Twitter: Zeke Being Zeke

[kumizi]

“He gets so many yards from scrimmage.”

Surefire sign you don’t know how to evaluate the running back position. He gets so many yards because he gets so many touches while other backs are splitting the workload on smarter run teams. The Cowboys force feed him to justify spending a top 5 pick on a mediocre RB.

Look at percentage of tackles broken or yards after contact (the things he’s actually responsible for) and Zeke is nowhere near the leaderboard in those categories. That’s before we even get to how bad he’s at pass catching and leading the NFL in fumbles over the last few years.

When we gave him that contract extension, I didn’t think he was still an elite back but he was still pretty good. But right now you could sign a guy off the street like Carlos Hyde with the Seahawks to give you the same production as Zeke. Just an awful contract and emblematic of poorly this team is run.

 

[OmerV]

Yeah, yeah, he doesn’t get those big runs anymore but his pass protection is a major aspect of his game that other RBs can’t match.

Zeke did get blown up on this play - I noticed it during the game. But realistically he is good in pass protection. Someone just got the better of him this time.

 

[OmerV]

Zeke didn't try to do anything. Just stood there waiting. Much like the LBs.

If you stand there waiting to get trucked, you get trucked.

That's what pass blocking is for a RB - waiting to see who gets through the O-Line then taking them on. If he attacked to try and block at the LOS he would have to make a choice before seeing where the defenders are going to get through the O-Line.

 

[nalam]

Unreal. Who ran him over?

Nr 55, the same guy picked off the pass tossed up by Zeke , he was having a field day in that game.

 

[Sydla]

I can't put the OL issues aside if I am also being asked to evaluate a RB.
I also don't believe just speed is the determining factor for a RB. In fact the most important thing that seperates ok backs from great backs is the instinct and vision. Just like the QB's its not something that can be measured at a combine.

Using the $90M number is just attempting to overload one side of the arguement just to try score cheap points.
Does anyone (included Zeke himself) seriously think it was written as a 90m contract? You and I both know thats not true.
Kenyon Drake makes $8.5M per. Do I think Zeke is worth $6M more per year than Drake? Yup
Melvin Gordon makes $8M,
David Johnson makes $13M.

Is Zeke worth his small premium over these guys to me? Absolutely.

Its you that devalues the RB's not the NFL.

Well you didn't address some of the points, like how you can't cut Elliott unless you are willing to eat a big chunk of change.

Its a bad contract. Citing Kenyon Drake? Guess what? He's probably not worth 8.5MM anyway. It's also interesting that you brought up Drake. The Cardinals moved on from the higher paid Johnson, shipped him to the Texans, and are actually a better team. While the Texans, who took on the highly paid TB aren't all that good. Now, their results aren't solely tied to who is playing TB, but it highlights how the NFL has become a passing league and WR play is showing to be more important to a team's success than the TB.

TB has largely become a fungible position. Look at the last 5 seasons or so and look at the better teams. The majority have not tied up significant resources in the TB position.

 

[ABQCOWBOY]

Thats a 240 pound linebacker running untouched for 10 yards with a full head of steam, most RBs are going to lose in that situation.

Nope, that's a RB that is not paying attention. That's a running back who gets caught watching the paint dry. Watch that in slow mo if you can. Notice what Zeke is doing there. He's watching the RT instead of reading his keys. That LB is coming from a long way off and Zeke never even looks at him or finds him until he's coming free from 10 yards down field. That's on Zeke. Adding fuel to the fire, all Zeke needs to do there is cut him and that play is done. But what does he do? He fails on technique and trys to out muscle a bigger play with a running start and you have a bad angle to do it. All of that is wrong. You are taught to understand all of that and you practice it so that it becomes a second nature thing. There are way too many plays like this out of Zeke of late. All of it is lack of concentration. It's all about not being prepared to play and it's clear as day if you just watch him. The fumbles are the same kind of thing. Something is going on with him and it's seriously hurting this team. All of this is on Zeke and he's getting paid way too much to be playing this kind of football.

 

[superonyx]

Well you didn't address some of the points, like how you can't cut Elliott unless you are willing to eat a big chunk of change.

Its a bad contract. Citing Kenyon Drake? Guess what? He's probably not worth 8.5MM anyway. It's also interesting that you brought up Drake. The Cardinals moved on from the higher paid Johnson, shipped him to the Texans, and are actually a better team. While the Texans, who took on the highly paid TB aren't all that good. Now, their results aren't solely tied to who is playing TB, but it highlights how the NFL has become a passing league and WR play is showing to be more important to a team's success than the TB.

TB has largely become a fungible position. Look at the last 5 seasons or so and look at the better teams. The majority have not tied up significant resources in the TB position.

You can't cut Zeke nor should you. We would not be a better team by cutting Zeke.
Zeke counts $10M this year.
Of course passing has taken over the league. Don't you think we have enough WRs?
We have to wait 2 more season at least before we can look at Zeke's contract. I won't say its a bad contract though. If you told me we would allow the OL to fall apart then it could be different.
This team has one of the worst defenses in the history of the NFL. Somehow I don't think Zeke Elliott is really the problem.

 

[Ranched]

 

[aria]

I can’t remember what game it was, maybe AZ, but zeke missed a key block. The defender ran right by him and almost took Dak’s head off for a sack. Maybe someone else can find the clip.