FRISCO, Texas _ Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones was in rare form and full of jokes during a press conference Thursday to officially announce the signing of running back Ezekiel Elliott to a record six-year, $90 million contract extension.
The press conference didn't happen on Wednesday because Jones was at the New York Stock Exchange to ring the opening bell in celebration of his $2.2 billion acquisition of Covey Park Energy.
"The real reason I was up there though, I knew this was coming and I was up there getting my finances in shape," said a laughing Jones, who made an immediate $62 million profit as the majority stakeholder.
Jones continued his stand up routine, telling stories about his negotiations with Hall of Fame running back Emmitt Smith in 1993 and drowning his sorrows at the bar when he didn't think he could get the deal done.
He explained away his posturing and negotiating through the media with hardline messages to Elliott with a tip of the cap to former Rangers manager Ron Washington and his famous "that's the way baseball go" line.
"I felt very comfortable that we were operating. What is the case is that this is the way that contracts go. This is the way that baseball goes," Jones said, laughing. "My point is that this is it. This is what happens. And then when it goes right, it goes boom, boom, boom. But it couldn't get there if you hadn't gone through all that other action in all those other weeks and all those other months. It couldn't have gotten to that point.
"It got done. You had two people that wanted to be together worse than their next breath. We all knew what was at stake, and we knew it wasn't just Opening Day at stake. We were sending lots of messages. We wanted to send lots of messages for our team."
He concluded things by bringing full circle a joke he made last month at Elliott's expense when he uttered 'Zeke Who' after an impressive preseason game by rookie running back Tony Pollard. Jones, at the press conference, unveiled a shirt to Elliott that read "Zeke who?" on the front and "That's who" on the back.
"As is customary, we take shots," Jones said. "I want to present Zeke with his new jersey that I want him to wear."
Elliott laughed, washing away the hard feelings of his 40-day holdout over the last two months.
He had a comeback of his own.
"I was thinking about doing the same thing," he said with a smile.
Elliott donated $100,000 to the Salvation Army and the Cowboys are going to sell the shirt, donating all the proceeds to the Salvation Army.
As always, when it comes to what's important to Jones and the Cowboys, follow the money.
It was never his intention to start the season against the New York Giants without Elliott on the field.
This season means too much to Jones and Elliott means too much to their success, which is why he ultimately decided to make him the richest running back in NFL history.
"This is a milestone contract," Jones said. "More importantly, it's with a milestone person and player for the Dallas Cowboys organization. Obviously, we are all about as expert as we can get about what Zeke means and how we are built to compete for the main goal that we got. We can take this to the house."
The main goal is finally reaching the Super Bowl for the first time since 1995 and staying a contender for many years to come.
The Elliott deal was the latest in a number of contract extensions aimed at reaching both goals with deals for quarterback Dak Prescott and receiver Amari Cooper still on the come.
In the past five months, the Cowboys have signed four players to $313 million of total value contracts in the past five months, including $185 million in guarantees.
It started with a five-year, $105 million deal for defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence in March and deals for linebacker Jaylon Smith (six years, $68M) and tackle La'el Collins (five years, $50M) in the last two weeks.
"Well, I think we're trying to keep a really good young football team together, and as I said, we spent a lot of work on our financial models for the next three years," Vice President Stephen Jones said. "Certainly staring down a labor agreement in the eyes we hope. We don't have one, got work to do, but you're factoring all those things in. But, obviously, we're making moves every step of the way. We think that we cannot only do what we've done, but, also, as we've said, sign Dak and sign Amari."
Prescott said he would like to see his deal get done as well but he doesn't have a time frame on it. His focus is on the Giants game on Sunday.
But it's hard not to notice what Jerry Jones and the Cowboys are accomplishing.
"I think his actions are followed by the words he's spoken about keeping this team together, doing it with the core pieces, having this offensive line locked in for the time that we have," Prescott said. "Great players on defense _ DeMarcus, Jaylon. And then being able to get Zeke in and, as we said, talks continue. He's doing exactly what he said he'd do: Keep this team together and do it by the core pieces. I think he's doing it. I am on board."
That Jones has committed more money in the last four deals, again with more to come in Prescott and Cooper, than he did when he bought the team in 1989 for $140 million isn't lost on the Cowboys.
"I think the payroll was $12 million when we bought it," Stephen Jones said with a laugh. "Now it's $190 million. There's a lot of things that have changed."
