OXNARD, Calif. — In times of stress, Cowboys players head to Cabo. It’s a tradition that goes back to Tony Romo’s infamous getaway during the ‘07 postseason.
Zeke Elliott has reportedly traveled to Cabo, just like he did during his suspension in 2017. His holdout has dominated the early days of training camp, and the Cowboys moved quickly Monday to sign old friend Alfred Morris. This man carried the load during Zeke’s absence in 2017 and he’ll become the de facto starting tailback.
On Sunday, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones threw fuel on the fire by telling CBS 11 Sports, “You don’t have to have a rushing champion to win a Super Bowl.” It was non-subtle posturing from Jones, although it was a bit mystifying since the Cowboys had the league’s rushing champion on all three Super Bowl teams of the 90s. It’s not the worst point you can make. It was simply coming from the wrong man. And I don’t think it will have any impact, negatively or positively, on negotiations.
The Cowboys aren’t built to win big without Zeke Elliott, just like they weren’t going anywhere without Emmitt Smith in 1992. This may be the most leverage Elliott will ever have with the Cowboys, so expect him to chill in Cabo for at least a couple more weeks. The more I think about it, it may be the most sensible holdout we’ve seen in recent years.
I actually think Elliott’s absence has provided a nice opportunity for Jason Garrett to show he can manage the distraction. So far, he’s done a nice job of expressing his support for Elliott while not dwelling on his absence. It’s not like Elliott was going to play much during the preseason, so he shouldn’t require a lot of time to ramp up for the season. The good news for Cowboys fans is that quarterback Dak Prescott doesn’t seem to mind that Elliott might be jumping in front of him in negotiations. Prescott has become the unquestioned leader of this team, and his contract situation has been overshadowed by Zeke’s.
Prescott and Garrett are both going into the final season of their contracts. On Sunday, Stephen Jones shed light on why the Cowboys have allowed this to happen with Garrett. He brought up the fact a similar arrangement worked pretty well in 2014.
“He’s done it before, and he did it well,” Jones said of Garrett while appearing on our Doomsday Podcast. “I just think we want to take this next step. I think he said it best – that everybody’s back is against the wall, whether it’s Jerry, whether it’s myself getting these players signed up here at camp – everybody feels the pressure for this team to take the next step. Everybody wants to say you have a great team and a great roster, you’re making some good strides, but we haven’t been to the championship game and we haven’t been to the big game in a lot, a lot of years.
“Everybody knows that’s the expectation. We’ve got to take that next step. I think that’s where it comes down here, and I think Jason knows that. He understands and it’s not like it’s black and white; there’s always extenuating circumstances. But everybody has high expectations for this team, especially from within the organization.”
What grabbed my attention Sunday was Jones saying this roster reminded him of some of the talented teams from the 90s. He believes it will be extremely difficult to cut players, which hasn’t always been the case. Expect for Jerry and Stephen to put special emphasis on how good the running backs look in this training camp. That can be classified as posturing. But this team isn’t going anywhere without Elliott, and that’s why he may extend his stay in Cabo.
At least this time it’s not Roger Goodell banishing Elliott from his teammates. He’s done this to himself, and he’d probably be wise not to turn back.