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Dallas Cowboys right guard Zack Martin is a generational talent. The eight-time Pro Bowler and six-time first-team All-Pro — tied for the third-most all-time for a guard in league history railing only the seven earned by a couple of Hall of Famers in Randall McDaniel and John Hannah — hadn’t participated in the Cowboys’ training camp because of a contract dispute around his value in relation to his position’s around the NFL.

Martin was holding out of camp with two years left on his six-year, $84 million contract he signed back in 2018. He was slated to earn base salaries of $1.7 million and $13 million in addition to signing bonus payments of $9.34 million in each season, according to OverTheCap.com.

Now, his holdout is over, thanks to a deal that will compensate Martin $18 million in each of the next two seasons, all of which is fully guaranteed. He will take home an extra $8.5 million over the next two seasons, according to ESPN. That increase closes the gap between his average annual salary on his previous deal, $14 million, and the top of the market — Atlanta Falcons offensive guard Chris Lindstrom’s five-year, $105.2 million contract that averages $20.5 million a season. Once the news broke of Martin’s return to training camp after his renegotiated deal was complete, his offensive coaches celebrated like they won the lottery.

“It was great to get him back,” Dallas Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy said Tuesday. “When we got the news in the offensive staff meeting yesterday, the room erupted. There were a lot of high fives and hugs all day and night yesterday once he got in. I think that shows you what he means to us and our football team, especially the offense. It is a business, part of our industry, but we’re about connecting and doing what we need to do to win, and he’s a big part of that.”

Zack is BACK…tell a friend! ⭐️#DallasCowboys pic.twitter.com/iChMlv2EfT

— Dallas Cowboys (@dallascowboys) August 15, 2023
Not only is Martin a superstar on the field — his six First-Team All-Pro selections since entering the league in 2014 are the second most in that span behind future Hall of Famer and Los Angeles Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald’s seven — but the team captain is one of McCarthy’s favorite lead-by-example presences in the Cowboys locker room.

“So many ways on and off the field,” McCarthy said when asked how Martin makes his teammates better. “Look at the way he trains and prepares. His training is top notch. He’s super consistent and humble. He pays it forward and helps young guys. Has excellent relationships throughout the building. Other than that, when he puts his hand in the ground, he’s really good. He does everything right. … When you go through the spring and you install the runs and protections, a very high percentage of the time he’s a part of that teaching reel,” McCarthy said. “Obviously his reputation in the locker room and the leadership council, all of those things. It’s very beneficial for his teammates [for Martin to be in camp], especially for the younger guys.”

Since the 32-year-old missed the first few weeks of camp, he won’t be jumping into any 11-on-11 action in practice this week. However, the Silver and Blue plan to have him ready to butt heads with defensive linemen again as early as next week.

“The goal for Zack is to ramp him up through individual work,” McCarthy said. “I think you can understand he’s been training, so he just wants to get in his pads and get moving. That’s where we will start today and see how that goes. Maybe we’ll do more tomorrow. We’re going to be smart with him. … He’s just excited to get everything buttoned up this week, and then get into some live drills next week.”

Kenny Pickett’s rookie stat line is nothing short of puzzling, and it’s led some to wonder whether or not the Steelers have actually found Ben Roethlisberger’s long-term successor.

Pickett’s supporters point to his 7-6 record as a starting quarterback (that included a 4-0 finish) and his four game-winning drives. His detractors counter with his seven touchdowns against just nine interceptions and his pedestrian 63 percent completion percentage. Just one of those picks, however, occurred during Pickett’s final eight starts, a drop-off Pickett attributes to getting more reps with the first-team offense after replacing Mitch Trubisky in Week 4.

“I think just seeing it and being able to play a little bit,” Pickett recently told NBC Sports’ Peter King from training camp. “Being on the practice team the first couple weeks, I wasn’t able to play in our system. I was just running other people’s stuff. So all of my reps in our system was really mental reps.

“So I think after the bye week — and I was able to play the previous three weeks — I had a chance to get a good practice week in with the guys. Things started to slow down for me and the system felt more comfortable. I had a lot of reps, I got to see things, and I felt like the game slowed down for me a little bit. That’s something that I want to continue to do; take a lot of reps out there and see different looks. It just helps in being able to play fast on Sundays.”

I won’t lie; my brain is scrambled right now. Between conference realignment and private equity investments in programs, I feel as though I’ve been hit in the head repeatedly, and I don’t know where the next blow is coming from. So, I need something to grab hold of to find my bearings.

I need a Principle.

That principle is fading Adam Wainwright and the St. Louis Cardinals as favorites. I don’t care that the Colorado Rockies stink just as badly, if not worse, than the Cardinals. It doesn’t matter. What matters is what’s right, and what’s right is not betting on Adam Wainwright and the Cardinals as favorites.

Wainwright is toast. He’s not in much better shape than the Pac-12 and enters the night with a 7.18 ERA. The Cardinals have gone 5-8 in his 13 starts, and Waino has allowed at least two runs in every game he’s pitched this season. In his last five starts, he has 10.89 ERA.

It’s bad.

Now, as I said, the Rockies aren’t what anybody would consider good. Their starter, Chris Flexen, is just about as bad as Wainwright. The primary difference is he strikes a few more hitters out and walks a bunch more but doesn’t allow nearly as much hard contact.

So, he’s not somebody you typically want to be betting on, but this is one of those cases where neither team deserves to be favored against anybody, so bet the underdog. The fact St. Louis is 26-36 when favored this year doesn’t hurt, either.