Twitter: Ezekiel Elliott will definitely be on 2022 roster

[Cowboyny]

Zeke was never going anywhere this offseason as it would be too costly, but next yr there is an out in his contract.

 

[Sydla]

I am not telling you what you "should be fine with." What I am telling you is that I appreciate what Zeke does for this team. His salary is none of my concern as I don't pay it. If he stays healthy and runs for 1500 yards and 12-15 TDs or so (like he was on pace to do before being injured last season) while continuing to do all the other things he does for the team I want him on my squad. If he plays poorly as he did in 2020 or gets hurt again like he did in 2021 then of course we need to look at replacing him. But he's here for 2022.. so I tend to focus on getting as much out of him in 2022 as we can.. and worry about 2023... in 2023. Whining about his salary this year is waste of keystrokes. It's already paid. Feel free to continue to do what you want though.. I just won't join you.

Where you (and some others differ) is that you try to separate production and cap implications. You can't.

I think Kearse played a nice safety for us. Was one of the defense's better players. I hope they bring him back. But if he cost us $20 million in cap space for 2022, I wouldn't even blink an eye before I set him free. Because in a capped world, in order to be the most rounded, complete team you can be, you can't have players with massive cap hits just playing OK. If that happens, you are likely going to have a team that just isn't good enough.

He's a bad contract that hurts the team in 2022. It just does.

 

[Section446]

Zeke is a waste of oxygen.

 

[Sydla]

No..I have said it OVER AND OVER....the contract....is consideration for executives.

What is it you want?

..not cheer for zeke to succeed because he makes too much money on a dysfunctional team?
To bash him incessantly over and over because the Cowboys executives gave him his contract?

To think another running back would take us to a super bowl if it only just wasn't him?

Some silly stupid sht going on here come on.

What I want is to have a realistic conversation about Elliott and contract. This is why this board was created - to discuss Cowboys matters. Elliott and his cap hit is a Cowboys issue. The contract is bad for the team. It just is. It was a mistake by Jerry and Stephen. It is curtailing what we can do this offseason in FA. You guys see this as just Zeke hate but for me, at least, it's hatred over the concept of paying a TB as much as we are. That's a roster killer. It wouldn't matter if we had some other TB like Henry or Cook.

And FWIW, yes, I think this team likely would have a better shot at the SB if they didn't have Elliott on an 18.2 million cap here where they could sign 2-3 really good players at positions like a TB, and/or a S, and/or a DE, and/or an OG.

 

[Thomas82]

And he'll be on the 2023 roster too.

 

[GimmeTheBall!]

How comforting.

 

[plymkr]

Where you (and some others differ) is that you try to separate production and cap implications. You can't.

I think Kearse played a nice safety for us. Was one of the defense's better players. I hope they bring him back. But if he cost us $20 million in cap space for 2022, I wouldn't even blink an eye before I set him free. Because in a capped world, in order to be the most rounded, complete team you can be, you can't have players with massive cap hits just playing OK. If that happens, you are likely going to have a team that just isn't good enough.

He's a bad contract that hurts the team in 2022. It just does.

Good analogy with Kearse. Zeke is not a bum or a scrub. He's an effective back when healthy. But even at his most realistic effectiveness going into 2022 his contract is hurting the team. So if you're going to pay a guy top five money he needs to justify that contract with what he brings to the field. If his play doesn't justify the contract then it hurts the team. This is not a reflection of Zeke as a person or player nor is it a reflection that he doesn't make this team better. When he's healthy he adds to the team but not enough to command top 5 money at his position.

Right now the only players on our roster that would be a good return on the investment of a massive deal would be Martin, Parsons and Diggs IMHO.

That's no disrespect to Dak, Tyron, Zeke, DLaw, Cooper and others. But if the production doesn't match the salary cap hit then it hurts the team.

I would love Cooper, Dlaw, Zeke, Dak, Tyron all back with the team in 2022 or 2023 at a reduced salary.

 

[Doomsday101]

Yep. Maybe if they really just wanted to be done with him, I could see a June 1 cut if there was at least some cap savings there but there isn't any. So we have to live with him for another year. I hope they don't get stupid and restructure him.

There is no cap saving period this season. The saving vs the cap is 0 with 18 mill in dead money for 2022 and 11.8 in 2023. You stay with him this year and get something out of him and after that they can get a saving on the cap in the out years of his deal. I'm not claiming he played great, he didn't but despite that he was 7th in rushing and 5th in TD so it was not a total loss. Play this this year and then move on.

 

[SteveTheCowboy]

I said in my post Zeke is a warrior and played through some injuries and you interpreted that as me saying Zeke is fat and done. Wow, unbelievable. I have no clue how you could have misunderstood "zeke is a warrior who played through injuries".

