Ezekiel Elliott returning makes Cowboys the favorites in NFC East

Ezekiel Elliott just signed the richest contract for a running back in NFL history, and DeMarcus Ware thinks he’ll be worth every penny.

Ezekiel Elliott always wanted to be the highest paid running back in the NFL, and now he is. The Dallas Cowboys star inked a monster $90 million extension with the team on Wednesday, making him the richest player to ever play his position.

Every deal has two sides, and the man who now has to pay Elliott after seemingly losing his standoff with him is getting in digs before the ink is dry.

Jerry Jones made reference to the giant contract while being interviewed on CNBC as news of the deal broke, saying that everyone is overpaid and noting how Elliott’s big heart now has a thick pocketbook companion. Many took this as a slight against Zeke, but former Cowboys star DeMarcus Ware believes Jones is paying for a unique player that will live up to the contract he just signed.

“What other player can do what [Elliott] has been doing?” Ware pondered while talking to FanSided’s Mark Carman. “What he’s paying for is a game changer. Now [Jones] has a two-headed with Dak and Zeke, and he’s going to sign Amari Cooper and have the total team.”

Ware, who is teaming up with SNICKERS to reward the NFL’s hungriest players and fans, insists that hidden value in this deal is the relief that the whole ordeal is over. Now the Cowboys can get back to winning games, which Ware thinks will happen a lot this year.

“I think the Cowboys are the favorite in the East.”

The optics suggest that Jones lost, hence his soreness in his CNBC interview. But Ware told a story about candlelight talks with guys who want new contracts, something Jones and Elliott likely did on their way to this historic deal.

“When you go into Jerry Jones’ office, the lights are really dim and there’s a little candle in there. You’re sitting there and he’s looking at you, and he’s going to talk to you from a business standpoint man-to-man,” Ware recounted, then applying this to what happened with Zeke. “Straight eye contact, no smiles. And he goes are you going to take this six-year, $90 million contract and empty the bucket for the Dallas Cowboys?

You know your time is running out, if the stem at the bottom of the candle goes out. So take the deal.”

Zeke took the deal, and now we’ll find out if it was as much of a win-win as Ware believes it to be.