One of the league’s high-profile holdouts is coming to an end. A deal has been worked out between guard Zack Martin and the Cowboys, reports NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport (Twitter link). Martin will now rejoin the team.
Rapoport adds that Martin will receive a raise across the two years remaining on his existing pact. The new contract will see him earn over $18MM per year, which represents an increase of more than $8MM total compared to what he was previously due. ESPN’s Adam Schefter notes that the compensation in both years is also guaranteed in full (Twitter link). Now, the parties can move forward with the All-Pro’s compensation again falling in line with how he ranks amongst the league’s top linemen. 
Martin had been absent throughout training camp while seeking a new contract or a revision to his existing one to reflect the upward movement in the guard market. The latter scenario, which was always the likelier one, has now played out. The 32-year-old was the league’s top-paid guard at the time his six-year, $84MM pact was signed. With his new agreement in place, Martin will now rank third in the league in annual compensation behind Chris Lindstrom and Quenton Nelson, the only guards to reach the $20MM-per-year plateau.
The CBA calls for mandatory daily fines of $50K for players who choose to remain absent from their team’s training camps. As a result, Martin has accrued nearly $1MM in penalties. Given the nature of his re-worked pact, though, his decision has proven to be one which will yield a net gain. Having delivered another Pro Bowl and first-team All-Pro performance in 2022, the Notre Dame alum held notable leverage in angling for a bump in pay.
However, owner Jerry Jones made repeated remarks concerning the Cowboys’ lack of a need to address Martin’s wish for a raise, given the term remaining on his deal. Dallas does, as Jones has noted during this saga, have a number of other financial priorities in the short- and intermediate-term future. With no new years being tacked onto the Martin accord, though, the team should still have considerable flexibility moving forward as it eyes new deals for the likes of Dak Prescott, CeeDee Lamb and Micah Parsons in the coming year or two. Schefter’s colleague Todd Archer tweets that negotiations picked up over the past 10 days, with Martin and Jones talking directly as part of the process. Both sides can now put this episode behind them.
With Martin back in the fold, offensive line should be a source of strength for the Cowboys in 2023, particularly if fellow All-Pro Tyron Smith can remain healthy. That pair, along with 2022 first-rounder Tyler Smith, will give Dallas flexibility and high-level play along the offensive front if they can repeat their previous performances. In Martin’s case, doing so will prove today’s investment to be a worthwhile one on the team’s part.
The Martin holdout has now come to a close, but others remain in the form of Nick Bosa (49ers) and Chris Jones (Chiefs). Both defenders are seeking long-term deals from their respective teams in the wake of continued top-end production, while accumulating daily fines in the process. It will be interesting to see if the Martin agreement provides a blueprint for a resolution to those cases. In any event, the Cowboys can proceed with the remainder of the offseason at full strength.
About time the Cowboys took care of Martin. Parsons is next. Biggest draft mistake for the Giants not taking Parsons. Giants still looking for the next Strahan
And following your comment….by taking care of Martin and with Parsons next…exactly how many other 2nd and 3rd line players will fall by the sword because there isn’t enough money to go around….Daks deal signaled Elliots cut from the team……guess a contract isn’t a contract and players want it both ways….long term security, but being insecure when during that contract other players exceed the contact dollars they had signed….and yes I agree, the Giants should have taken Parsons!
No crocodile tears for Jones. The salary cap will take another huge jump next year. And like it or not, you HAVE to pay a perennial All Pro like Martin. His consistent excellence raises the whole O-line. Ask Dak what he thinks.. and ask Jones how many players he’s dumped that still had years left on their deals.
But the Cowboys already DID take care of Martin. In 2018.
I get that you dislike Jones, but who does this hurt? An extra $8 million is less than Jones, or any owner not named Mark Davis, likely spends on a family vacation. It doesn’t hurt him. It hurts the other players. Contract extensions and the cap raising don’t happen in respective vacuums. Parsons is going to demand more of it than he would have before, as is Prescott, as is whomever is next. Martin was still being paid very well. He just took $8 million out of the pool available to sign another player. That’s not the owners’ money. It’s the teams’ money. It’s going to be spent. Jones doesn’t just refuse to pay Martin that money because he wants to keep it for himself. He didn’t want to pay it so that he could use it to pay his teammates.
Martin chose to look out for himself while already playing on a record setting deal. The Cowboys may wash out at some point, which is always risk for any team any given year. But Martin better not think that the roster wasn’t good enough. He purposefully affected the ability for it to improve for no urgent reason. I know that we disagree, but in this case, I absolutely cannot side with what Martin has chosen to do.
That is a big slice of the pie.
Is there going to be enough left to feed everyone?
Why does it matter? The Cowboys have been the most financially valuable team in the NFL for some time and that’s really all Jerry is concerned with. So what if the team regresses back to 6-10? Jerry will just count his profits and go shopping for another yacht.
Because cap space
The cap is about as soft as the Pillsbury Dough Boy so any half competent GM can find creative ways to work around it.
This is why losing teams lose. Making a 32 year old top 3 paid at guard??? Bad decision. Should have been traded or fined.
I think losing teams lose because they are incapable of drafting players who can last to age 32 and still be deserving of big buck salaries.
Don’t get it. What has Dallas won w/ him? Certainly not a NFC championship. That’s well documented. Jerry’s goal, every year, is SB or bust right?
I think Jerry, like Boy’s fans, are peeved by D Ware has Denver memorabilia in the hall rather than Dallas. So he wants to stop that from happening again. And he’ll pay to make it happen. But it doesn’t mean wins on the field.
Doesn’t every owner say his goal is to improve the team and eventually win a championship for the fans?
I guess talk is more expensive than before. A 32 year old guard isn’t the answer in Dallas. I would have traded him. Smart teams know when to move on.
Moving on from elite OL isn’t always that easy. If it were, guys like Andrew Whitworth and Jason Peters wouldn’t be able to hang around until nearly 40.
Losing teams? Dallas has been a playoff contender every season except 2015 and 2021 when the starting QB was hurt. Martin was fined 1 million dollars and he’s the top guard in the league. Stay on the couch arty
From google: It’s been 27 years and 15 days since the Dallas Cowboys last played in the NFC Championship game. On Jan. 14, 1996, the Cowboys beat the Green Bay Packers, 38-27.
That’s always Jerry’s goal. Clearly stated every year.
To be fair to arty, he didn’t say that the Cowboys have won nothing or are a bad team. He stated that they missed their goal to become a championship team, which they have.
Good for Martin. We “all” could use a substantial salary raise right now…
Good for Martin? Don’t sign a long term deal knowing how the market changes in that time to then hold out because the market changed. Honor your contract.