Anyway, my point was/is did the Cowboys cause more problems to Zeke by playing him with a bad knee. Is there any doctors or physical therapist out there that know that injury. I remember Zeke said he could not further damage his knee by playing and it was a pain management issue. What I'm curious about is would it have been wiser to rest Zeke later in the season? Would that have reduced his pain so he would have been more effective in the post season. So basically what I'm asking is did the Cowboys play Zeke due to his contract at the expense if Zeke's health and effectiveness down the stretch.

Yes...I apologize....I was a bit dramatic and hyperbolic. My apologies. I do think Zeke should not have been playing. But as I have mentioned before...not a doctor and haven;t see any medical report.

I think it's a testament to their faith in Pollard to be #1 and protect Dak. IMHO of course.

 

[conner01]

Yeah we're so fortunate to have a declining RB on our roster taking up a large percentage of the cap.

Extremely fortunate.

The only way to avoid that is never give a player a second contract
Problem solved

 

[DallasDomination]

We’ve learned that the Cowboys ownership isn’t big money like people like to believe… if they owe a player or coach big money they let the contract run through if they can’t restructure a pay cut.

 

[RonnieT24]

Where you (and some others differ) is that you try to separate production and cap implications. You can't.

I think Kearse played a nice safety for us. Was one of the defense's better players. I hope they bring him back. But if he cost us $20 million in cap space for 2022, I wouldn't even blink an eye before I set him free. Because in a capped world, in order to be the most rounded, complete team you can be, you can't have players with massive cap hits just playing OK. If that happens, you are likely going to have a team that just isn't good enough.

He's a bad contract that hurts the team in 2022. It just does.

Watch me.. If the Cowboys were still running its offense through Zeke and had an OC who would give him the ball and a line that would block (which would probably necessitate a different OL coach) our offense would be better, our defense would be better (because it would have to spend less time on the field) and Dak would be better because he would be able to play within himself, take fewer risks and lead the offense instead of trying to carry it. If we were doing those things Zeke's contract would be a non-issue. At least for me.. and likely for anyone else other than his most fervent haters.. but I try to stay away from frothing extremists.

I have repeatedly stated that if Kellen Moore's plan all along was to shift from a run first offense to this high flying sling it around and only run it once in a while the Cowboys should NOT have re-signed Zeke. They signed him to do a job and then promptly stopped letting him do it. At least with any regularity. In the mean time the crappy blocking coupled with Moore's insistence on running him exclusively up the middle behind guys who don't block has forced his body to take a helluva beating. Throw in constantly having to throw his body in front of unblocked rushers and he's been beaten down even more than he would have just from normal wear and tear.

None of this is his fault. The only reason his contract is bad is because the team has not allowed itself to benefit from what he could do. And now after three years of Kellen Moore's crap he may not be able to give us that anymore. Which again, is not his fault. I know Zeke is probably off this team in 2023 but I am also glad he got his money. He earned it. I am not sorry they paid him.. I am sorry they didn't use him when he could have been kickin tail and takin names and leading us to wins. When he leaves he will join a growing list of great players whose careers the Cowboys have largely wasted. That should make us all sad.

 

[Sydla]

Watch me.. If the Cowboys were still running its offense through Zeke and had an OC who would give him the ball and a line that would block (which would probably necessitate a different OL coach) our offense would be better, our defense would be better (because it would have to spend less time on the field) and Dak would be better because he would be able to play within himself, take fewer risks and lead the offense instead of trying to carry it. If we were doing those things Zeke's contract would be a non-issue. At least for me.. and likely for anyone else other than his most fervent haters.. but I try to stay away from frothing extremists.

I have repeatedly stated that if Kellen Moore's plan all along was to shift from a run first offense to this high flying sling it around and only run it once in a while the Cowboys should NOT have re-signed Zeke. They signed him to do a job and then promptly stopped letting him do it. At least with any regularity. In the mean time the crappy blocking coupled with Moore's insistence on running him exclusively up the middle behind guys who don't block has forced his body to take a helluva beating. Throw in constantly having to throw his body in front of unblocked rushers and he's been beaten down even more than he would have just from normal wear and tear.

None of this is his fault. The only reason his contract is bad is because the team has not allowed itself to benefit from what he could do. And now after three years of Kellen Moore's crap he may not be able to give us that anymore. Which again, is not his fault. I know Zeke is probably off this team in 2023 but I am also glad he got his money. He earned it. I am not sorry they paid him.. I am sorry they didn't use him when he could have been kickin tail and takin names and leading us to wins. When he leaves he will join a growing list of great players whose careers the Cowboys have largely wasted. That should make us all sad.

But you really can't in a discussion about the Cowboys for 2022. Here's why. Even if you ran the offense through Elliott his production wouldn't be in line with his cap hit. His contract would be an issue for a team that has roster flaws and cant fix them all in FA/draft. You can get Elliott level production in the run game without sinking 18.2 million in a cap hit to just one TB.

Look at San Fran. They had one of the best run games in the NFL. The offense flowed through their run game. The cap hit in the TB position was only $5 million. Throw in Deebo as a running back and they had $7 million tied up in their TBs. We have 18 million tied up in 1 TB who isn't elite anymore. The contract is bad because you can get similar production out of a run game for less money. Elliott has the largest cap hit of any TB by OVER $3 MILLION. He's not giving you elite, way better than anyone, type production.

