Posted on August 16, 2016, by Travis Pulver
Whenever analysts and media types talk about the future of the Dallas Cowboys, they don’t focus on Tony Romo, Dez Bryant, Ezekiel Elliot, or anyone on the defensive side of the ball. They concentrate on the team’s massive offensive line. It was a major reason why Elliot hoped the Cowboy would draft him.
While every player on the offensive line is vital to the unit’s overall success, the most important member of the group is the center. The Dallas Cowboys know they have a pretty good one in Travis Frederick, so they decided to go ahead and exercise the fifth-year option on his rookie contract—but they didn’t stop there.
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Even though he was already under contract through the end of next season, the team decided to go ahead and extend him—which they did with a six-year, $54.6 million extension (with $18.2 million guaranteed). He’ll make $28 million during the first three years of the deal, and with an average salary of $9.1 million a year he becomes the highest-paid center in the NFL.
The deal became official before the team’s preseason opener against the Los Angeles Rams. After the game, Frederick was asked about the extension:
“Any chance you get be on a team, know you’re going to stay here and really dig in,” he said in a postgame interview (SportsDay), “it’s a good feeling to have. It takes any doubt about the future out of the way. I don’t have to worry about that for a very long time.”
He is now under contract through the 2023 season.
The team locked down tackle Tyron Smith through the 2023 season as well with an eight-year, $97.6 million contract in 2014. Next up will be Zach Martin whose current contract runs through the 2017 season along with La’el Collins.
Doug Free also becomes an unrestricted free agent following the 2017 season.
Frederick appeared on a radio show Monday and talked about signing his new deal. When asked if he decided to live it up with a night on the town to celebrate his new deal he responded with: “Do I look like a Hollywood guy?”
But when you sign a long-term contract that makes you the highest paid at your position in the NFL you have to celebrate—and Frederick did. He celebrated in true fat guy fashion—with a pint of ice cream. But not just any ice cream, but a $6 pint of Ben & Jerry’s chocolate chip cookie dough from the hotel (SportsDay):
“I really celebrated yesterday, last night. I went up to the market up here in the front building and I got myself a pint of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream. I splurged. It was $6 because, you know, you’re buying it through the hotel. … I went with the chocolate chip cookie dough. I’m a big fan. Honestly, I usually don’t use brand names while I’m out here, but Blue Bell is the tops. I mean, that’s the best of all ice creams.”
While a night at the finest strip club in Hollywood would have been a heck of a way to celebrate a mega-deal—but you can’t go wrong with 1120 calories of yummy, cookie-dough, deliciousness complete either.