Jerry Jones isn’t throwing bouquets at Ezekiel Elliott’s feet begging his star running back to come back.

Instead the Cowboys owner did the exact opposite regarding the NFL’s reigning rushing champ — who is holding out of training camp in hopes of landing a new lucrative contract — during an interview with CBS 11 in Dallas on Monday.

“You don’t have to have a rushing champion to win a Super Bowl,” Jones said when asked to compare Elliott and Cowboys legend Emmitt Smith. “Emmitt was the first one to do it [in 1993].”

Jones also said it leaves him with a problem when deciding what to do at running back, because the league has shown you don’t necessarily need an elite back to win the Super Bowl. The 24-year-old Elliott rushed for 1,434 yards last year and the Cowboys were eliminated in the divisional round, where Elliott rushed for 47 yards and a touchdown in a loss to the Rams.

A player winning the Super Bowl and a rushing title in the same season has happened only four times. Smith did it three times (the Cowboys have five titles total) and the Broncos’ Terrell Davis was the last to do it in 1998-99. Shaun Alexander won the rushing title in 2005-06 season for the Seahawks but lost in the Super Bowl.

The lightning-rod owner isn’t against giving Elliott a new contract but doesn’t want it to come at the expense of the rest of the roster and the salary cap. Elliott, who was recently mixed up in an altercation with a Las Vegas security guard, has two years and $12.9 million left on his rookie contract. Quarterback Dak Prescott has just one year and $2.025 million left on his rookie deal.

“You’ve gotta do all of the things along with having Zeke that allow you to have other players so that you can win the Super Bowl,” Jones said. “That’s what we’re going through.”

While Jones is debating what to do, Elliott will be traveling to Cabo San Lucas in Mexico to train while he is not at camp, according to KRLD radio in Dallas.