The Ezekiel Elliott talks with the Dallas Cowboys seem stalemated, but remember one thing.
Jerry Jones caved in to the salary demands of his star running back 26 years ago.
Will he do it again?
Emmitt Smith was holding out in 1993, wanting to top Thurman Thomas as the highest-paid running back in the league, but Jones refused to budge.
That all changed when the Cowboys fell to 0-2 after a 13-10 loss to the Bills.
Jones gave Smith a $13.6 million deal that topped Thurman’s $13.5 million deal, and Smith helped the Cowboys become the first team to start 0-2 and win the Super Bowl. In a 30-13 rout of those same Bills.
“I got what I wanted,” Smith said after signing. “I wanted to be the highest paid running back in the league.”
Unfortunately for Elliott, he doesn’t have the leverage Smith had when the offense was built around him.
It is now a quarterback league, and running backs can be plugged in if a team has the right quarterback.
And the Cowboys aren’t likely to go 0-2 this year. With their first three games against the New York Giants, Washington Redskins and Miami Dolphins, they are likely to go 3-0 going to New Orleans for the fourth game.
And with Tony Pollard looking good in his place, Jones has no need to change his position.
He even joked “Zeke who?” after the game against the Los Angeles Rams last Saturday night.
He quickly added he was just having a little fun and not at Zeke’s expense.
His agent quickly said he and Zeke didn’t think it was funny and added they felt it was disrespectful.
But like he was in 1993, Jones is balking at making Zeke the highest paid running back in the league. Zeke wants to top Todd Gurley’s $57.5 million dollar deal.
So now the only question is what would happen if the Cowboys were upset in their first two games.
Unless that happens – and it is unlikely – Elliott is likely to hold out a long time.