Warning for Zack Martin? How cutting DeMarcus Ware taught Cowboys’ Jerry Jones to move on

Watching DeMarcus Ware getting inducted into Pro Football Hall of Fame receiving cheers from Denver Broncos fans as well as Dallas Cowboys fans serves as a cautionary tale for owner Jerry Jones and hold out All-Pro guard Zack Martin.

Ware, picked 11th overall by the Cowboys in 2005, was cut by Jones in 2014 because of injuries and a salary cap hit of more than $16 million, despite forging an already would-be Hall of Fame career and being the greatest pass rusher in team history after nine seasons.

Ware refused to take a pay cut and signed a three-year deal with the Broncos, where he was a key member of the title team that won Super Bowl 50.

It was a hard lesson for Jones, who had been known to hold on to favored veteran players too long because of personal relationships and sentiment.

But the business of the game and salary cap forced his hand.

“The system tells you you have to move on,” Jones said. “And so let me say this when I did that, I knew I could do it any place. You have to and I’m a heart (person). I’ve had to get acclimated to move on. I wasn’t like that as early and as often as I probably should have been.

“Buying the team wasn’t about business. And a lot of times some of the relationships weren’t about business.

“I had years of ‘unconfusing’ the two, ‘unconfusing’,” Jones repeated for emphasis.

Jones has since become very acclimated to moving on andis no longer confused about what’s best for the team — and what’s best for business.

He did not let cozy relationships with quarterback Tony Romo and Dez Bryant prevent him from moving on following the 2016 and 2017 seasons, as well as running back Ezekiel Elliott this past March.

And as much as he likes Martin and is appreciative of his career with the Cowboys, Jones appears dug on the business side of this contract showdown.

Martin is already a lock for the Pro Football Hall of Fame at some point when his career ends. He has been named to the All-Pro team eight times in nine years in the NFL and remains at the top of his game.

Martin, 32, wants a raise from his $13.5 million salary for 2023 because it is $7 million behind the highest-paid guard in NFL.

But Jones made Martin the highest paid player at his position with a contract extension 2018, and has no plans of budging.

Martin has already been fined $550,000 for not reporting training camp. And that number would grow to $1.15 million if he doesn’t report before the Cowboys break camp following their second preseason game at the Seattle Seahawks on Aug. 18.

The finances also suggest that Martin will have to pay back some signing bonus money if he continues to hold out.

Jones is emboldened by the penalties to continue to take a hard line with Martin.

He has also been hardened by the tough moves of the past that he could do it at any place with anyone

There is no more “unconfusion.”