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There’s been a lot of speculation over the past few weeks as to whether Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott would report to training camp as he looks for a new contract. We got our answer on Friday when he was absent for conditioning tests.
He didn’t take the team plane to camp on Thursday, but it was noted how players sometimes opt for their own transportation. That wasn’t the case with Elliott, who now looks like a hold out.
Zeke is in the fourth year of his rookie deal in 2019 and the team has already picked up his 2020 fifth-year option. The Cowboys are still working on new contracts for Dak Prescott and Amari Cooper (among others), which means Elliott is lower on their list of priorities.
It remains to be seen how long the star running back is willing to sit out, but Cris Carter is suggesting he should take the Le’Veon Bell route and skip the entire season, and show Jerry Jones and co. exactly how valuable he is to their offense.
"If I was Zeke, I wouldn't play this year. The Cowboys are getting ready to give Dak $25M, Zeke's a lot better than him; they're gonna give Amari Cooper $15-18M, he's better than him. Zeke's mentality should be 'I am your QB! You don't have a season without me.'" — @criscarter80 pic.twitter.com/EL8JwZDrtT
— First Things First (@FTFonFS1) July 26, 2019
Should Prescott, Cooper and Elliott all get the kind of deals they’re hoping for, the Cowboys could have three of the most expensive players at their position. That doesn’t exactly sound like a solid business model, but we all know Jerry Jones tends to do things ... differently.