While speaking about the benefits of the new Collective Bargaining Agreement, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said that everyone should be happy about it -- and then he interrupted himself to say there’s one Cowboys player who probably isn’t happy.
That one player is nose tackle Jay Ratliff, who -- according to Jones -- thinks the Cowboys are overdue to offer him a new deal.
“We have assured that we will have 10 years of where we don’t have any issues with anything regarding clubs, players or those types of salaries. Now, I will make an exception,” Jones said, per the Dallas Morning News. “Jay Ratliff will tell you, ‘You’ve got a big issue, Jerry, with my salary. I need a little more money.’”
Ratliff still has two seasons left on the five-year, $20.9 million contract he signed at the end of the 2007 season. The Cowboys will pay Ratliff base salaries of $3.75 million this season and $4.875 million in 2012.
Agent Mark Slough said he and Ratliff aren’t complaining about that contract, although Slough does think Ratliff -- who has started every game and made the Pro Bowl all three years since signing the deal -- has been a bargain for the Cowboys.
“We certainly are not unhappy with our contract. Do we believe we outperformed the contract? Absolutely. Did we expect to outperform the contract. Sure. Are we bitter or unhappy? Not at all,” Slough said. “You haven’t heard us say one thing at all about our contract. We recognize the economic times we’re in as a country. . . . We’re not going to complain about what we get paid to play in the NFL. Having said that, we believe we’ve outperformed the deal and I don’t think anyone would take issue with that or disagree with that.”
Although Jones brought up the issue publicly, Slough said he and Ratliff will deal with it privately.
“In terms of where do we go with that, our position has been that those discussions will happen privately,” Jones said. “I can’t comment one way or the other rather we are or are not in contract negotiations. I wouldn’t want to comment on contract negotiations. Those will happen privately.”
Jones’s public comments indicate that Ratliff has already hinted privately that he wants a raise.