Contract disputes are nothing new to sports and certainly nothing new to Jerry Jones, who's been involved in plenty of them since purchasing the Dallas Cowboys in 1989, most recently with Dak Prescott, CeeDee Lamb, and, of course, Micah Parsons.
For the most famous contract dispute in Dallas, however, one has to travel all the way back to 1993 to the saga involving Jones and the man who turned out to be the best running back in team history, Emmitt Smith, whose rookie deal had expired following the Cowboys' 52-17 victory over the Buffalo Bills in Super Bowl 27.
The dispute was a lengthy one, as Smith sat out the entirety of training camp and even missed the first two games of the 1993 regular season. But as every fan of America's Team knows, the conflict was eventually resolved, and Smith went on to make NFL history that season while helping the Cowboys to a second straight Super Bowl victory.
But there's long been some confusion about what transpired, as Smith technically never held out, a point he's attempted to get across on several occasions over the last three-plus decades. So, let's take a quick look back at what went down.
Emmitt Smith won the rushing title, regular-season NFL MVP, and Super Bowl MVP following his contract dispute with the Dallas Cowboys in 1993
Taken by the Cowboys with the 17th overall pick in the 1990 draft, Smith made an immediate impact, rushing for 937 yards and 11 touchdowns en route to winning Offensive Rookie of the Year. Dallas also improved on its dreadful 1-15 record the season before, going 7-9.
In 1991, the Florida alum won the rushing title, running for 1,563 yards and a dozen scores in helping the Cowboys to an 11-5 record and the franchise's first appearance in the postseason in six years.
In 1992, Smith won his second straight rushing title, amassing 1,713 yards and a league-best 18 touchdowns during the regular season, thus earning First-Team All-Pro honors, and then added another 336 rushing yards, 86 receiving yards, and four total touchdowns during the Cowboys' playoff run, which, as mentioned, culminated with a blowout win over Buffalo in the Super Bowl.
According to Smith himself, the four-year deal he'd initially signed as a rookie was converted to a three-year contract during that same rookie campaign in 1990. As such, his deal had expired. But with the way things had been done, he wasn't able to genuinely hit the open market, as he was a restricted free agent, meaning the Cowboys could match any offer that was made.
But exactly zero offers were made during the 30-day window that was allowed at the time, as every other team seemingly just assumed that Smith would remain in Dallas. But Emmitt did actually attempt to leave, as he once told The Pivot Podcast that he personally called the Miami Dolphins, telling the legendary Don Shula that he wanted to give quarterback Dan Marino a running game. Obviously, things didn't work out on that end.
Now, a key component that can't be ignored is that Smith was looking for quarterback money, not just high-end running back money. And Jones wasn't willing to do that, although he did state back then that he'd be willing to listen if Smith's camp was willing to discuss the type of money being paid to Thurman Thomas, who'd become the highest-paid running back in the league when he inked a four-year, $13.5 million deal with the Bills in July 1993.
As neither side was willing to budge as training camp progressed and ultimately ended, Smith sat out the Cowboys' first two regular-season games, both of which resulted in losses, the first a 35-16 defeat to Washington and the second a 13-10 loss to none other than the Bills.
Finally, three days before the Cowboys' Week 3 matchup with the Arizona Cardinals, Smith and Jones came to terms on a four-year, $13.6 million agreement, thus making No. 22 the highest-paid back in the NFL. And the rest, as they say, is history.
Despite appearing in just 14 regular-season games, Smith won a third consecutive rushing title with 1,486 yards and was named NFL MVP. He then went on to win Super Bowl 28 MVP, as Dallas took down Buffalo for the second straight year, rushing for 132 yards and two touchdowns in a 30-13 victory. The Hall of Famer remains the only player in league history to win the rushing title, regular-season MVP, and Super Bowl MVP in the same season.
Smith went on to play nine more seasons with the Cowboys, winning a fourth rushing title and helping the team to a third Super Bowl victory in four years in 1995 and becoming the league's all-time leading rusher in his final year with the franchise in 2002. He was effectively run out of town following that season, at which point he closed out his career with the Arizona Cardinals, but we'll save that story for another day.