Emmitt Smith has a message for anyone comparing the holdouts of Ezekiel Elliott and Melvin Gordon to his situation in 1993: Stop, you're wrong.

"There's nothing similar about our scenarios," Smith said Friday. "There's nothing similar about my situation nor Zeke's situation nor Melvin Gordon's situation. There's nothing similar about it. You can't even compare the two, although the press would love to.

"There's a distinct difference between what they're doing and what I've done."

The difference is that Smith was unsigned when he missed the first two games of the 1993 season for the Cowboys. Elliott has two years left on his contract. Gordon has one.

"Go do your research, go do your study," Smith said. "You'll find that Emmitt Smith was never a holdout, although the propaganda would say I was a holdout. The reality of the fact is my contract was fully fulfilled. Fully fulfilled! And I was negotiating. I wasn't holding out. I was negotiating.

"When you don't have a contract and you're unemployed, all you can do is negotiate. So why are you going to label me a holdout?"

Smith was attending the 19th annual Harold and Carole Pump Foundation Gala, which raises money to fight cancer, in Beverly Hills. Jerry Rice, Mike Tyson and Pete Rose were this year's honorees for their support of the foundation.

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