Cowboys Now Look Like Geniuses for Getting Ezekiel Elliott's Contract Done Before Christian McCaffrey's Deal

The Panthers extended Christian McCaffrey on Monday well ahead of schedule, and while the deal makes him the NFL's highest-paid halfback, other teams with star running backs like the Cowboys will have the last laugh in the end.

Dallas agreed to terms with running back Ezekiel Elliott on a six-year contract extension this past September, and they should be awfully glad that happened when it did.

Now that CMC has become the first halfback to get his raise this offseason, the market for signing and extending running backs will only grow more increasingly ridiculous.

Don't get me wrong, McCaffrey earned his keep. CMC has proved himself to be a reliable two-way threat out of the backfield, and he's become the heart and soul of Carolina's offense. But while the Panthers are paying McCaffrey $16 million annually for four years, the Cowboys will pay Zeke no more than $15 million a year for six seasons.

Had Dallas waited to extend Elliott, they likely would have been extremely dissatisfied for what they'd have paid for him. Zeke would have asked for more annually than McCaffrey, based on his recent patterns of behavior, and the Cowboys would have been at a fork in the road deciding between an extension for Elliott or Dak Prescott. Instead, Zeke's then-NFL record contract is now just an afterthought, and figuring out Prescott is the team's sole priority.

Nobody's talking about it, but Dallas really salvaged a lot of personal relationships by extending Elliott so early on.