Cowboys 'Already Pay The Man'; Why Jerry Jones is Right On Zack Martin

The one true O-line dude the Cowboys have who has a set role and spot and star quality is Zack Martin. He's your dude. Numero uno. So Jerry Jones pays him and you don't blink twice, right? Wrong!

I violated my own rule earlier this week when I found out that Dallas Cowboys perennial All-Pro Zach Martin was holding out and skipping training camp in a money dispute. I overreacted without thought. 

I generally can't stand people, especially in my business, who do that. And yet my immediate reaction was similar to what quarterback Dak Prescott said when asked about it. "Pay The Man!'' Prescott exclaimed. 

And I said as much on my podcast. "This is Zach Martin. What is the holdup? Why is he even having to get to this point? Why wasn't he already taken care of weeks ago?'' I was caught in my own immediate "football fear.''

My initial thinking, and maybe yours, too: "The Cowboys offensive line is already a bit of a question mark. Is Tyron Smith going to play right tackle or not? What does that mean for Cibolo's own Terence Steele? Are they ever going to find one position for rookie sensation Tyler Smith and leave him there? What to do with just-OK center Tyler Biadasz? Who the hell is going to be the long-term left guard?

"The one true dude they have who has a set role and spot is Martin. He's your dude. Numero uno. You pay him and don't blink twice, right?''

But now we have some good answers. Tyron is the left tackle, Tyler Smith is the left guard, the Cowboys like Biadasz enough to be talking about a contract extension and the worker bee Steele will be fine at right tackle. Panic ... calmed.

So "Pay The Man!''? Let's evaluate that. Many in Cowboys Nation probably have also been screaming those same words - Total knee-jerking by many including me. But let's ice up that knee and think about this. ...

While in Oxnard at camp, owner Jerry Jones most recently said, "It has nothing to do with him (Martin). It's not about precedent, it's about facts. We need the money to pay (Micah) Parsons. We need the money to pay the players we got in the future. That's a fact." 

My stance here doesn't mean I'm necessarily "pro-owner.'' I want players to get what they can get. But I am "pro-cap.'' And this is one of those times when Jerry - love him or otherwise - is not lying. 

I have long preached on what to do with players north of 30 years old. ... How you can't get wrapped up in feelings and you must make the cutthroat decisions. The NFL has a (fairly) hard salary cap. Zach Martin is (at 32, fairly) old. The Cowboys have a small army of young players coming to the end of contracts. 

Heck, I recently even argued the Cowboys need to take the cautious route with paying the All-Pro Parsons $35 million APY ... so for me to scream last Monday "Pay The Man!" when discussing Martin was a misstep by me. 

I'd like to change my opinion to: "Pay Martin... Like They're Already Paying Him.'' Martin has a contract that at one time made him the highest-paid guard in the history football and even four years later, with all that money in his pocket, his $13.5 salary puts him in the top seven. 

He's losing $50,000 a day in fines. The Cowboys should call his bluff and see what happens. Why not? It's not like Martin can do much about it - which by the way, isn't Jerry's fault' It's the NFL, man, but it's also the NFLPA. Martin belongs to a union that agreed to these rules, which means Martin agreed to these rules.

Knee-jerking is a futile endeavor. But re-doing everybody's contract every time somebody on another team gets a raise is futile, too. 

I'd love to have Zack Martin be happy but not at the expense of the Cowboys cap. Jerry Jones is right on this one. Yes, I just wrote that. 

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