Cowboys and All-Pro guard/team captain Zack Martin reached agreement on a reworked deal, per sources. The new deal will pay him north of $18 million in each of the next two years. Martin was scheduled to be at $13.5 million this year and $14 million next year, so it’s an… pic.twitter.com/zszAxiVAR8

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) August 14, 2023

Zack deal done. Have to change the x.com to twitter.com for the embeds to work.

My guess is that we see him play this deal out and then he'll hang it up and be a first ballot hall of famer.

Delete the question mark and everything after it and it should show up.

Edit to add - glad the deal is done!

Zeke just tweeted he's signing with New England.

Ezekiel Elliott tweeted that he’s signing with the New England Patriots. pic.twitter.com/ZZNSm6ciYV

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) August 14, 2023

I wonder how Zach's teammates feel about that, he was already under contract and wanted more and got it. Good for him but that's $8M less money that will go to teammates that also want and deserve more money. I wonder if that causes discord at times.

Zeke contract with NE1yr with a 3mil base, 1mil signing bonus, and 2mil in incentives. Still seems high.

The kinda guy that would be upset by that is the kinda guy you don't wanna pay.

Vince Blake said:

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Zeke contract with NE1yr with a 3mil base, 1mil signing bonus, and 2mil in incentives. Still seems high.

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This is like that time we signed Eddie George after the tires had clearly gone bald.

It's gotta be frustrating... they can see the field as clearly as always... they see the hole that they would normally burst or power through... but end up on the ground 4 out of 5 times.

I believe Deuce Vaughn makes the team and splits relief reps with Malik. Rico may also make the team but from what i've seen of Malik Davis he definitely makes the team and if Vaughn can perform the way he did against better defenses, I see no reason to not give him a roster spot.

The RB room is interesting because I wonder if they try to keep a FB. Luepke is a guy I loved prior to the draft and was really excited they took him. I really thought he could be a poor man's Juzsczyk. Will be interesting to see if they make room for a FB. McCarthy has a history of using FBs.

All I do is Nguyen said:

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I believe Deuce Vaughn makes the team and splits relief reps with Malik. Rico may also make the team but from what i've seen of Malik Davis he definitely makes the team and if Vaughn can perform the way he did against better defenses, I see no reason to not give him a roster spot.

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Deuce is already on the team... the word I heard was there were people in the organization that said he was on the team prior to training camp. But even if you don't believe that, what he did on Saturday was enough... he's in.

jr15aggie said:

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All I do is Nguyen said:

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I believe Deuce Vaughn makes the team and splits relief reps with Malik. Rico may also make the team but from what i've seen of Malik Davis he definitely makes the team and if Vaughn can perform the way he did against better defenses, I see no reason to not give him a roster spot.

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Deuce is already on the team... the word I heard was there were people in the organization that said he was on the team prior to training camp. But even if you don't believe that, what he did on Saturday was enough... he's in.

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I just hope there's no claims on nepotism since his dad already worked for the team. We all know how much Jerruh LOVES to treat the Cowboys like a big family.

Pretty sure anybody would be hard pressed to claim nepotism when he runs like that!

jr15aggie said:

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Pretty sure anybody would be hard pressed to claim nepotism when he runs like that!

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100%. The dude is a two time all-American. If anything, he is a huge steal where they got him in the draft.

gigem1223 said:

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Tolbert looking good

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https://x.com/es3_09/status/1691543370991300611?s=46&t=xPFuJA1Hyhz8mgt5eAKRiA

It's funny about Duece. His college tape is one of the most fun you'll ever see. I never had any doubt that he could tote the rock. But I felt the same way about Trey Williams. Mayne Duece has the special sauce and really is another Sproles. We will see.

Now watch Zeke plow for 150 yards in game 4…

Southlake said:

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Now watch Zeke plow for 150 yards in game 4…

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200-1 odds on that ever happening now. And that is being generous.

Ag Natural said:

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It's funny about Duece. His college tape is one of the most fun you'll ever see. I never had any doubt that he could tote the rock. But I felt the same way about Trey Williams. Mayne Duece has the special sauce and really is another Sproles. We will see.

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I never felt Trey was as consistently good as Deuce in college. Trey had his moments for sure, but something about Deuce just makes him different. Is it his vision? His balance?

I don't know. What I do know is that, at least in pre-season, Deuce stepped onto an NFL field and it looked like he was still in college just chewing up yards in chunks.

jr15aggie said:

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Ag Natural said:

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It's funny about Duece. His college tape is one of the most fun you'll ever see. I never had any doubt that he could tote the rock. But I felt the same way about Trey Williams. Mayne Duece has the special sauce and really is another Sproles. We will see.

