The Tribune

By INIGO 'NAUGHTY' ZENICAZELAYA

SLOWLY, things are starting to progress positively in contract talks, with sources close to the situation confirming that an offer has been made to Ezekiel Elliott and proposals have been swapped.

RUN FOR THE BORDER

Negotiations are ongoing and happened as recently as Tuesday afternoon, which happens to be around the same time Elliott hopped a plane for Mexico to train.

Elliott’s camp confirmed his goal of being able to train in a focused environment away from possible distraction.

And to be closer to Southern California for a shorter trip when things are finalised contractually.

Don’t forget, Elliott trained in Cabo exclusively during his six-game suspension in 2017, and at the same location, which happens to be owned by his agent.

JERRY JONES POSTURING

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones insists he wants Elliott on the ranch for the long haul, despite his interview with CBS, where he left a few nuggets for the media to devour and spin.

“Well of course, Emmitt had participated in a Super Bowl, being the first rushing champ — now this is very important — first time ever a rushing champion was on a Super Bowl-winning team, the point there is, you don’t have to have a rushing champion to win a Super Bowl.

Emmitt was the first one to do it. That’s one of the dilemmas at running back, is that the league knows that you can win Super Bowls and not have the Emmitt Smith back there, or not have Zeke back there.”

After hearing this I had to question Jerry’s sanity, but wait there’s more.

Jones added :

“Consequently, when we are looking and putting Zeke’s contract in place, we’ve got to realise that the ultimate goal is to win the Super Bowl, and so you have to do all of the things — along with having Zeke — that allow you to have other players so that you can win the Super Bowl. That’s what we’re going through.”

SMOOTH OPERATOR

Now to his defence, you don’t own the richest franchise in all of sports, as well as being a Hall of Famer without being shrewd.

Jones knows how well-timed his comments were with Elliott heading to Cabo.

That scale shifts toward the organisation with each passing day as August 6 rapidly approaches, because Elliott will lose an entire accrued season toward free agency if he doesn’t report to camp by that NFL deadline. That would mean the Cowboys would still own his rights in 2021 if no extension is penned before then, giving them 100 per cent of the leverage at that point.

IT WILL ALL WORK OUT

The channels of communication remain open and both sides are still optimistic a deal will get done, the lone holdup appears to be mostly driven by guaranteed money and some language in the contract offer.

All sides believe it will be ironed out soon.

My fingers and toes remain crossed.

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