Ezekiel Elliott Deal May Be Only the Start of Headaches for Cowboys, Jerry Jones

The Dallas Cowboys have one of the NFL's greatest problems: They have an abundance of talent.

This, of course, is a dilemma many teams would love to have. The Bengals would turn over their front office to an actual Bengal tiger to have this problem.

Dallas might be the most talented team in football, especially on offense. Now that Ezekiel Elliott and the Cowboys have finally agreed to a new six-year, $90 million deal (as first reported by ESPN's Todd Archer), no one should be stunned if they reach the Super Bowl this year. They are that good.

This is wonderful news if you're a Cowboys fan.

But the franchise also has a huge problem. A potentially catastrophic one. There's no way the Cowboys can pay all of their stars and maintain the depth of talent they have. It's impossible.

Just since April, Archer noted, the Cowboys have agreed to $309 million in new deals. There's Elliott. There's pass-rusher DeMarcus Lawrence, who threatened to sit out this season before he was rewarded with a five-year deal at $105 million (with $65 million guaranteed). There's linebacker Jaylon Smith, who re-signed for five years and $64 million ($35.5 million guaranteed). Then there's offensive tackle La'el Collins, who signed a five-year, $50 million deal with $35 million guaranteed.

And now there's still the not-small matter of trying to lock up Dak Prescott and Amari Cooper.

So while the Cowboys should win a lot of games in the immediate future, they will likely also have protracted holdouts like the one we saw with Elliott, fights over money, and hard decisions that will inevitably lead to several of their better players leaving for other teams.

Yes, with Elliott back, Dallas may dominate the sport over the next few years, but, at the same time, money, contracts and the salary cap will do, well, as the salary cap is supposed to do. It will limit a team's long-term success.

Look at the Rams. Last year they signed running back Todd Gurley to a record deal: four years, $57.5 million with $45 million in guaranteed money. The gamble paid off, as the Rams reached the Super Bowl. However, the cap hit from his deal for the years 2020 to '23 will be a combined $57 million, according to Spotrac. That will hinder the Rams from signing a lot of their current stars and seriously engaging in free agency. So while one can argue the deal helped them reach the Super Bowl, and may again, it is also limiting their long-term success.

Carolyn Kaster/Associated Press/Associated Press

Another example is quarterback Kirk Cousins. The Vikings signed him to an entirely guaranteed three-year, $84 million deal. The Vikings missed the playoffs last year. They have a shot to make them this year, but Cousins' contract will be a weight on the franchise for the next two years. His cap hit for 2019 and 2020 is a staggering $60 million.

People forget that one of the original purposes of the salary cap—besides limiting players' salaries—was to limit dynasties. The NFL wants winners from the West Coast to the South to the Atlantic seaboard. It hasn't always worked (look at the Patriots, who have been cap-proof in large part because Tom Brady is to salary caps what sunlight is to vampires), but the salary cap has obliterated more good teams than Bill Belichick.

Every new deal makes the future harder in Dallas.

Take the new contract Rams quarterback Jared Goff just received.

According to ESPN's Adam Schefter, Goff signed a four-year extension for $134 million. The deal includes a remarkable $110 million in guaranteed money, an NFL record. Staggering numbers.

It's hard to argue Prescott isn't at least as good as Goff. So isn't it logical that Prescott and his agents will ask for at least what Goff got?

And they will have every right to do so. That's the market. Goff just set it. And if the Cowboys say they won't pay, you will likely see Prescott do what Elliott just did, which is wait the Cowboys out.

That's not all. Wide receiver Amari Cooper is going into the final year of his rookie contract having played the last four seasons at a below-market value.

You think Cooper is just going to stay quiet and do nothing about that?

Roger Steinman/Associated Press/Associated Press

The Cowboys might work out an extension with Cooper this week. They know how good he is. In nine games regular-season games with Dallas last year, he caught 53 passes for 725 yards with six touchdowns. He was a different, more explosive player with Prescott throwing him the ball than with Derek Carr in Oakland. Cooper and Prescott surely know that.

Several team officials (not on the Cowboys) speculate that Dallas' plan all along has been to extend Elliott, then Cooper and then Prescott. They also think owner Jerry Jones believes Cooper will be easier to sign than Prescott. That makes sense considering what Goff just got.

The problem is if Jones pays Elliott, Prescott and Cooper the money the market has determined, it will limit what the Cowboys can do with other players. There are some defensive players they still need to extend.

But if the Cowboys take care of only Prescott or Cooper, and not both, it will surely drain some of that outstanding top-end talent that can make a difference between being a playoff team and a Super Bowl contender.

To be fair, deciding which elite talents to keep on a stacked roster is a terrific problem to have, but it's a problem.

The salary cap increases every year, but it won't increase enough for the Cowboys to pay all of their top talent. Some is likely to slip out of the their grasp.

The Cowboys will win. A lot. But they won't beat the salary cap. It remains undefeated.

Mike Freeman covers the NFL for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter: @mikefreemanNFL.