The case against taking Zeke at 4

[LocimusPrime]

I do.

He is built to last. He's not a big target. He's not a battering ram. He's had no injuries. He's started every game for three years. He has unreal quickness to avoid or lessen impact, like Emmitt. And he knows when to go down, like Emmitt. He has a nose for the endzone, like Emmitt. He can turn 2yds into 7 yds, 10 yds into 25 yds, like Emmitt. He is extremely competitive, like Emmitt. He is a little cocky, like Emmitt. He doesn't have great long speed, neither did Emmitt.

Nobody thought Emmitt was Emmitt when he came out. He was short, slow and Rbs only lasted 4 years anyways. But all he did was put up amazing numbers in high school and college, and then go on to set records in the pros, and last for over a decade. .

Zeke is Emmitt for this team. He steps into an offense that has two of the best playmakers in the NFL at their respective positions. He has an OL that is literally built for the run. We have a coach that wants to use the running game to open up the passing game, and play ball-control offense. He is the ideal player for what we want to do, and we are the ideal team for him to come into the league and dominate from day 1, like Emmitt

Zeke reminds me more of a Blair Thomas type. His build and running style is very similar to Blair Thomas and Darrin Nelson

 

[Romotil45]

I said it before. I don't care what a player makes. I'm a football fan, not a franchise management fan. We spend too much time worrying about value and numbers that we've lost sight of what we actually are fans of

Thats good your a fan. But to be a fan also means understanding the reality of the game as a business. Paying 26 mil up front for a RB is bad business. We would all like Zeke on our team but its not going to happen at 4.

 

[LocimusPrime]

Who cares where Murray was drafted? Why does that matter? If you can draft a guy, right now, who can step into your offense and immediately compete for offensive player of the year, why wouldn't you?

If Zeke can gives us 1500 yds, yearly, with 15-20 TDs a year, then hell yeah I'm drafting him at 4

He will not average 1500 yds and 15-20 rds yearly. No way. He would be like the best running back in the history of the nfl and greatest of all time in this universe and all others

Oh and he has had surgery twice in college on the same left wrist. I like him but not at 4, and I would be cautious. Broken wrists isn't good for ball protection.

 

[Romotil45]

He will not average 1500 yds and 15-20 rds yearly. No way. He would be like the best running back in the history of the nfl and greatest of all time in this universe and all others

Correct those are almost Emmitt Smith numbers although Emmitt didn't average 15-20 TDs. More like 10-15. Zekes not Emmitt or AP. It's not going to happen.

 

[kevm3]

Your idea of a dominate run game is what exactly ? How many carries will Zeke get and how many yrds ? Gurley put up 230 carries n 1100 yrds last year is that dominate in your opinion ? McFadden put over 1000 is that dominate ?

Considering Gurley was out a lot of the year with a serious knee injury and not running behind the best line in football, that is definitely dominant.

 

[percyhoward]

Your strategy relies on a) McFadden staying healthy for an entire year (which has happened two times in his seven professional years) b) the best defensive player on our board actually being a better prospect than Zeke and providing a similar impact on our defense that Zeke would have on offense and c) actually having a trade down partner.

a) McFadden's 2015 rushing total projects to 1,300 yards as a full-year starter. If he'd been the starter from day one and gotten injured, that's on him, not the OL. The point is that a back of his quality (if you can call it that) is good for 1,300 yards on a team with no passing threat, because the OL is that good. The particular RB's injury history doesn't enter into it, unless you think I'm suggesting drafting a RB who gets hurt a lot.

b) What matters is the players' impact on this specific team. Whether Elliot would be the better option for "the average team" is irrelevant to the question of which player (or "players" if a trade down) helps this team more. And this is true whether we trade down or not (c). That's why I asked How many more wins does Zeke give us than our #4 pick (or trade down) + Kenneth Dixon, and why? Doesn't have to be Dixon if you like somebody else better.

If Zeke can gives us 1500 yds, yearly, with 15-20 TDs a year, then hell yeah I'm drafting him at 4.

When Romo was healthy we got 2,200 yards and 16 TD from Murray and Randle.

Is there really no RB you like in the 4th round that would allow us to draft another starter (or two) for a defense that we all know isn't good enough?

 

[Romotil45]

Considering Gurley was out a lot of the year with a serious knee injury and not running behind the best line in football, that is definitely dominant.

