Report: No talks between Ezekiel Elliott, Cowboys Sunday; RB ’50-50′ to play in Week 1

Contrary to what has been reported by many, Todd Archer of ESPN reports the Dallas Cowboys and Ezekiel Elliott did not in fact discuss a contract on Sunday.

For the whatever it is worth, been told there hasn’t been any discussions between Cowboys and Elliott’s people today. Could a deal be close? Sure. Is it? Nobody really knows but if it was close wouldn’t there be some talks today? At end of day everybody can/will claim victory

— Todd Archer (@toddarcher) September 1, 2019

As Archer noted, this doesn’t mean that a deal cannot quickly come together. However, his report was also complemented by WFAA’s Mike Leslie, who had previously reported that things were “very close.” A couple hours after his first report, Leslie reported another source within the Cowboys organization expressing less optimism while saying the likelihood of Elliott being available for Week 1 was “50/50.”

Update: A #Cowboys front office source showed less optimism than the source quoted in above report about the momentum toward an agreement.

This source characterizes the likelihood that a deal gets done in time for Elliott to be ready to play Week 1 as “50/50”.

— Mike Leslie (@MikeLeslieWFAA) September 1, 2019

At this point, fans must be sick and tired of all the conflicting reports. What everyone wants is for this entire thing to be in the rear-view mirror, because Elliott is the primary cog in Dallas’ offense. With him, the team has a shot to win the Super Bowl. Without him, that’s very much in question.

Elliott appears to want nothing less than to be paid more than any running back in the league. Dallas has made it clear that it does not want to set a new market. That’s been the issue standing between the two parties since before training camp began, and it seems to still be a huge issue.

Stay tuned.