Jerry Jones spins Ezekiel Elliott contract drama into playoff chatter

Jerry Jones doesn’t appear to be overly concerned about the possibility of Ezekiel Elliott missing the regular season.

Addressing his prized running back’s holdout Wednesday, the Cowboys owner is already thinking ahead to the postseason, believing Elliott can carry the team in the playoffs.

“We’ve got a marathon here. We want Zeke when we get to the playoffs,” Jones said on Dallas’ 105.3 The Fan. “We want Zeke when we’re in the dog days of the season.”

The Cowboys made it to the playoffs last season with Elliott intact. They fell to the Rams in the NFC Divisional round.

And while Jones didn’t “have anything to report” regarding Elliott’s contract holdout, he noted the Cowboys will survive amid the Pro Bowler’s absence.

“We may very well play without a player that’s not coming in on his contract,” he said.

In July, the Cowboys signed veteran back Alfred Morris to a one-year deal. He replaced Elliott in 2017, when the running back served a six-game suspension stemming from domestic violence allegations. Jones has touted rookie Troy Pollard amid a solid preseason, including a “Zeke who?” comment that angered the Elliott camp.

Elliott has expressed his desire to be a Cowboy for life, but knows football is a business at heart.

“I love playing for the Dallas Cowboys, I love the organization, my teammates. I do want to be a Cowboy for the rest of my life and hopefully that’s a possibility,” Elliott told Maxim in an interview published Monday. “But even Emmitt Smith, the greatest running back ever, ended up going to play a couple of years for another organization. So it’s just the nature of the game, but I want to be a Dallas Cowboy for as long as I can.”

Smith was released from the Cowboys in 2003 after 13 seasons. He signed a two-year contract with the Arizona Cardinals shortly after his departure from Dallas.

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