Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones recently made a joke about Ezekiel Elliott's absence from training camp when speaking about the impressive play of rookie running back, Tony Pollard. According to Chris Mortensen, Zeke and his agent Rocky Arceneaux weren't at all pleased with the joke.
During a discussion with reporters on Saturday following the Cowboys preseason game against the Los Angeles Rams, Jones was asked if Pollard was his best leverage in the contract negotiations with Elliott. Jones joked, "Zeke who?" before adding that Pollard would be a great compliment to the star running back.
“If [Pollard] continues this through the next several weeks, that’ll really complement what we’re doing with Zeke," Jones said. “Not replace that, and I mean that. And nobody’s getting cute here. It’ll certainly be a great complement to have a great running game. I can picture those guys in the same sets at the same time out there really giving those defenses fits.”
In regards to Jones' remark, Elliott's agent responded, "I didn't think it was funny and neither did Zeke - we actually thought it was disrespectful."
Check out Jones' full comments in the video embedded below.
The 24-year old running back is entering the fourth year of his five-year rookie contract, and he is reportedly hoping to become the league's highest-paid running back.
As his contract is currently constructed, Zeke is owed $3.853 million this season and $9.099 million on the fifth-year option in 2020, according to NFL.com. If the Cowboys are willing to satisfy Zeke and make him the league's highest-paid running back, they'll need to go beyond the four-year, $57.5 million extension ($14.375M annually) that Todd Gurley received from the Los Angeles Rams.
