Should the Cowboys top brass consider running Zeke Elliott like they did DeMarco Murray in 2014- Murray’s last great year as a Cowboy?
Murray led the NFL in rushing in 2014 with a league leading 1,845 yards and had a whopping 449 total touches for the year, which also led the league. Murray had that great 2014 season at the age of 26...and he was never the same after it. 2014 was Murray’s “contract year”, and the Cowboys famously decided eventually that he would not be worth paying market value long term, so Murray left after 5 very productive seasons
The Cowboys have an interesting crossroads coming with Ezekiel Elliott after the 2020 season. Sign him to a bigger long term deal, franchise tag him (which didn’t work out well with Pitts when they tagged LeVeon Bell) or just let him walk to some other team.
I know many here will disagree with me but I’m in favor of the letting him walk option. And here are my reasons in no particular order of importance:
- His off field behavior placed this team’s ability to count on his services in jeopardy in 2017 and maybe again this coming season. That suspension in 2017 cost this team dearly. (The most important ability a player must have is availability to play) If Zeke doesn’t grow up and stop acting like a spoiled frat brat, he’s not worth making a centerpiece to your team.
- Although Zeke is very talented, a RBs talent fades faster than almost any other position player. Most really good RBs begin to show decline sometime after 5-8 seasons. It’s why most NFL teams don’t make the RB position worth a long term investment.
- If a RB has a season like DeMarco Murray, where they have over 400 touches in a season, a drop off in production usually happens the following season. The 400+ touch season is historically a killer for the long term effectiveness of NFL RBs.
- Remember Larry Johnson, Jamal Anderson, Terrell Davis, James Wilder, Eddie George? They all led the league in rushing with over 400 carries. And within a year or two fell off the performance cliff.
So let’s use Zeke over and over the next two years. Pile on the touches. Maximize his use. Ride him to a Super Bowl? Because at the end of his 5 years here, he may not be worth keeping around much longer anyway.
Of course, I could be wrong. Maybe he’s worth making a big cap commitment after 5 seasons. Maybe Zeke is an outlier. If he’s used like we did DeMarco Murray, NFL history says otherwise. (Is Todd Gurley going to be another example of the need to not make a big RB commitment?)
I respect dissenting opinions. Should we keep Zeke long term? Or should we let these next 2 years be his swan song?
Walk or no walk, I want Zeke to have juice for the playoffs.
1/4 of a step more and Murray doesn't fumble and we likely beat GB.
We should be riding the *oline*, not Zeke. Run, run, and run again. But not just with Zeke. If we only rely on Zeke running, we're not getting all the runs we can get out of our oline.
Run *other guys*. They of course aren't as good as Zeke, but with Zeke on the field, they don't have to be. Zeke takes pressure off them. And they take pressure off Zeke too.
I give Zeke *tons* of snaps, but fewer touches. We get value from Zeke simply being on the field as a threat.
From the players we've signed, it really looks like Moore *intends* to be a multi threat run offense. We've signed Austin, Olawale, Pollard, and Cobb. All guys who can run the ball too. If we weren't signing with the intention to run them, we were picking the wrong players.
Our goal should not be to use up Zeke. It should be to use *everyone* in the most productive way to bring a championship. Simply piling on the touches for Zeke just isn't the best way to use Zeke, or everyone else we've got.
As for contracts, I can see moving on from Zeke. Few RBs have real juice for more than 5 or 6 seasons.
Look what McFadden was able to do. Even the Underwear Thief. When we signed Zeke, what was supposed to make him special were WR quality receiving skills. I haven't seen that yet. We should be churning credible power running backs to see if we can land one on the cheap. I just don't see that you have to spend that much on a RB.
But there is one thing we probably should do for Zeke. My understanding is that Zeke's suspension unguaranteed his rookie contract. That should be remedied. Maybe we give him a faux extension with an easy out for us in year 6 or 7. But no big boost in salary over his rookie contract. He's paid like a top pick, and he's playing like one. There's little justification for a bigger contract.
