It won’t take long for Ezekiel Elliott to adjust to the Dallas Cowboys’ new offense under head coach Mike McCarthy, as he has experience playing for McCarthy in previous seasons. This is especially true considering Elliott’s familiarity with All-Pro quarterback Dak Prescott.
The Cowboys’ executive staff is pinning their hopes for a reunion on the former two-time NFL rushing champion’s performance in 2023, specifically in relation to the now-rebuilt оffensive line in Dallas, and what they saw from him in his one season with the New England Patriots.
“Zeke is a winning, starting running back in the league,” remarked Will McClay, VP of player personnel.
This is so because, although Elliott and the Cowboys failed to reach the playoffs during his initial stint with the team, they won a ton of games during the regular season and Elliott, who was selected fourth overall, received a slew of individual awards.
Even if he isn’t the same player he was in 2016, he can still contribute to the Cowboys’ ambitions for the upcoming season—especially with the оffensive line getting rebuilt.
“You turn on the tape and you saw him doing things like power gap scheme running, inside-outside zone, helping in pass protection — all those things to show that the ability is still there,” McClay said about Elliott’s footage from 2023. “Adding it to this roster, it adds a guy that loves football, wants to win here, wants to be here, and adds to the roster from a leadership standpoint as well as his ability to play.”
With Tony Pollard gone to the Tennessee Titans, the running backs room will be missing a familiar figure in Rico Dowdle, who will serve as his de facto complement; Elliott will be responsible for guiding the young backs to success on their own.
In Dallas, we’ll be working as a unit, with Elliott at the helm.
“I think the running back position, in this day and age, is not that old school, one guy as the lead back and the others fill in,” he added. It’s a committee decision. We are thrilled with his contributions to the group. Including all of the additional components that we have integrated within it.
Along with seventh-round pick Nathan Thomas, highly-regarded Day 1 starters Cooper Beebe and first-round pick Tyler Guyton flesh out an оffensive line that was severely understaffed.
Everyone in the building is putting their money on Elliott seeing a comeback in Year 9, assuming all goes according to plan.
