Ezekiel Elliott still hasn’t shown up to Dallas Cowboys’ training camp with the first NFL exhibition game of 2019 set to be played Thursday night. Dallas is a week away from taking the field in Week 1 of the preseason, and it doesn’t sound like the team’s star running back will be in uniform for the Cowboys’ upcoming contest.

With two years and nearly $13 million left on his contract, Elliott is holding out for a new deal. The 24-year-old presumably wants to be made the highest-paid running back in the NFL.

It certainly doesn’t sound like Dallas has any interest in meeting Elliott’s demands.

The Los Angeles Rams gave Todd Gurley a four-year, $57 million extension with $45 million guaranteed one year ago. According to NFL Network’s Jane Slater, Dallas isn’t yet prepared to give Elliott a deal that tops what Gurley received.

“The point there is, you don’t have to have a rushing champion to win a Super Bowl,” Cowboys owner Jerry Jones told CBS 11 Sports earlier this week.

Elliott led the NFL with 1,434 rushing yards in the 2018 season. He’s been the league’s leading rusher in two of his three seasons with the Cowboys, only failing to do so in 2017 when he missed six games due to a suspension.

Averaging more than 100 yards per game during his NFL career, Elliott is arguably the single most important player on the Cowboys.

Gurley’s contract might serve as a cautionary tale for the Cowboys. The running back might never be the same All-Pro player again after totaling 40 touchdowns and nearly 4,000 yards from scrimmage in the last two seasons.

An arthritic knee slowed down Gurley toward the end of last season. He only had 10 rushes for 35 yards in the Rams’ Super Bowl loss. Gurley failed to rush for 50 yards in four of his last five games.

As the NFL continues to value running backs less and less, Elliott doesn’t appear to be atop the list of Dallas’ priorities in terms of contract extensions. The Cowboys might rather pay big money to quarterback Dak Prescott and wide receiver Amari Cooper, both of whom are set to become free agents after the 2019 season.

It’s hard to imagine Elliott missing any portion of the regular season since he still has two years left on his deal. Perhaps the two sides will come to an agreement on a contract that falls just shy of Gurley’s deal.

Dallas will make its preseason debut on Aug. 10 against the San Francisco 49ers. The Cowboys will host the New York Giants in Week 1 of the regular season on Sept. 8.

Ezekiel Elliott Cowboys Rams
Ezekiel Elliott #21 of the Dallas Cowboys runs the ball in the fourth quarter against the Los Angeles Rams at AT&T Stadium on October 1, 2017 in Arlington, Texas. Ronald Martinez/Getty Images
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