Which has a chance to be a better team? The team that spends $18 million on a decent, not elite TB? Or the team that finds roughly similar production for a fraction of the cost and uses the cap saving to fill other holes?

When Elliott leaves he'll simply be just the next example of why overpaying for a TB hurts you, lessons that other teams learned such as the Rams, Cards, Eagles (when they overpaid for Murray), etc.

 

[MyFairLady]

There is a girl on my daughters soccer team who is out of this world selfish and self centered. During a game she got hurt and was limping around completely ineffective but would not come off. Game goes into penalty kicks. She goes out as one of the 5 to kick. During her kick she hobbled up to the ball and kicked at it like Mr Burns. Most pathetic thing I have ever seen. Ball dribble up and stopped at the goal keepers feet. It was more important to this girl that she get to take one of the penalty kicks than the team success. Remind you of anyone?

 

[RonnieT24]

But you really can't in a discussion about the Cowboys for 2022. Here's why. Even if you ran the offense through Elliott his production wouldn't be in line with his cap hit. His contract would be an issue for a team that has roster flaws and cant fix them all in FA/draft. You can get Elliott level production in the run game without sinking 18.2 million in a cap hit to just one TB.

Look at San Fran. They had one of the best run games in the NFL. The offense flowed through their run game. The cap hit in the TB position was only $5 million. Throw in Deebo as a running back and they had $7 million tied up in their TBs. We have 18 million tied up in 1 TB who isn't elite anymore. The contract is bad because you can get similar production out of a run game for less money. Elliott has the largest cap hit of any TB by OVER $3 MILLION. He's not giving you elite, way better than anyone, type production.

Which has a chance to be a better team? The team that spends $18 million on a decent, not elite TB? Or the team that finds roughly similar production for a fraction of the cost and uses the cap saving to fill other holes?

When Elliott leaves he'll simply be just the next example of why overpaying for a TB hurts you, lessons that other teams learned such as the Rams, Cards, Eagles (when they overpaid for Murray), etc.

The real question is COULD Zeke give you elite production if he wasn't having to fight off tacklers in the backfield on so many of his carries and he wasn't having to pickup unblocked pass rushers 15-20 times a game. San Fran knows who they are.. The Cowboys don't. That is the difference. The Cowboys went heavy on RB, WR and QB and even OL but then twisted themselves into a knot figuring out how to best take advantage of what they had. San Fran's line was MUCH better at run blocking than the Cowboys line and Kittle is a better blocker than all three of our tight ends put together. To say nothing of Deebo and their other receivers being better blockers as well. Again.. the COWBOYS screwed up Zeke's contract.. not Zeke. It's not his job to take less money because they're stupid. For 5 games in 2021 they leaned on him and won games. When they stopped leaning on him, whether because of his injury or the OC's stupidity.. they stopped winning at the same rate.

 

[Sydla]

The real question is COULD Zeke give you elite production if he wasn't having to fight off tacklers in the backfield on so many of his carries and he wasn't having to pickup unblocked pass rushers 15-20 times a game. San Fran knows who they are.. The Cowboys don't. That is the difference. The Cowboys went heavy on RB, WR and QB and even OL but then twisted themselves into a knot figuring out how to best take advantage of what they had. San Fran's line was MUCH better at run blocking than the Cowboys line and Kittle is a better blocker than all three of our tight ends put together. To say nothing of Deebo and their other receivers being better blockers as well. Again.. the COWBOYS screwed up Zeke's contract.. not Zeke. It's not his job to take less money because they're stupid. For 5 games in 2021 they leaned on him and won games. When they stopped leaning on him, whether because of his injury or the OC's stupidity.. they stopped winning at the same rate.

You really have to love the complete 180 that has happened with the Zeke crowd. When his contract was up and he was threatening to sit out, the cries were Elliott was elite, the offense ran through him, he made everyone including the QB better, he was a game changer.

Fast forward to now and what we get is excuses like how can we expect him to play better when the players around him aren't playing great? Everyone is failing around Zeke and ergo, Zeke can't perform.

Zeke contract is a reason why this team has failed and will continue to fail. It leads to roster imbalance. Like every team before the Cowboys that gave big contracts to TBs, the Cowboys are regretting their mistake.

 

[Preoccupied]

Thats it then, cowboys superbowl champions 2023, I can't wait.

 

[Toro9]

He SHOULD be. After 22 he's gone though. Resign Pollard and draft a guy in the 3rd next year.

 

[Zekeats]

Dak without Cooper and Zeke +1 more year older. BBBWWWWWWWWAAAAAAAA to the Dak lovers.

 

[Daillest88]

Sucks he got injured.. hopefully we fix this offense line. His contract is disgusting.. he will be gone next year regardless. He needs to start hitting them squats