The Cowboys hurt Trevon Diggs’ feelings for exercising the salary de-escalator in the cornerback’s contract. Team officials said they expected Diggs to be a better leader by participating in 84.375 percent of the offseason program at the team facility, which was stipulated in his contract.
Diggs credited his rehab team in South Florida for having him ahead of schedule in his return from chondral bone graft surgery on his left knee.
The back-and-forth continued Tuesday when executive vice president Stephen Jones responded to Diggs’ complaints about the team lowering his $9 million base salary by $500,000 for 2025.
“I think a player is much better off training with us than he is somewhere else,” Jones said on 105.3 The Fan, via Jon Machota of TheAthletic.com. “I just think the discipline to come in every day, do the work is there when they’re here. . . . One thing we can do, which we will continue to do, is put in every player’s contract, especially guys that we pay significant amounts of money. We expect leadership, and we expect them to be here. Certainly we addressed that with Diggs.
“He certainly paid a price for not being here. But we’re paying a price, too, because we felt like he’d might be further along had he done his rehab here. He may differ with that. But had he done his rehab here, we feel strongly that he might be further along. That’s in the best interest of the team and the organization that comes with getting a big contract, which he received.”
Diggs does differ with that, having said Monday he hopes to be on the field sometime in September.
The Cowboys could have avoided the dispute with one of their stars by using workout bonuses instead of de-escalators in their big contracts. Instead, they have angered another one of their big-name players for something they could have prevented.