Getty Ezekiel Elliott
The update on Ezekiel Elliott is that there is no update.
Now on day 33 of his ballyhooed holdout, the Dallas Cowboys‘ disgruntled running back has yet to receive a new contract offer from the club, which reportedly proposed last week to make Elliott the second-highest-paid RB in the NFL.
The “latest” comes courtesy of ace beat reporter Clarence Hill:
“Cowboys have made no new offer to Zeke,” he tweeted late Tuesday afternoon. “Same offer as before. Same offer from camp. Nothing new last week. Nothing new this week. Nothing new. Not nothing. Nurting. Carry on.”
Hill added: “Zeke made an offer to the Cowboys before holding out that they deemed as too high. They presented their offer. This is where we are and where we have been.”
It’s been a contentious month between the Cowboys and Elliott, who’s angling to overtake Los Angeles’ Todd Gurley as the league’s richest runner. Dallas owner Jerry Jones, to little surprise, has stuck to his guns in negotiations, going so far as to antagonize the two-time Pro Bowler. The club also has enjoyed a breakout from rookie RB Tony Pollard, indirectly prompting the now-infamous “Zeke who?” quip from Jones.
Upon airing his displeasure over the comment (via his agent, naturally), Elliott traveled to Cabo San Lucas for a second time, hunkering down with Pro Football Hall of Famer Marshall Faulk, who put Elliott through rigorous exercises as “the process of getting into football shape is underway.”
“He met the challenge and didn’t puke,” Faulk, who shares an agent with Elliott, told NFL Network’s Rich Eisen on Sunday. “I hate losing money but I did.”
The No. 4 overall pick in 2016, Elliott is entering the penultimate year of his four-year, $24.956 million pact, which included $24.5 million guaranteed and a $16.35 million signing bonus. He’s due just $3.85 million in base salary for 2019.
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Zeke Breaks his Silence … Sort of
On Monday, Maxim magazine published a month-old interview with Elliott, who was broached on a variety of topics, including his future in Dallas. Though he stated a desire “to be a Cowboy for life,” Elliott cracked the door open for his potential departure, citing franchise legend Emmitt Smith as Exhibit A.
“I love playing for the Dallas Cowboys, I love the organization, my teammates. I do want to be a Cowboy for the rest of my life and hopefully that’s a possibility,” Elliott said. “But even Emmitt Smith, the greatest running back ever, ended up going to play a couple of years for another organization. So it’s just the nature of the game, but I want to be a Dallas Cowboy for as long as I can.”
Elliott Reportedly Rejected Latest Offer
Hill’s hearsay carries weight, but if FOX Sports’ Clay Travis is to be believed, there has been something new since last week: Elliott purportedly Elliott turned down the most recent contract offer from the Cowboys, which, ESPN’s Ed Werder reported, would have landed him behind only Gurley (four years, $57.5 million, $45 million guaranteed) in terms of total riches.
“Ezekiel Elliott has turned down the Dallas Cowboys’ offer to make him the second-highest paid running back in the NFL,” Travis said on his Outkick the Coverage show. “Zeke has made an utterly ridiculous decision.”
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