[h=1]Jason Garrett could be final spark, Cowboys' secret weapon to get Ezekiel Elliott deal done before Week 1[/h] [h=2]It's something no one is considering, but they need to when assessing the Elliott situation[/h]
The holdout continues for
Ezekiel Elliott, but there's one angle not many are considering that will likely help fast-forward the conclusion of it.
When the
Dallas Cowboys stood at 3-5 in the midpoint of the 2018 season, the seat beneath head coach Jason Garrett reeked of burning embers. After all, it was Garrett that allowed the employment of offensive coordinator Scott Linehan to grow much too long in the tooth, and that included empowering his mentor to make an offensive overhaul -- despite evidence that showed the opposite should've occurred. Garrett and the Cowboys suffered two black eyes in the process, by way of releasing the team's all-time leader in receiving touchdowns in
Dez Bryant, and making an outright questionable hire in offensive line coach Paul Alexander.
The touted WR-by-committee approach failed miserably -- as did their attempt to first replace Bryant with a $16 million annual payday for
Sammy Watkins before then settling on said ill-advised approach -- and Alexander was fired after only seven games with the club. It took promoting longtime assistant OL coach Mark Colombo in Alexander's place and trading away a 2019 first-round pick to the
Oakland Raiders for Pro Bowl wide receiver
Amari Cooper to right the ship.
Those course corrections saved Garrett's job as the Cowboys went on to win seven of their final eight regular-season games, their second NFC East crown in three years and advance past the
Seattle Seahawks in the Wild Card round to make an appearance in the NFC Divisional Round matchup with the
Los Angeles Rams. Suddenly, Garrett's seat had become colder than a polar bear's toenails, with owner Jerry Jones almost guaranteeing a contract extension was soon-to-come.
Once the Cowboys were defeated by the Rams, however, the team opted to hold off on extending Garrett, and will instead force him to coach for his job this coming season.
This is where Elliott comes into play, and in monumental fashion.
While the team readies for their dress rehearsal against the
Houston Texans on Aug. 24, Elliott has returned to Cabo to continue training after a short weekend trek home to Dallas. The two-time All-Pro is dead set on landing a new contract before he reports to the team, and while talks have been progressive from the outset, the fact is they're still paced a bit slow as key talking points like guaranteed money get hammered out.
The Cowboys contend
they've put a "top-5" offer in front of Elliott, but he's arguably the best running back in the league, meaning their eyeing of
Le'Veon Bell's contract -- that includes $35 million guaranteed -- doesn't mesh well with how team exec Stephen Jones initially proclaimed the starting point for talks with Elliott would be the contract on
Todd Gurley. For reference, Gurley's deal included $45 million in guaranteed money, and that's a $10 million difference not easily shrugged off.
While this all gets worked out, both sides have taken to volleyballing headlines in the media as a leverage-grab -- as has become the norm with
NFL negotiations. While owner Jerry Jones playfully jokes about "Zeke who?" and
Elliott's agents claim to feel disrespected by the gesture, what's being lost in it all is Garrett's stance.
His job is on the line in 2019, and it's not getting off to the best start.
Before a single regular-season snap has taken place, Garrett has a two-time rushing champ -- who is also the center of the team's offense -- threatening to miss games, adding insult to literal injury as wide receiver
Amari Cooper nurses plantar fasciitis in his left foot. Cooper himself refuses to sign his contract offer as well, and even though it's expected he'll participate in Week 1, it's obviously another concern added to Garrett's plate.
A less-than-healthy Cooper may still be impactful, but will he be outright dominant on a bad foot?
That is to-be-determined, but what Garrett does know is Elliott is reportedly in fantastic football shape thanks to his trek to Cabo, and the 24-year-old is starving to get back to football and do damage this coming season. That's exactly what Garrett needs to happen, and it's why he may soon stop whispering in the collective ear of the Joneses and start outright yelling to get a rather clear and obvious point across -- because after making several moves to finally help the offense match serve with the defense, he can't then be put in position to start the season without the most potent weapon on the roster in Elliott.
Even with Cooper having a dominant first few games with the Cowboys in 2018, it was still Elliott whom the team depended upon to carry the ailing offense -- at times to a degree of overkill. Still, the former fourth-overall pick remained durable and available, but the poor scheming by Linehan -- which included removing Elliott from the field in red zone packages or having him present but not utilizing him effectively --
led to an unpublicized contention that eventually mushroomed into the holdout we're all witnessing today.
With Linehan now gone and replaced with a younger, fresh-minded
Kellen Moore, the addition of Jon Kitna as quarterbacks coach and the selection of dynamic flex-back
Tony Pollard, everything is in place for Garrett to command a Cowboys' team that carries an unpredictable and potentially explosive offense.
Without Elliott, however, that plan is sitting on bricks in the parking lot.
Pollard believes he can carry the load as the starter in Elliott's absence, and he's supposed to. His skill set is obvious, but he's meant as a compliment for Elliott -- not a replacement. Elliott remains the best rusher on the team, and the best pass blocker as well, the latter being a category much-needed for a Cowboys' team that can't afford to see
Dak Prescott go down with an injury for any amount of time. Combining Pollard with a newly re-signed
Alfred Morris might be an effective salve for the wound of potentially missing Elliott, but it's much akin to applying gauze to a bullet wound.
News flash: You're still bleeding out, only slower.
The elder Jones understands this fully, despite his negotiating tactics being executed in the media. This is why between snarky comments -- particularly the table-pounding of "team team team"
following the new deal on linebacker Jaylon Smith -- when asked in early August if he was concerned about not getting a deal done with Elliott; his understanding of the running back's value shone through.
"No, I don't consider it," he said. "
When have I ever not done one? So, I don't worry about that."
For Garrett's sake, that braggadocios proclamation from Jones better hold true. It's the same Jones that made it clear this offseason that money is not the issue, however, before suddenly pretending it is in fact the issue. In reality, the Cowboys have $23.9 million in cap space and can approach nearly $100 million in space in 2020, leaving plenty of pie for the top three offensive stars. An extension on Cooper in 2019 would reduce his $13.9 million salary cap hit this season and
free up that much more money for the likes of Elliott, who isn't apt to accept playing contractual second fiddle to Gurley -- a player who also has longterm health concerns regarding his knee.
When push comes to shove in the Elliott holdout, as it is now after weeks of negotiating, you can count on Garrett sitting down with the Joneses to make a case for why he needs Elliott on the field. As it stands, a source has continued to affirm me for weeks the deal will likely get done before Week 1, and that's good news for all involved. Garrett has been in constant contact with Elliott, and he describes their discussions as wholly positive.
For the former, having Elliott is not simply about managing the cap. It's about Garrett's future with the Cowboys and, for him, it's worth upping the offer to make sure the team's big gun is back in the holster before they host the New York Giants on Sept. 8.
Bang.
