Zack Martin's 'Appalling' Contract, 'Fresh' Tank Lawrence: Cowboys Camp Notebook
With Dallas Cowboys training camp in Oxnard nigh upon us, how about some quick kicks?
ITEM 1 - Perhaps I am missing something on free agent signings and contract extensions. Just because one guy gets a stupid deal from a stupid team doesn't mean another guy deserves to be paid stupidly too. Right?
I understand that the market for new contracts resets itself but what I don't comprehend is how that automatically means the next guy who's up for a new deal expects to get more than everybody. That can't always be the case can it? The oneupmanship with regard to new extensions can get silly.
ITEM 2 - That being cleared up, it's appalling at how underpaid perennial Pro Bowler and multi-year All-Pro Cowboys right guard Zach Martin is. Who can blame the guy for threatening a holdout? He's set to make $13.5 million dollars next season but the highest paid guard in the NFL is Indianapolis Colts standout Quentin Nelson who's slotted at $20 million!
Now that's a positional market that needs to be reset. Our sense - especially given that the daily fine for missing is $50,000! - is that this thing gets fixed. But we know Cowboys Nation would like this concern off its plate.
ITEM 3 - I saw that Cowboys veteran defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence is reporting to Oxnard early in order to get settled in with his family. With training camp about ready to roll it's exciting to see him as healthy as one can be - he's proclaimed himself feeling "fresh'' - after a decade in the NFL.
The locker room glue guy enters season No. 10 in his memorable career in Dallas. "Tank" gets overshadowed by wunderkind Micah Parsons but he's one of those guys whose attitude, commitment and hard work can be infectious.
ITEM 4 - For those that care about such things, the annual updated "Madden Ratings" are out. It's probably a bit unwise to base your own evaluations on players on what a video game says ... but at least the makers of the game use some pretty good data in coming up with their numbers.
Martin is a 99! Parsons a 97. The aforementioned Lawrence clocks a 90. Not bad for the old man. Maybe Vince Lombardi would laugh at the Madden ratings, but you know who takes it seriously and even gets mad when they feel underrated? The players themselves. (See Diggs, Trevon, who has sworn off the game by, well, swearing.)
ITEM 5 - If you're going to Oxnard - as CowboysSI.com is, with Fish already in place - send me some pics and videos. Just don't forget to get a good view - and not the obstructed-view version being protested about by those poor folks who paid millions for their California homes only to get blocked by Jerry Jones' new practice-field bleachers.
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