ARLINGTON, Texas — Emmitt Smith, the NFL’s all-time leading rusher, does not begrudge Ezekiel Elliott holding out in hopes of a new contract from the Dallas Cowboys.
“If he doesn’t do it now when the league is talking about devaluing the running back position, and he’s proven he can carry the ball 350-plus times on a consistent basis, there aren’t many backs in the National Football League that can do that,” Smith said on KRLD-FM 105.3 The Fan in Dallas before the Cowboys hosted the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Thursday’s preseason finale. “We have one on our team and there’s another one up in New York (Saquon Barkley) and you’d be hard-pressed to find someone else. When you have those caliber of backs on your squad, they’re unique individuals. … He deserves to be paid like that.”
Smith sees similarities between his holdout in 1993 with the Cowboys and Elliott’s current holdout, with one exception
“My contract was completely up,” Smith said. “It’s not like I broke my contract or tried to get more capital. I did what I told them I was going to do when I came in: I was going to earn the right to get in position to be paid like the highest-paid in the league.”
Smith missed the first two games of that regular season, which the Cowboys lost, before signing a four-year, $13.6 million deal that made him the highest-paid running back in the NFL at the time.
The Cowboys and Elliott’s representatives have had talks in recent days but nothing appears imminent, according to sources. Near the start of training camp, the Cowboys made Elliott, 24, an offer that would make him the second-highest-paid running back in the NFL behind Todd Gurley of the Los Angeles Rams.
Smith, 50, said it was difficult for him to be away from his teammates during his contract dispute.
“If you want to get a glimpse of what retirement is like, when you’re away from your teammates you get a glimpse. You get a glimpse,” Smith said. “It’s not a good feeling. When it comes down to negotiating, teams and owners and negotiators, they know those things and they prey on those things. Because this is what you’ve been groomed to do, you’ve been waiting your whole life and now it’s here, people have been telling you, ‘Earn it and we’ll take care of you.’ You’ve got to trust but verify, and now he’s trying to verify.”