University of North Carolina Athletics
Ebenzer Ekuban Signs With Dallas Cowboys
July 27, 1999 | Football
July 27, 1999
The Associated Press
WICHITA FALLS, Texas -- The Dallas Cowboys today signed top draft pick Ebenezer Ekuban to a five-year, $5.65 million contract and the defensive lineman rushed to camp in time for the first rookie workout.
Ekuban, the 20th overall pick, agreed to the deal around 3:30 a.m. while in Maryland and jogged onto the practice field less than six hours later.
He's tired, but he's here,'' said vice president Stephen Jones.
The package included a $3.525 million signing bonus, according to Jones.
Jones said the Cowboys have deals with six of their top seven draft picks. Offensive lineman Solomon Page, a second-round choice, is the lone holdout, but he and the team are less than $100,000 apart in negotiations.
Five of the signings have come since Sunday, a late flurry that team owner Jerry Jones said was intentional.
The philosophy is a departure from the days when Jones struck deals with picks even before the draft was over. Other teams, meanwhile, were more willing to wait out draft picks until they were ready to accept a deal better-suited to the cap-crunched team.
We have to make a decision when we've got a player holding out,'' Jones said Monday. Is the short-term benefit of having him in camp worth what we gave up that we didn't feel we had to?
The bottom line is we deliberately set it up so that we'd be in the position we're in right now. We wanted the leverage of coming into training camp.''
Since Sunday, Dallas also has signed linebacker Dat Nguyen, receiver Wane McGarity, defensive lineman Peppi Zellner and receiver Mar Tay Jenkins. Seventh-round pick Mike Lucky, a tight end, was the only early bird, signing last week.
