Cowboys confident Zeke can lead a running back-by-committee backfield

[Hawkeye0202]

Well....I'm not sure what to say. No one expected to hear Zeke will be the starting lead back but here we are (LO). This is McClay speaking, not Jerry or Stephen.

https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profo...an-lead-a-running-back-by-committee-backfield

Cowboys confident Ezekiel Elliott can lead a running back-by-committee backfield​

• By
• Charean Williams

Published May 1, 2024 05:14 PM


The Cowboys do not have an RB1 on their roster and might not when the season starts. Ezekiel Elliott is the starter by default after signing a one-year deal Tuesday.

The Cowboys did not draft a running back with any of their eight picks despite a stated interest in the top player at the position, Texas’ Jonathon Brooks. They didn’t reach for one after 15 running backs went between the Cowboys’ 87th overall pick and their next one at 174.

The team knew it had Elliott as a fallback after the sides met the night before the draft.

So, Elliott joins Rico Dowdle, Deuce Vaughn and Royce Freeman in what looks like a running back by committee.

Elliott’s touches and yards have declined every season from the previous season over the past five seasons. He had only 235 touches in 2023 when he started five games for the Patriots.


“Zeke is a winning, starting running back in the league,” Will McClay, the Cowboys vice president of player personnel, told Joseph Hoyt of lonestarlive.com on Wednesday. “So, you turn on the tape. You saw him do things, running power gap schemes, running inside and outside zone, helping in pass protection – all those things to show that the ability was still there. Adding him to this roster, it adds a guy that, No. 1, loves football; that wants to win here; that wants to be here; and that adds something to the roster from a leadership standpoint, as well as an ability to play.

 

[JohnnyTheFox]

Because the wide receiver by committee approach in 2018 worked out so well didn't it, dummies never learn

 

[beware_d-ware]

This franchise disgusts me.

 

[TNCowboy]

I have a hard time thinking even the homerest of homers will buy Zeke as the starting RB.

 

[ChuckA1]

What a mess

 

[SackMaster]

 

[khiladi]

They don’t believe it, thus the 1 year contract. They are just trying to sell next year, while they are looking at 2025 and a new direction.

 

[TequilaCowboy]

All i can say is.......... and another thing........ ....

 

[jwitten82]

I have a hard time thinking even the homerest of homers will buy Zeke as the starting RB.

Oh they will. @rambo2 and @RonnieT24 will defend it. Signing him back was a mistake, giving him any more than 10 carries will be one of the dumbest decisions Jerry has made

 

[rambo2]

Oh they will. @rambo2 and @RonnieT24 will defend it. Signing him back was a mistake, giving him any more than 10 carries will be one of the dumbest decisions Jerry has made

The mistake could be not drafting MarShawn Lloyd or Jaylen Wright at 87.

 

[LonnieElam]

I'm probably going to record the games, and watch them when it's convenient. I'm no longer scheduling ANYTHING around Cowboys games. If I catch wind that we lost beforehand, I'm not even going to waste my time.

 

[Miller]

Whatever side of the fence you sit on with Dak…or Lance…this experiment is doing them no favors because they will get teed off on with no run game and Jerry and Stephen will act like they never saw it coming.

 

[exciter]

I have a hard time thinking even the homerest of homers will buy Zeke as the starting RB.

Don’t read some of the facebook groups pages then. 3-1 this is the best thing since sliced bread and the invention of the wheel!

 

[DoctorChicken]

There isn’t anything to say besides perhaps “lol”.

“Lmao”, even.

 

[JoeKing]

This team does not have any luck at doing anything by committee. It's a bad idea to treat the running game that way.

 

[dupree89]

Jerry said last week how he really watched Zeke play at the end of last year. Jerry says there was no doubt in his mind that Zeke would be a RB1 in 2024.

Jerry knows how to scout 'em and coach 'em up.

 

[ChuckA1]

Don’t read some of the facebook groups pages then. 3-1 this is the best thing since sliced bread and the invention of the wheel!

That simply can't be long-time Cowboys fans that know football. Zeke was great at one time but doesn't have the tread left to be an important part of a successful running game.

 

[Kolemmitt]

This has to be a bargaining tool. Maybe we have sent out feelers letting teams know that we are interested. Maybe in Peirce, etc, but we don't want to have to pay too high of a price, so we are trying to make them think we are happy the way we are...right, please tell me I am right. Please??

There is no way we go into the season with Zeke penned in as the #1 back. Can there be???

Somehow I feel worse about our RB situation than I did before we signed him. And, I was on board with bringing him back as our #2, but we need young legs.

 

[MarkP88]

RB by committee is fine, but make it, you know, a good committee. This isn't exactly Csonka/Morris/Kiick here.

 

[RS12]

Any of you buying this load of crap? I am sure he will look much faster getting those 3 yards a carry in that number 15 jersey though.