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I never felt Trey was as consistently good as Deuce in college. Trey had his moments for sure, but something about Deuce just makes him different. Is it his vision? His balance?

I don't know. What I do know is that, at least in pre-season, Deuce stepped onto an NFL field and it looked like he was still in college just chewing up yards in chunks.

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Yeah, Williams had 1,600 yards from scrimmage his entire three-year career. Vaughn had more than that in just his last season.

Also, people compare Vaughn to Sproles, and I get it. Two small K-State guys. But the way Vaughn moves reminds me more of Barry Sanders than Sproles. It's mainly because of the upper body work. Vaughn's ability to shoulder "shimmy" is insane. It's the single most effective move a runner can have, and it's very difficult to master, but it allows a runner to effectively juke a defender without slowing down. Sproles was mostly a cutter, using hard moves and elite acceleration to take advantage of overpursuit. Sproles also acted as a bowling ball at times. Vaughn can juke without ever slowing down.

Edit for clarity: I'm in no way saying Vaughn is the next Sanders, just that their running styles are similar.

I definitely agree. The Sproles / Deuce comparison is like how we always compare white boy receivers to other white boy receivers. It has more to do with how they look than their actual ability or play style.

It's funny you mentioned Barry Sanders because the same name popped into my head after that crazy spin move he pulled. Deuce is very unique... I'll have to see him run more to get a better feel for him, but for right now, yeah, Barry is a pretty good comp for his running style.

Every time I see Deuce highlights from practice I crack up. With his tiny body and those oversized helmet pads... this is all I can think of!!!

I think Deuce will get 5-10 carries per game running/receiving. There's no doubt about him as a runner but he's a major liability in blocking situations. The Cowboys aren't going to put too much risk on their $40M/year QB getting knocked out for the season.

Vinny said:

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I think Deuce will get 5-10 carries per game running/receiving. There's no doubt about him as a runner but he's a major liability in blocking situations. The Cowboys aren't going to put too much risk on their $40M/year QB getting knocked out for the season.

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I highly doubt this, personally.

Per Pro Football Reference, Darren Sproles career per game average was 4 carries/3 receptions/46 scrimmage yards. If Vaughn could hit that average, he would finish the season with around 780 scrimmage yards.

Also note than in Tony Pollard's rookie year, he finished with 562 yards from scrimmage and 3 TDs.

I bet he does...

Last year Zeke averaged ~ 15 carries per game and 1 catch. Pollard was around 12 carries and 2 catches. Between the two of them that's right at 30 touches per game for our top 2 RBs. Malik Davis got a little more than 2 touches per game.

I seriously doubt we increase Pollards workload too much. I bet we see him bump up to around 20 touches per game. So, there's another 15 touches per game that somebody will be getting.

Saying Deuce will get 5-10 sounds dead on to me. If he's the undisputed #2 RB he will easily get 10 per game and Malik/Dowdle will get 2 or 3.

5+ touches is in the realm of possibility if you include pass catching, but the way you originally wrote it indicated just carries/game. He will not average more than 5 carries a game over a 17 game season.

Let's just see how the pre season plays out for Deuce before we make him All Pro.

And as much as I like DV, Mazi is looking like the next Taco.

There, I said it.

Mazi did look to get pushed around pretty bad in that first preseason game. I was hoping he'd have a nasty streak to him...maybe it comes out but I'm not sure.

Mazi is definitely not off to a good start, but give it some more time. If we're 4-6 games into the season and he's still just a blob out there, then we probably can say he's not going to be that guy.

AgBQ-00 said:

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Mazi did look to get pushed around pretty bad in that first preseason game. I was hoping he'd have a nasty streak to him...maybe it comes out but I'm not sure.

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He did seem to get stoned pretty hard by the starting OL from Jax. Once they got into their backups he looked a lot better. Also keep in mind he's not being asked to shoot gaps and get pressure. His job is to eat up double teams and I though he did a pretty good job there considering it was his very first game.

Way too early to tell, but I saw him get pushed around a lot. I know his role is to clog things up, but it looked to me like the starters moved him where they wanted. I also had to double-check his height/weight, because he looked small. I know he isn't, but it seemed that way.

But first test so doesn't mean much. Yet.

In the Cowboys defense (if Mazi doesn't work out so well), we really got screwed in the draft in the 1st two rounds. Every one of our top prospects was not only gone before we picked, in most cases they were gone way early than expected.

With the Mazi pick there wasn't a bunch of other top talent that I was excited about.... our only other option would have been to go O-line with that pick or take LaPorta much earlier than anyone would have thought.