Dallas Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones confirmed what many suspected: the team isn’t exactly in active negotiations with Ezekiel Elliott over a new contract.
Jones said that the team’s talks with the running back’s agents are infrequent, but each side knows where the other stands.
“Very rarely,” Jones told Rich Eisen on Wednesday’s broadcast of The Rich Eisen Show. There’s this perception out there about negotiations that there’s these ongoing talks that go on hours at a time, and that’s just not the case. You kind of set the boundaries of where you think it should be, and certainly they’re all represented by very sharp people and they’re trying to do the best for their client. You kind of sit there and you stew on it, you think about it, you’re always trying to think of something that might bridge the gap.”
Jones added that he doesn’t blame the player for the holdout, and that it’s the team’s job to sort out how salary is distributed.
“We’re going to exhaust all energy to get this done,” Jones added.
Elliott is serious enough that he’s already given up a year of credit toward free agency by failing to report by August 6. In fact, there is chatter that his season is in jeopardy if Dallas doesn’t pay up. For now, the two sides are at an impasse, but if the stakes are that high, the Cowboys will want to get something done.