Even if he hadn't missed games he wouldn't have had much more carried few backs take more than 230-240 carried these days. It the reality of the NFL.

 

[percyhoward]

Honest question for everyone...

If Mcfadden put up 1,089 yards with a stellar 4.6 YPC with Weeden/Cassell/Moore at QB, what would he have done with Romo and Dez healthy the entire season?

1,250 yards and 5 YPC in 11 starts?

To think we need to use the 4th overall pick on a RB after seeing that we got that kind of production out of a certified bust with obvious flaws is a little crazy to me honestly.

More than a little. Although I doubt his YPC goes up with the extra carries that come from having more leads and having Romo as insurance for 2nd- or 3rd-and long, he still would have been good enough to make defenses play honest.

Which, after all, is the whole freaking point.

 

[morasp]

I'm not a fan of taking him but this article makes an interesting case for the pick.

Dallas Cowboys 2016 Draft: Don’t Pass On Ezekiel Elliott

I love Ezekiel Elliott. In a draft full of great new shiny toys, he's my Little Red Corvette. The thought of watching the running back from Ohio State perform behind the Cowboys offensive line brings me great satisfaction. He will bring things to this offense that wasn't there last year -€” points, dominating time of possession, and allowing the defense to tee off on quarterbacks who are playing from behind. Basically, all the great things we enjoyed from the 2014 season. I often imagined how good DeMarco Murray would be if he didn't have to swing his arms out so much to reach his top speed. The Cowboys offensive line is great at blocking and Elliott is great at reading the blocks. He is a runner than can exploit the full greatness of the Cowboys big first-round investments in recent years. It's the perfect marriage.
But for many, Zeke is a luxury the Cowboys cannot afford. Running backs aren't valued very high in the draft these days for a handful of reasons, including the wear and tear of the position and the skill-set later-round guys possess. Those are good points and the Cowboys need to be wise on how they use that all-important fourth pick. But there is one thing that gets swept under the rug when it comes to considering a running back in the draft, and that is -€” a special player can help your team do special things.


Over the last 35 years, there have been four teams that have repeated as Super Bowl Champions.

San Francisco 49ers, 89 & 90

Dallas Cowboys, 92 & 93

Denver Broncos, 97 & 98

New England Patriots, 03 & 04

In those eight championship seasons, all the leading rushers for their respective team have collectively averaged 1,474 yards. A running back that rushes for that many yards isn't that impressive, but keep in mind, that is an eight-year average. These teams that had repeated success in the NFL had a strong running game.


Let's look at how each running back performed during those back-to-back seasons.

Roger Craig, who produced 37 percent of his career total yards as a pass catcher had two 1,000 yards seasons, including a career high 1,502 yards in 1988. Craig isn't a name that is synonymous with great rushing production, but make no mistake about it -€” the 49ers were heavily invested in him during their Super Bowl wins in the late ‘80s.

When it comes to winning the big game, John Elway was known as the little quarterback that couldn't until Terrell Davis showed up. A strong running game, including a 2,008 yard season from Davis in 1998, helped make the Broncos two-time champions.

I'd talk about how great the Cowboys running back was in the ‘90s, but I wouldn't be breaking any new ground with that one.

The New England Patriots do things a little differently. They are not so reliant on the running game and go through running backs like my wife goes through hair colors -€” something different for every season. In the last eight years, the Patriots have had six different leading rushers (LaGarrette Blount, Jonas Gray, Stevan Ridley, BenJarvis Green-Ellis, Laurence Maroney, and Sammy Morris). As great as they've been in those years, they haven't been able to duplicate their success since 2004 when Corey Dillion helped out by rushing for 1,635 yards.

All of these champion running backs had career highs in rushing yards during their team's back-to-back Super Bowl hoisting seasons. Well, all except one. Emmitt Smith's 1,713 yards during his 1992 championship season would have been his career high too if he didn't rush for 1,773 yards in 1995, which by the way -€” was also a championship season.

