Breaking news: Cowboys Zack Martin is considering not reporting to camp over contract

On the same day when Dallas Cowboys All-Pro offensive guard Zack Martin is celebrated for his 99 overall Madden rating, it turns out he’s a little disappointed with his current contract situation. Adam Schefter of ESPN tweeted on Wednesday that the Cowboys guard is considering not reporting to camp over being “woefully underpaid relative to the market.”

It’s hard to argue with Martin’s feelings considering he just made his eighth Pro Bowl and earned his sixth first-team All-Pro nomination in 2022. Outside of 2020, Martin has been first- or second-team All-Pro every year of his career. Per Schefter’s tweet, Martin is slated to make $7 million less than the top of the market.

The Atlanta Falcons reset the price tag this offseason when they signed guard Chris Lindstrom to a five-year $102.5 million contract extension. Lindstrom has been in the NFL for four years with one Pro Bowl to his name—certainly not a résumé comparable to Martin's.

To free up money this offseason, the Cowboys did restructure Martin’s current contract but did not offer an extension which is set to expire after the 2024 season.

What’s playing in favor of the Cowboys and Martin is the air in Oxnard, California, seemingly helps get deals done with previous signings of Ezekiel Elliott, Dez Bryant, Tyron Smith, and Travis Frederick all getting done during or around the start of camp.

Martin was suddenly incredibly active on social media (relatively speaking) beginning on Tuesday afternoon after a prolonged absence. He tweeted organically (as in not a retweet) on Tuesday promoting a recent ranking of him. This was his first organic tweet since putting together a statement about Travis Frederick retiring which came in March of 2020 so we are talking about the first time in over three years.

Martin then changed his Twitter profile picture shortly after this news was announced in a move that certainly feels a bit intentional.

With the team set to report to training camp by July 26, a contract extension with Martin now takes center stage for the front office to figure out on top of all the other negotiations they are trying to accomplish this offseason.