Cowboys cornerback Trevon Diggs lost $500,000 of his salary this offseason because he missed the team's OTAs in Dallas. Instead, Diggs chose to recover from a knee surgery in Miami, which prompted the Cowboys to utilize the base-salary de-escalator clause in Diggs's contract that requires him to participate in 84.375% of the offseason program.
Diggs admitted during training camp in Dallas last week that he was "upset" he lost the money because he was still putting work in while in Miami even if he wasn't physically with his teammates. That argument didn't seem to matter much when it came to the Cowboys' executives.
Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones explained the team's reasoning for why Diggs lost out on some of his salary when speaking on 105.3 The Fan on Tuesday. The Cowboys really wanted Diggs in the team's facility working with the rest of the squad.
"I think a player is much better off training with us than he is somewhere else. I just think the discipline to come in every day (and) do the work is there when they're here," Jones said. "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."
Jones added that he believes Diggs would be further along in his recovery if he had elected to rehab in Dallas as opposed to Miami. It's important to note, too, that Diggs's contract states that he must rehab with the club's training employees in order to reach his attendance at the offseason program.
"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," Jones continued. "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."
It sounds like Jones believes this is the price a player pays when they don't follow the rules written in their contracts. Seems fair, even if Diggs didn't agree with it.
Diggs is entering the third year of his five-year, $97 million contract he signed in 2023. He is owed $9 million in base salary, but with the $500,000 lost, that number goes down to $8.5 million.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Stephen Jones Had Critical Comment About Trevon Diggs Rehabbing Away From Cowboys.