Over the last eight seasons, the league has witnessed a different Super Bowl Champion and you should see the running back carousel that some of those teams have been through. Yes, the running back position is a rigorous position. Losing time due to injury is something that should be expected, but that shouldn't remove them from the conversation completely. Adrian Peterson is an example. He was blazing through the league when he tore his ACL and MCL in 2011. Many people thought he was done. But what did he do? He turned around and rushed for 2,097 yards the following season. Suffering a tough injury doesn't ruin your career.

http://www.bloggingtheboys.com/2016...boys-2016-draft-don-t-pass-on-ezekiel-elliott

 

[Romotil45]

I'm not a fan of taking him but this article makes an interesting case for the pick.

Dallas Cowboys 2016 Draft: Don’t Pass On Ezekiel Elliott

I love Ezekiel Elliott. In a draft full of great new shiny toys, he's my Little Red Corvette. The thought of watching the running back from Ohio State perform behind the Cowboys offensive line brings me great satisfaction. He will bring things to this offense that wasn't there last year -€” points, dominating time of possession, and allowing the defense to tee off on quarterbacks who are playing from behind. Basically, all the great things we enjoyed from the 2014 season. I often imagined how good DeMarco Murray would be if he didn't have to swing his arms out so much to reach his top speed. The Cowboys offensive line is great at blocking and Elliott is great at reading the blocks. He is a runner than can exploit the full greatness of the Cowboys big first-round investments in recent years. It's the perfect marriage.
But for many, Zeke is a luxury the Cowboys cannot afford. Running backs aren't valued very high in the draft these days for a handful of reasons, including the wear and tear of the position and the skill-set later-round guys possess. Those are good points and the Cowboys need to be wise on how they use that all-important fourth pick. But there is one thing that gets swept under the rug when it comes to considering a running back in the draft, and that is -€” a special player can help your team do special things.

Over the last 35 years, there have been four teams that have repeated as Super Bowl Champions.

San Francisco 49ers, 89 & 90

Dallas Cowboys, 92 & 93

Denver Broncos, 97 & 98

New England Patriots, 03 & 04

In those eight championship seasons, all the leading rushers for their respective team have collectively averaged 1,474 yards. A running back that rushes for that many yards isn't that impressive, but keep in mind, that is an eight-year average. These teams that had repeated success in the NFL had a strong running game.

Let's look at how each running back performed during those back-to-back seasons.

Roger Craig, who produced 37 percent of his career total yards as a pass catcher had two 1,000 yards seasons, including a career high 1,502 yards in 1988. Craig isn't a name that is synonymous with great rushing production, but make no mistake about it -€” the 49ers were heavily invested in him during their Super Bowl wins in the late ‘80s.

When it comes to winning the big game, John Elway was known as the little quarterback that couldn't until Terrell Davis showed up. A strong running game, including a 2,008 yard season from Davis in 1998, helped make the Broncos two-time champions.

I'd talk about how great the Cowboys running back was in the ‘90s, but I wouldn't be breaking any new ground with that one.

The New England Patriots do things a little differently. They are not so reliant on the running game and go through running backs like my wife goes through hair colors -€” something different for every season. In the last eight years, the Patriots have had six different leading rushers (LaGarrette Blount, Jonas Gray, Stevan Ridley, BenJarvis Green-Ellis, Laurence Maroney, and Sammy Morris). As great as they've been in those years, they haven't been able to duplicate their success since 2004 when Corey Dillion helped out by rushing for 1,635 yards.

All of these champion running backs had career highs in rushing yards during their team's back-to-back Super Bowl hoisting seasons. Well, all except one. Emmitt Smith's 1,713 yards during his 1992 championship season would have been his career high too if he didn't rush for 1,773 yards in 1995, which by the way -€” was also a championship season.

Over the last eight seasons, the league has witnessed a different Super Bowl Champion and you should see the running back carousel that some of those teams have been through. Yes, the running back position is a rigorous position. Losing time due to injury is something that should be expected, but that shouldn't remove them from the conversation completely. Adrian Peterson is an example. He was blazing through the league when he tore his ACL and MCL in 2011. Many people thought he was done. But what did he do? He turned around and rushed for 2,097 yards the following season. Suffering a tough injury doesn't ruin your career.

http://www.bloggingtheboys.com/2016...boys-2016-draft-don-t-pass-on-ezekiel-elliott

The artical assumes things that are not true example we had very good TOP last year Zeke isn't going to increase that TOP by much. Projecting Zeke as AP 2.0 is a crap shoot. That would be like projecting Bosa to be Watt 2.0. It's just wishful thinking much like the intro describes. It's not reality.