Ezekiel Elliott was one of the most talked about running backs when he broke into the league in 2016.
The fourth overall pick made his presence felt immediately by leading the league in rushing with 1,631 yards in his rookie season. He was then again the leading rusher in his next full season when he went for 1,434 yards in the 2018 campaign.
Elliott’s effectiveness has waned in recent years due to wear and tear and some injuries. However, he’s still been the Cowboys’ lead running back despite Tony Pollard knocking on the door.
Pollard made the most of his start last week with 131 yards and three touchdowns on just 14 carries. Even with that, Jerry Jones came out after the game and voiced his support for Elliott as the team’s starting running back.
Carl Dukes and Jason La Canfora of the Audacy Original Podcast “In The Huddle” talked about Jones’ comments and the Cowboys’ running back controversy.
“Jerry comes out – for those who missed it – and basically said, you know, Zeke was on the sideline. He basically co-signed for Zeke in saying how good he is and what he does for the team and how great they are when Zeke’s on the field. And that may have been true in 2018! Not now,” Dukes exclaimed (22:41 in player above). “It’s Pollard all day every day. He’s more explosive. He makes more plays. He just looks better.”
Pollard appears to be the better running back, but there are a few million reasons why Elliott is getting his owner’s support.
“Let’s be honest, he’s defending his investment,” Dukes continued. “He spent all that money on Zeke and now he’s like ‘Well, you know, Zeke is the player we need.’ No he’s not! No he’s not!”
Elliott signed a record-setting six-year, $90 million extension in 2019 with $50 million of that guaranteed. He restructured his contract prior to last season to save some salary cap space, but the 2016 fourth overall pick has dealt with some wear and tear over the last few years. It’s helped to have someone like Pollard to share the load with him.
While Jones is fully supporting Elliott for now, La Canfora believes that it won’t stay that way for the remainder of the season.
“I think his tune will eventually change. He got there with Tony Romo and Dak. Three weeks ago he’s trying to engender and gin up a quarterback controversy out of the air,” La Canfora said. “He’s PT Barnum. He wants to be the greatest show on Earth. He wants everybody talking about the Cowboys. It’s a more explosive run game and a more explosive pass game with Pollard on the field. Period. Point blank. End of story. There is no counterargument.”
Pollard has ran for 506 yards on 81 carries so far this season for an impressive 6.2 yards per carry. That’s a full two yards more than Elliott’s 4.1 average. In fact, despite having 28 more carries than Pollard, Elliott has 63 fewer yards.
Through the air, Pollard has 121 yards on 12 catches – an average of 10.1 yards per catch. Elliott only has six catches for 32 yards, just over five yards on average.
If this continues, Jones and the Cowboys may have no choice but to give Pollard more playing time.
“I suspect we get to see this at least one more week, maybe a couple, and then at that point I think Jerry himself will realize what happened here and I think maybe Jerry will stop whispering or screaming in Mike McCarthy and Kellen Moore’s ear about how much or how little his bell-cow running back who he paid all that money to is or isn’t on the field,” La Canfora said.
“That could end up being a blessing in disguise for that franchise because Pollard, he helps them win. If you want to say (Zeke’s) a better pass protector than him, OK, but he also expands the scope of the offense by his presence on the field and what you have to fear with him running a wheel route, or a screen, or a check-down,” La Canfora continued. “Obviously, he’s been the most explosive runner there for two years. They just handcuff themselves by putting the guy who makes more money getting 65-70% of the reps.”
This situation with Jones defending Elliott isn’t unusual. We’ve seen it before and we’ll see it again.
“We see it all the time in the NFL. Owners do this,” Dukes said. “They got to protect the investment and they got to make you believe sometimes that the investment is still worth it when in many cases it’s not.”
Related
Related
