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Stephen Jones: Trevon Diggs paid the price for not being here, but his absence has hurt us, too

Stephen Jones: Trevon Diggs paid the price for not being here, but his absence has hurt us, too

NBC Sportsa day ago
The Cowboys hurt Trevon Diggs' feelings for exercising the salary de-escalator in the cornerback's contract. Team officials said they expected Diggs to be a better leader by participating in 84.375 percent of the offseason program at the team facility, which was stipulated in his contract.
Diggs credited his rehab team in South Florida for having him ahead of schedule in his return from chondral bone graft surgery on his left knee.
The back-and-forth continued Tuesday when executive vice president Stephen Jones responded to Diggs' complaints about the team lowering his $9 million base salary by $500,000 for 2025.
'We expect leadership, and we expect him to be here,' Jones said on 105.3 The Fan. 'He paid the price for not being here, but we're paying a price, too. We feel like he'd be further along had he done his rehab here. He might differ with that.'
Diggs does differ with that, having said Monday he hopes to be on the field sometime in September.
The Cowboys could have avoided the dispute with one of their stars by using workout bonuses instead of de-escalators in their big contracts. Instead, they have angered another one of their big-name players for something they could have prevented.
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