Contract talks are rarely a cause for alarm in July, and the rumour on Wednesday that Zack Martin would skip training camp is no reason to change that. Next week is when the Cowboys will make their way to Oxnard, California. Martin is hardly the kind of player who requires a protracted ramp-up for the regular season, which is still 53 days away, even if he were to truly miss sessions.
Without getting too worked up, let’s examine what has happened to make Martin maybe absent when camp begins next week and where we might go from here.
The agreement no longer takes into account the fact that Martin is still performing at that league-best level. His long-term guarantees have expired, and he has two seasons left on that contract. This season, he is expected to make $13.5 million. Currently, seven other guards have higher salaries and more guaranteed money, with Atlanta’s Chris Lindstrom leading the pack at $20.5 million. That makes sense if a man with Martin’s qualifications is turned off by it. Having been selected with the 16th overall pick in the 2014 NFL Draft, he now has one of the greatest resumes in the league. In eight of his nine seasons, he has been voted a first- or second-team All-Pro; the only exception occurred in 2020, when he missed six games due to injury.
As he approaches his 33rd birthday, he doesn’t appear to be slowing down. According to PFF, Martin played in every game the previous season, didn’t give up a sack, and gave up just 12 pressures. Not only does he have a stellar discipline record, but in 2022 he only received one penalty flag.
Remarkably, it was also disclosed on Wednesday that Martin had received the highest possible score of 99 in the current Madden video game. Since the 2003 ascent of another great Cowboy, Larry Allen, to that plateau, no guard has accomplished it. Based on his social media activity, it appears that he was aware of this truth.
