Jaylon Smith has a “clear eye view” of his future but Jerry Jones vision may be distorted.

When the Dallas Cowboys announced a contract extension for one of their core players on Tuesday, most fans expected it to be Dak Prescott, Ezekiel Elliott, or maybe Amari Cooper. Instead they negotiated a Jaylon Smith contract extension one year prior to him becoming a restricted free agent. The deal was worth $64 million over 5 years with $35.5 million in guarantees. Considering how much C.J. Mosley and Bobby Wagner were paid during the offseason, the Jaylon Smith contract was remarkably “team friendly” which is fortunate for the Dallas Cowboys. Now it appears that Jerry Jones expects that his new triplets should follow Smith’s example but is that really a fair expectation?

First of all, let me say that I am elated as a Cowboy fan that the team has secured the services of Jaylon Smith for the foreseable future. Smith is an easy guy to root for. His remarkable come back from a devastating and near career ending injury suffered in his final college bowl game is truly inspirational. Before that injury, Smith was expected to be a top 5 draft pick coming out of college but instead fell to the Dallas Cowboys early in the 2nd round of the 2016 draft. That injury cost him millions of dollars and yet Smith has no regrets about playing in that bowl game. That is unprecedented in an era where many college athletes are choosing to sit out of those games in order to avoid a similar fate. Smith battled back and made a full recovery and has now emerged as one of the best young linebackers in the NFL. Jaylon Smith has a bright future ahead of him. He is immensely talented but also possesses outstanding leadership qualities, an unbreakable positive attitude, is extremely well spoken, and yet he appears to be a truly sincere and humble individual. Jaylon Smith’s dream was to become a Dallas Cowboys and now that his dream is a reality it could not have happened to a more deserving individual.

Happy as I am for Jaylon Smith and for the Dallas Cowboys, the timing and nature of this deal speaks volumes to what is transpiring with the other contract negotiations. Jerry Jones and Stephen Jones have stated that they would like to sign Dak, Zeke, and Amari longterm but that they do not wish to reset the market by maxing out all of those contracts. They have made it clear that in order to keep all three of those players and other stars such as Smith and cornerback Byron Jones, they must operate within the salary cap. On the other hand Dak Prescott and Ezekiel Elliott have made it clear that they are not willing to take a home town discount and would like to be compensated based on fair market value worth.

Dak Prescott is the quarterback and his position demands the highest market value of all. Dak was a fourth round pick and thus was not compensated on his rookie deal on the same level of Zeke and Amari who were both top 5 overall draft picks. Despite his critics, Dak Prescott has played well, led the Cowboys to 2 division titles in three years, and has emerged as the undisputed leader in the locker room. In addition to that, he has towed the company line and said and done all the right things. With Carson Wentz getting a huge contract extension in the offseason despite his injury history and no playoff experience, Dak has a legitimate case to be among the top paid at his position…for now that is. History has shown that being the highest paid does not last long in the NFL, especially for QB’s.

Amari Cooper has kept quiet about his contract but his willingness to wait it out and play out his 5th year option is likely a strategic move on his part to wait until Julio Jones and Michael Thomas get their new deals. In fact Thomas just got paid and reset the market at the WR position with his deal and Julio’s extension may even top that. Just like Dak Prescott benefited by waiting until after the Carson Wentz deal, Cooper and his agent are playing the same game which will only drive his cost up.

The biggest cause for concern is Ezekiel Elliott. Elliott has decided to hold out and make his contract priority. The Dallas Cowboys thought they could buy a little extra time with Zeke thanks to the 5th year option and wait until next year to consider an extension. Zeke and his camp saw the writing on the wall and made the prudent move to hold out this year. The idea is that the desire for Jerry Jones to win now and the small championship window the Cowboys have will play in Zeke’s favor. Despite the negative opinion of most fans, this was probably a wise decision for Zeke who plays the one position in football that has the shortest shelf life and who has taken on the biggest workload of any other back in the league. Elliott wants to be the highest paid running back in the league and for that to happen he has to eclipse Todd Gurley. The trouble is that Stephen Jones once said that the Gurley deal was the starting point for Zeke but then changed his tune after LeVeon Bell settled for less money with the Jets. The Cowboys believe that the Gurley deal was a bad one and are hoping that Zeke will settle for less. Zeke is still under contract and if he misses this season will be forced to play out the last year of his contract before hitting free agency. After that the Cowboys could franchise him for 2 more seasons. It appears that the Cowboys have the leverage in this situation but for one thing. The Cowboys ability to win is compromised greatly with the absence of Ezekiel Elliott. The end result is that Ezekiel Elliott and the Dallas Cowboys are playing a game of chicken and to date no one side has made any indication of backing down.

With the season approaching and no deal in sight for any of those three players, all of sudden the Jaylon Smith contract is negotiated seemingly out of nowhere. In the press conference and the interviews following it, Jerry Jones took the opportunity to steal some of Jaylon’s thunder in order to send messages to his new triplets that he is playing hard ball. Comments regarding benefiting the team, the value of being a Dallas Cowboy, and having less pie to go around were clearly intended for Dak, Zeke, and Cooper. While those things may have some truth to them, it is unwise in my opinion to try to communicate that in such a way to influence public opinion. The problem there is that there is inherent risk in upsetting your players who may then no longer be willing to deal in good faith.

It is dangerous for Jerry to try to compare Jaylon’s situation and use it as a basis for his other star players. In reality, the Jaylon Smith contract has nothing to do with the other three contracts. The circumstances are entirely different. The ”team friendly” aspect of the deal may have been agreed to by Smith in part due to his awareness that he has the opportunity to grow his own brand by being a part of the biggest brand in the NFL which is the Dallas Cowboys. There is without a doubt an advantage to playing on America’s Team in that it leads to greater exposure and more sponsorship and marketing opportunities. Beyond that though is that Jaylon Smith had experienced a near career ending injury that cost him millions of dollars at the onset of his career. Having gone through that experience already, it is understandable that he would be more willing to secure a long term contract at below market value now instead of waiting it out and risking possibly another injury. The combination of those two things and the type of personality that Jaylon Smith exudes as one who would want to return the favor to the team that took a chance on him make his situation truly unique. It would be foolish to expect a similar result with Dak Prescott, Ezekiel Elliott, or Amari Cooper.

To make matters worse, Jerry and Stephen Jones continue to make comments intending to impact public opinion on these contracts but that are far more likely to alienate his star players. Clearly, Jerry Jones does not want repeat the mistakes of the past by making bad deals which resulted in the Dallas Cowboys being limited by the salary cap for years. Unfortunately, since there is only a small championship window in the NFL, if Jerry wants to take a shot at a title he has to gamble and risk making those mistakes again. The Jaylon Smith contract is a huge deal for the Dallas Cowboys but hopefully it has not clouded Jerry Jones judgment into thinking he can duplicate those results with his other stars.

*Photo by Kieth Allison https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/legalcode

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