FRISCO, Texas –Baseball was the activity of the day on Wednesday at the Reliant Home Run Derby – but there were bound to be some football questions when the Dallas Cowboys met with the media.
Ten of the Cowboys' best players took part in the home run derby, while also meeting with reporters between at-bats.
Here are some of the biggest topics of the day:
Hit The Ground Running
It's been a bit of a quiet offseason for Ezekiel Elliott, which can only be considered good news for the Cowboys. Elliott returned from a six-game suspension in time to run for 200 total yards in the final two games of the 2017 season.
Since then, it's been mostly crickets. Elliott has been a fixture during the Cowboys' offseason program, but Wednesday was one of the first times he has spoken to the media this spring. The All-Pro running back was asked if he hopes to have a better year without the off-field issues that plagued him last fall – and he was confident in his response.
"I mean, I wouldn't say last year was a bad year for me. I played 10 games and had almost 1,000 yards," he said. "I think every year, I plan to have a good year."
If Elliott's available for all 16 games, the Cowboys' offense has plenty of reason to believe it can regain its top-notch production. With that in mind, Elliott said his goals for the season are simple.
"Just to come out and make a playoff run and hopefully win the Super Bowl. That's the goal for every NFL team," he said.
End Around
It sounds like Randy Gregory is inching closer to applying for reinstatement – at least from the outside perspective. On Wednesday, NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported that Gregory will apply for reinstatement on Thursday.
Cowboys coach Jason Garrett was asked about Gregory on Wednesday evening. He didn't have a lot of detail to offer, but he was hopeful that the former second-round pick might be back in the fold at some point.
"I have no real comment. I understand that that's going on," Garrett said. "I'm not the expert in that area. I know he's worked very hard to get himself in position to put the suspension behind him and get back to work as a football player. He's worked very hard as a person to improve himself, and we're excited about the opportunity to get him back."
Contract Talk
It seems like Zack Martin's contract extension has been a topic of conversation for multiple home run derby outings at this point.
The All-Pro guard is heading into the fifth and final year of his rookie deal, after the Cowboys picked up his rookie option last spring. It's widely been speculated that Martin will set the market among NFL guards at some point in the future, but he has yet to agree to a contract extension.
Martin acknowledged that negotiations might have weighed on him a bit during the slow part of the offseason. But it's been something he's been able to set aside since he got back into the flow of the offseason program.
"I think it's been better after we've gotten into the facility with all the guys," he said. "I really don't think about it now, because I'm with those guys working out and kind of back to normal."
The Cowboys have a history of getting extensions done during the summer. They re-signed Tyron Smith during the summer of 2014, and they extended Travis Frederick two summers ago.
Whether that happens with Martin remains to be seen.
"We'll see," Martin said. "Hopefully it gets done. We'll see where it goes."
