Emmitt Smith: Dak Prescott Should Give the Cowboys a Discount

Emmitt Smith appeared on the Adam Lefkoe Show this morning to talk about Dak Prescott's contract situation. Smith suggested Prescott take less money so that there would be more left over for Amari Cooper and other teammates. He proposed Prescott take $28 million instead of $35 million and just make that money up in endorsements because of how strong marketable the Cowboys brand is.

This is apparently the logic that Smith employed when he sat out the first two games of the 1993 season while negotiating a new deal. Smith was coming off a season where he led the NFL in rushing yards and touchdowns and the Cowboys won the Super Bowl. He wanted to be paid like a quarterback, but settled for a slightly higher salary than Thurman Thomas, which made him the highest-paid running back in NFL history at that point.

This isn't the first time that a star Cowboys player has been compared to Smith while facing a holdout. In 2015, Dez Bryant was considering a hold out, which reminded people of the Smith situation. Just last year Smith complained that his situation was nothing like Ezekiel Elliott's, which is really just a technicality.

Like it or not, Smith is the blueprint for Cowboys stars hoping to get Jerry Jones to pay up. Of course, Smith is also the ideal example for Jerry Jones, who wants to be rewarded with another Super Bowl by paying up. That's what Smith did for Jones in '93. Can Zeke and Dak do the same?