The NFL’s 100th season is less than a week away.
The Dallas Cowboys open up their season on September 8th at home versus the New York Giants.
It appears that star RB Ezekiel Elliott will NOT be on the field when the Cowboys take on the G-Men.
That’s if you believe Cowboys owner Jerry Jones.
Elliott is in the middle of a protracted contract holdout as he seeks a new deal that would presumably make him the highest paid RB in the NFL.
Elliott is owed a combined $13 million over the next two seasons on his current rookie deal. With approximately nearly $4 million due this season.
Jones and Elliott have been going back and forth with negotiations in an attempt to end the running back’s holdout in time to have Elliott on the field before Week 1.
It doesn’t appear that is going to happen.
Jones, after the Cowboys fell in their preseason finale to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, was asked by reporters about the possibility of Elliott missing games.
Jones told Jon Machota of The Athletic,
“I’m operating as though, right now, he’s going to miss regular-season games. My entire expectation for what we’re putting together as a team right now would anticipate with him holding out and not having any training camp that he’s going to miss games. I just accept that.”
This is a stark departure from the Cowboys optimism that they would have the 2018 NFL rushing champion on the field to start this season.
Jones earlier this week, at the team’s kickoff luncheon, said that all of the Dallas Cowboys will be on the field starting week one.
That tune has clearly changed with Jones’s newest comments.
The Cowboys chances at a Super Bowl hinge on Elliott being on the football field.
The longer his holdout continues, the more frustrated the Cowboys fan base will become.
Social media strongly reacted to the news and debates the Cowboys chances without Elliott.
Flip the pages to take a look at Twitter’s reaction.