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We’ve noticed a few reports over the past few days about the possibility of running back Ezekiel Elliott beginning his senior year with the Cowboys.
Of course he is.
Elliott remains on the list with a $12.4 million fully guaranteed salary simply because the structure of the deal, negotiated during a holdout in 2019, resulted in the 2022 salary being fully guaranteed in 2021. If that payment hadn’t been guaranteed a year before 2022, the Cowboys wouldn’t have paid it.
Starting next year, Elliott’s contract will enter the non-guaranteed season. Surely the Cowboys won’t want to pay him another $10 million in 2023. If he doesn’t agree to repeat his deal, there’s no doubt he’ll be gone.
It’s not news. It’s no surprise. It is obvious. It’s a function of the market at the location.
Tony Pollard will make less than $1 million this year. Next year, the Cowboys will likely be more willing to pay Pollard than Elliott.
Or maybe the Cowboys will just draft someone else like they did after wishing DeMarco Murray well after he set a single-season franchise rushing record in 2014 and drafted Elliott after the 2015 season.