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Emmitt Smith wasn’t the only Dallas Cowboys legend to broach the Ezekiel Elliott topic during Thursday’s preseason finale.
Appearing on the Cowboys’ television broadcast, Hall of Fame wide receiver Michael Irvin revealed that he personally urged Dallas owner Jerry Jones and vice president Stephen Jones to end the running back’s holdout.
“This is not the time to be milling around,” Irvin said, via CBS11’s Bill Jones. “We need Zeke here right now!”
The message seems to have fallen on deaf ears.
“We want him sooner rather than later, but we’ll take him later,” Jerry Jones said on the broadcast.
Elliott is on Day 35 of his standoff with the organization, centered around becoming the NFL’s highest-paid running back. He appears no closer to reaching that goal than he was at the start of training camp. But the pressure is now ratcheted up with the regular season opener 10 days away.
Jones’ remark, a continuation of what he’s already stated, reads as a posturing maneuver, unwilling to cave to Elliott’s reportedly record-breaking demands.
For what it’s worth, NFL insider Jay Glazer predicted the sides will reach an agreement on a deal that makes Elliott the league’s richest-ever back, eclipsing the $57.5 million in total money Los Angeles superstar Todd Gurley received on his four-year contract.
“Behind the scenes, Dallas has still contended all along with that they believe he will be there for Week One against the Giants,” Glazer wrote, via ProFootballTalk.com. “I think he will. I think they’ll end up getting a deal done that will make him the highest-paid running back in the NFL. I think he’ll be in there for that first game but you never know what turns negotiations take by the day.”
The Cowboys closed the preseason with 17-15 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in which Elliott’s (temporary) replacement, rookie Tony Pollard, did not play.
Dallas kicks off the 2019 campaign on Sept. 8 against the New York Giants at AT&T Stadium.
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Smith Reacts to Zeke’s Hot Take
Earlier this week, Elliott’s silence was indirectly broken when Maxim magazine published a roughly month-old interview with the two-time rushing champ. In it, he cited Smith while floating the possibility of wearing another team’s colors, should a “Le’Veon Bell scenario” unfold.
“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. But even Emmitt Smith, the greatest running back ever, ended up going to play a couple of years for another organization,” Elliott said, noting Smith’s final two years with the Arizona Cardinals. “So it’s just the nature of the game, but I want to be a Dallas Cowboy for as long as I can.”
Smith, who staged a holdout from Dallas in 1993, didn’t question whether Elliott deserves the money — “when you have those caliber of backs on your squad, they’re unique individuals,” he said on 105.3 The Fan, also referencing New York’s Saquon Barkley — but did question Elliott’s comparison.
“My contract was completely up,” Smith said. “It’s not like I broke my contract or tried to get more capital. I did what I was going to do when I came in: I was going to earn the right to get in position to be paid like the highest paid in the league.”
READ NEXT: Marshall Faulk Rips Cowboys for Paying Jaylon Smith over Elliott [WATCH]
Follow Zack Kelberman on Twitter @KelbermanNFL
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