Zeke worth the money or could Pollard tow the line?

[Walker]

They overpaid for Zeke, and Dlaw. I think the price for Jaylon was okay, he didn't break the bank like the others for their position.

 

[Hook'em#11]

I was fine with Pollard and Morris while Zeke sat. They could've held down the fort until Zeke returned. Shouldn't of paid him. Or D-Law, but, what can they do.

 

[dckid]

Honestly I think Zeke is decent RB but not Franchise RB. Pollard generally got more yards than Zeke after initial blocking scheme completed. I think this past year, Pollard could have actually won us a few more games with his vision and speed where Zeke can plow more short yards at the line when needed. Since we have both, we shoulda fed Pollard more when needing more than 4 yards.

The CAP money used on Zeke could have been better spent elsewhere.

Zeke is someone we had to pay. The root cause was drafting him in 2016. Always draft a guy in the top 5 who you can imagine giving a second contract to.
If we had drafted Ramsey, do you think we hesitate to pay him a second contract?
Having said this I still think Zeke is fine. If we had a OC, HC who could deploy him we would be fine.

 

[kskboys]

Zeke is someone we had to pay. The root cause was drafting him in 2016. Always draft a guy in the top 5 who you can imagine giving a second contract to.
If we had drafted Ramsey, do you think we hesitate to pay him a second contract?
Having said this I still think Zeke is fine. If we had a OC, HC who could deploy him we would be fine.

Yes. Pay attention. Ramsey has been a huge problem in JAX, so much so I think they finally traded his sorry bum.

And CB's don't last much longer than RB's!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[garyv]

I mean Zeke finished 4th in rushing this year so you're saying Pollard would have finished 3rd or better if he was the lead guy all season? I don't think so, Tim. Pollard is a great complementary back and you can argue that he could have been used more but no way should he be the lead back.

I agree if you get the right Coach and OC than Zeke is #1 or #2 in the league. If you want to keep a guy like Zeke you have to pay him or take a different approach like the skins using an aged Peterson, Guice which are cheaper versions that lets face it not as good

 

[BoysForLife]

How do I lose all credibility? Zeke was horrible in 2017. You just give him a pass because his name is Zeke and not Randle. They both sucked. Morris performed better than Zeke in 2017 and he faced more stacked boxes and he started in the 3 games Tyron missed.

If you want to say Zeke wasn't his normal self in 2017 that's a different discussion that we could entertain

To say Randle performed "as well as Zeke" is a different angle altogether.

When a guy is giving you half what another guy is giving you on a game by game basis, it's kind of a stretch to say there's no drop off

Personally I think Zeke rushing for almost 1000 yards in 2017 while being suspended for 6 games is pretty impressive.

 

[dckid]

Yes. Pay attention. Ramsey has been a huge problem in JAX, so much so I think they finally traded his sorry bum.

And CB's don't last much longer than RB's!!!!!!!!!!!!

No you pay attention. Ramsey is a bit of a diva no doubt. The major problem in Jacksonville was Tom Coughlin. Ramsey will play 12 plus years in the league.

 

[Fmart322]

Honestly I think Zeke is decent RB but not Franchise RB. Pollard generally got more yards than Zeke after initial blocking scheme completed. I think this past year, Pollard could have actually won us a few more games with his vision and speed where Zeke can plow more short yards at the line when needed. Since we have both, we shoulda fed Pollard more when needing more than 4 yards.

The CAP money used on Zeke could have been better spent elsewhere.

I remember when people thought Murray was overpaid. How wrong they were.

 

[Proof]

This title keeps bugging me lol. It’s toe the line, which doesn’t make sense anyway. Tow the load maybe? Which is still clumsy

 

[DuncanIso]

NEVER pay a RB top dollar. They're a dime a dozen.

Really?

Disagree.

so does Jerry. Zeke got paid.

 

[OmerV]

You can't judge Pollard against Zeke. Performing while averaging 6 touches per game is very different than performing while averaging 22 touches per game.

