Cowboys owner Jerry Jones seems a little bit annoyed at how his "Zeke who?" comment was taken.
When asked if Tony Pollard's solid performance in Saturday's game was the Cowboys' best bargaining chip against Ezekiel Elliott's contract holdout, Jones answered, "Who? Now Zeke who?"
Watch every NFL preseason and regular season game and RedZone on DAZN (start your free trial)
He followed that up by saying into the camera directed at Elliott, "We're having some fun, not at your expense."
That second comment, though, clearly did not smooth things over because the running back and his camp were not thrilled with the comment.
"I didn't think it was funny and neither did Zeke. We actually thought it was disrespectful," Elliott's agent Rocky Arceneaux told ESPN on Monday.
As one might expect, though, Jones isn't thrilled he had to address the backlash to his comment.
“I’ve earned the right to joke with Zeke," Jones said in a press conference Tuesday. "Let me be real clear about that. I’ve earned the right to joke with Zeke.”
Jerry Jones was very serious when asked about the backlash from his “Zeke who?” joke: “I’ve earned the right to joke with Zeke. Let me be real clear about that. I’ve earned the right to joke with Zeke.”
— Jon Machota (@jonmachota) August 20, 2019
Elliott remains a holdout from camp as he is looking for a new contract. The Cowboys picked up his fifth-year option and he is locked up with the team for another two seasons.
The 24-year-old is a two-time rushing champion and led the league in carries in 2016 and 2018 and with the average running back career in the NFL sitting at 2.57 years, he is looking to get paid as much as he can, as soon as he can.