Trevon Diggs agrees to five-year $97million contract extension with Dallas Cowboys ahead of new season

The Dallas Cowboys and two-time Pro Bowler cornerback Trevon Diggs agreed on a $97 million, five-year contract extension, that will locking up the player who led the NFL and tied a franchise record with 11 interceptions in 2021.

News of Diggs on reporting day for camp came just as the situation with right guard Zack Martin officially became a holdout, according to reports. Martin could be fined $50,000 per day for each day he does not report to training camp.

The 32-year-old Martin is one of the best offensive linemen in the NFL, but only eighth among the highest-paid guards with an annual average of $14 million on the extension he signed five years ago and believes he is underpaid based off the current market. He currently has two years remaining on the deal.

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones danced around questions about Martin with various versions of ‘no comment’ during his annual camp-opening news conference in Oxnard, California.

‘I don´t want to get into what we are doing here or not doing,’ Jones told reporters after the formal part of the news conference was over. ‘I just want to say that he is in our plans.’

CB Trevon Diggs agreed on a $97 million, five-year contract extension with the Dallas Cowboys

Star right guard Zack Martin did not report to training camp and officially entered a holdout 

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones speaks side stepped questions about Martin’s contract situation

Diggs was a second-round pick in 2020, so he is entering the final year of his rookie deal after tying for the NFL lead with 17 interceptions over his first three seasons. 

The $19.4 million per-year average on the extension is among the top six for cornerbacks, according to overthecap.com.

The Cowboys are coming off consecutive 12-win seasons under coach Mike McCarthy, but still haven´t been past the divisional round of the playoffs since winning the franchise´s fifth Super Bowl title to cap the 1995 season.

McCarthy is taking over play calling, which he did most of his time in a 12-plus-season stint with Green Bay that included a championship.

The move with McCarthy came after the Cowboys agreed to part ways with offensive coordinator Kellen Moore, who was immediately hired for the same job by the Los Angeles Chargers.

The Dallas offense was superb in a wild-card victory over Tampa Bay in what proved to be Tom Brady’s final game last January, but sputtered as it had at times all season in a divisional loss at San Francisco.

McCarthy’s first postseason bid with the Cowboys ended with a wild-card loss at home to the 49ers to finish the 2021 season. The Dak Prescott-led offense struggled in that game, too.

‘If you want to bang the door down, you´ve got to be on the front porch every single time,’ said McCarthy, sitting alongside Jerry Jones and executive vice president Stephen Jones not far from the twin practice fields that will be the Cowboys’ camp home in California most of the next month.

‘I think we definitely have established that,’ McCarthy said. ‘Everybody today should feel they can win a championship. They may not talk about it, but we feel very strongly about who we are as a team.’

Prescott is without running back Ezekiel Elliott for the first time after the Cowboys unloaded the two-time rushing champion in a cost-cutting move during the offseason.

Tony Pollard is the lead back, playing on the $10.1 million franchise tag and coming off a broken lower leg after getting injured in the playoff loss to the 49ers.

Young pass rushing star Micah Parsons anchors the defense along with Diggs and defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence.

Free agent pickup Stephon Gilmore is set to start opposite Diggs, and No. 1 receiver CeeDee Lamb has a new sidekick in free agent Brandin Cooks to go with Michael Gallup, now more than a full year removed from an ACL injury.

‘You weigh where we´ve evolved over the last two or three years with our defense, you look at some of the talent we´ve got, you look at Dak,’ Jerry Jones said. ‘When I look at all those things, I think we have a chance to be a contender.’