Jerry Jones says he’s not concerned that Ezekiel Elliott is “beaching it” in Cabo while the rest of the Cowboys are taking the first steps to prepare for the 2019 NFL season. After all, according to Jones, history shows you don’t need an elite running back to win a Super Bowl.
“That’s one of the dilemmas at running back, is that the league knows that you can win Super Bowls and not have the Emmitt Smith back there or the Zeke back there,” Jones said this week in Oxnard, CA. “The point there is you don’t have to have a rushing champion to win a Super Bowl.”
The numbers back Jones up, technically that is. The last back to win a rushing title and hoist the Lombardi Trophy in the same season was Terrell Davis of the Denver Broncos – all the way back in 1998.
But what that Broncos team also had was a Hall-of-Fame QB in John Elway, as did many of those other last twenty championship teams. Is that something the Cowboys might have as well? That’s the soon-to-be $30 million-a-year question as the Cowboys continue down the negotiating path with Dak Prescott’s representatives, looking to lock up the former 4th-round pick to a multi-year extension.
$30 million a year you say? Seems awfully pricey for a QB that has only won one post season game. But that’s the premium the NFL puts on starting QB’s these days. On the flipside, Todd Gurley and the L.A. Rams have set the bar for running backs with Gurley’s new deal which averages $14,375,000 per year – certainly not chump change, but nowhere close to what QB’s are bringing home (there are 19 QB’s in the league that will make more than Gurley this season).
If you’re discounting the importance of running back on the previous 20 championship teams as Jerry has, you’ll see the QB list reads a bit like a who’s who in the history of the NFL – names like Kurt Warner, Tom Brady, Ben Roethlisberger, Payton Manning, Drew Brees, Aaron Rodgers and Russell Wilson – something Jerry forgot to mention. So raise your hand if you think Dak Prescott belongs in the same sports conversation as those Canton-bound QB’s? No, not yet of course. But then you could argue that the other handful of QB’s that won Super Bowls during that time frame were nothing more than “bus drivers.” Guys like Trent Dilfer, Brad Johnson and Joe Flacco (not sure where to classify Eli Manning to be honest).
But remember, what those Ravens and Buccaneers teams were missing under center was more than made up for on the other side of the ball….all–time great defenses led by Hall–of–Famers like Ray Lewis, Ed Reed, Derrick Brooks and Warren Sapp. The Cowboys have some good young talent on defense, but no one is betting the farm that any of them will be wearing a gold jacket when their career is done.
Whether you believe Prescott is worth a $30 million price tag is irrelevant – he’s going to get paid. If the Cowboys don’t ante up, someone else will when Prescott becomes an unrestricted free agent next year. Zeke, on the other hand, has two years left on his rookie contract, and if he doesn’t report this season that will push back his free agency back another season. So who has the leverage in this standoff? Jerry or Zeke? I guess we’ll find out, but one thing this Cowboys team can’t afford to do is let their best players sit out – unless they want to be sitting out the playoffs this season.