 

[OmerV]

This title keeps bugging me lol. It’s toe the line, which doesn’t make sense anyway. Tow the load maybe? Which is still clumsy

The OP was thinking the entire O-Line would be in a car that broke down, and Pollard would call a wrecker to tow them.

 

[CowboyRoy]

That's easy... every penny!

Easy for a fool.

 

[TheTruthIsOutThere]

I don't think it's about getting the same production as Zeke as it's about getting like 75 to 80 percent which we could get at a fraction of the cost.

 

[aria]

Zeke is someone we had to pay. The root cause was drafting him in 2016. Always draft a guy in the top 5 who you can imagine giving a second contract to.
If we had drafted Ramsey, do you think we hesitate to pay him a second contract?
Having said this I still think Zeke is fine. If we had a OC, HC who could deploy him we would be fine.

That’s also why you don’t draft RB’s that high, it was a dumb move by Jerry from the get go and Zeke knew he had him by the balls. Jerry has a big bark but no bite. Plus, elite cornerbacks are a much better investment than an elite RB.

 

[aria]

I don't think it's about getting the same production as Zeke as it's about getting like 75 to 80 percent which we could get at a fraction of the cost.

And still win every game we did.

 

[Eightneight]

Zeke had an "off" year and still ran for 1357 yards. Not bad if you ask me. Dude is tough as nails too. Never gets hurt. As for any of these players....like I've said before. Let's see what a new coach can do for them before we give up on them.

 

[BoysForLife]

And still win every game we did.

History doesn't bear that out. We saw almost half a season in 2017 without Zeke.
He played games 1-8. We were 5-3 in those games. Offense averaged 27 points per game.
The next 6 games, with Zeke out, the Cowboys went 3-3 and the offense averaged 18.3 points per game.

Is that a coincidence? I suppose you could argue that..... I can tell you that, whatever the cause, as soon as Zeke got suspended the Cowboys went 3 games scoring a total of 2 offensive Touchdown. 3 games. 2 TD. Total

After averaging 27 points per game while Zeke was in. Dak on his own without Zeke doing the heavy lifting, the next 3 games, a *TOTAL* of 22 points. Not 22 points per game. 22 points total, in almost a month of football. Again, is that a coincidence? Maybe....

The 6 games Zeke missed in 2016, the offense averaged 294 yards per game and 18.3 points per game.
the 10 games Zeke played in 2017, the offense averaged 355 yards per game and 27 points per game.

Since that's pretty much the only football Zeke has missed since he was drafted (another good quality of a franchise running back, availability and durability) that's the only sample we have on the offense without Zeke on the field.

But I just wanted to remind you and everyone else how ugly it was. IT was bad football. Terrible football.
This idea that we could win "every game we won" without Zeke doing the heavy lifting isn't just questionable, based on facts of history, it's provably false.
We lost him for almost half a season and it was one of the worst offensive stretches of Cowboys football in the history of the team. In fact, I looked up the Cleveland browns from that same 2017 season. You know, the season where the Browns were 0-16?

Their worst 3 game stretch of offense for Cleveland in that winless season was 33 points.
An 0-16 team with DeShone Kizer as the starting QB, their worst 3 games stretch was 33% better scoring wise, as our first 3 games without Zeke.

if you want to argue that maybe we shouldn't have paid Zeke as much as we did, that's a discussion we can have.
If you want to argue that Zeke literally makes no difference and that we would win just as many games and be just as effective without him, that's basically an insane thing to say that isn't supported by historical evidence.

 

[BoysForLife]

No you pay attention. Ramsey is a bit of a diva no doubt. The major problem in Jacksonville was Tom Coughlin. Ramsey will play 12 plus years in the league.

Yeah, for sure.
Never could figure out why Jacksonville would want a guy who won two Super Bowls as a head coach, be a part of their organization.

 

[dckid]

That’s also why you don’t draft RB’s that high, it was a dumb move by Jerry from the get go and Zeke knew he had him by the balls. Jerry has a big bark but no bite. Plus, elite cornerbacks are a much better investment than an elite RB.

Thanks for getting the message of my post as opposed to some people who like to argue for no damn reason.