play on the tag. If not, Malik Davis will have to be ready for some action.
The last thing I want the Cowboys to do is to draft another running back. Sure, he will have fresh legs and juice for a couple of years, but let’s avoid getting into the same situation we did with Zeke.
Elliott and his team will come to a number with the Cowboys that will allow him to stay. Zeke has never been the type to hold out in any way (when it has to do with him and not the Collective Bargaining Agreement). We could also see this ending like the Dez Bryant situation.
If Elliott is released, it puts the Cowboys below the salary cap. Doing so would allow them to bring another wide receiver or a No. 2 corner to the lineup next to Trevon Diggs.
nonetheless, we will have to wait another few weeks to see what happens with this Zeke situation. If Dallas doesn’t hit on a number he likes, he probably won’t see a much bigger one when testing the open market.
For those people wondering, no Dallas can’t trade him. No team is going to take the rest of his contract. If he got traded a team would pay everything that is left.
I would love to keep both backs again and try it one more time at the right price. Although I don’t see that happening.
Hello Shane! Elliott has stated that he’s willing to take a pay cut to remain in Dallas. I don’t think the Cowboys are really concerned with the fact that he’s willing to take less money. His productivity has declined steadily since he signed that massive contract. Kellen Moore didn’t help Elliott’s case with his horrible play calling. That said, there’s some good running backs in this upcoming draft. Robinson and Gibbs are day one starters. Since Dallas may be interested in a running back, the other 31 teams will want running backs too. But just like Denver taking Patrick Surtain only because they knew the Cowboys was interested in him. Their selfish nonsense landed Micah Parsons in Dallas where he would go on to be defensive rookie of the year. I expect something similar will happen this Spring and Dallas will land a Super Star by accident because some team was trying to one up them.
The article states that “Zeke has never been the type to hold out in any way.” Zeke literally held out to get this very contract that he is potentially going to get cut over now.
I should have added context. Jerry Jones and the owners agreed to that CBA years ago that allowed players to seek a new contract after three years. They added a extra year to his contract back in 2019 to try and lower the cap hit, and then Zeke said I’ll play the exact same game.
It was a tug of war type deal, the owners allowed him to search for a new deal, if that wouldn’t have happened Zeke himself In my opinion wouldn’t have held out at all.
The time has come that EE and TS need to saddle up ride off into the sunset ! They both have served the Cowboys well and need to realize that the time has come to call it a career and take care of themselves!! By the way to all the eagles fans out there that love to get on this Cowboys message board…. Cry Eagle’s Cry!!
Right On My Man!!!! Let the Eagles and their ignorant fans wallow in that devastating loss throughout the off season and longer if possible!!!!