Cowboys contracts: 'Anything I say about Ezekiel Elliott is a negotiation,' Jerry says

Cowboys contracts: 'Anything I say about Ezekiel Elliott is a negotiation,' Jerry says

ARLINGTON - Rumors have been floated in public. Harsh words have been exchanged in public. A joke that the Ezekiel Elliott camp found "disrespectful'' is a headline-grabber in public.

But what is the deepest private truth about Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones' negotiations with “Zeke who?”

“Anything I say,'' Jerry said after Dallas' 34-0 preseason win on Saturday over the visiting Texans, "is a negotiation.”

This isn't to suggest that tempers have never flared; that happened a few days ago when Jerry sharply pointed out that he'd "earned the right'' to joke about the holdout Elliott -- his unspoken reasoning being that when the running back has wobbled into behavioral trouble, he's always had Jones as his guide back onto the field. ... and now, Zeke's holdout is viewed by Jerry as a betrayal of that.

And yet, on Saturday, Jerry worked to paint a familial picture as it pertains to his relationship with Elliott.

"We know each other,'' he said. "We have been in the battles with each other.''

Jones mentioned the name of Michael Irvin as someone with whom he has a parallel relationship.

"What makes this awkward is because we are in negotiations, and so you don’t tell everything because you know you are negotiating,'' he said.

As I write this on Sunday morning, there is no evidence of Elliott having left Cabo for DFW (though that doesn't mean he didn't have a flight booked) and there is no evidence of a deal being "imminent'' (though "imminent'' is in the eye of the beholder and can change in one minute, with one phone call.)

As we reported over two weeks ago, the Cowboys have shown a willingness to pay Elliott like a top-two running back, something in the range of $13 million APY (citing the Rams' Todd Gurley at $14 mil APY as an outlier). Obviously, Elliott has turned that down. Just as obvious, both sides would like to settle this before the Sept. 8 season-opener against the Giants.

“Yes, I’m optimistic that we can get Zeke’s deal done,” Jones said before adding, “I don’t know that (we will). ... But you know, we’re going to play football one way or the other. That’s the way it works.”