Zeke Elliott - Hero or Zero - What Will It Take?

[darthseinfeld]

Discounting Injury from this question:

What will it take for you to consider Zeke the right pick his first season? Second season? His first contract?

What does he have to do for you to believe he is a bust? And in what time frame.

I am interested in both the Zeke fans and the fans who think this was a huge error.

Also, Zeke will affect more than just his stats. He SHOULD have a major affect on the offense as a whole. But keep in mind that his play does not remove Romo from the equation. So one might conclude with Zeke's results, Romo's results will be better/worse.

Again, injury is not an element of this questionnaire. Simply, what does he have to do to convince you he was not only the right guy to chose at four, but the only guy?

Or what convinces you this was a tragic error in the realm of Bobby Carpenter or Morris Claiborne? Or worse?

Thanks in advance for your reply. All opinions welcome.

Curtis Enis

 

[Scotman]

Hero = Him being on the field equates to team wins. It's really that simple for me. When he's on the field we are much more likely to win games. Look back at the stats for wins versus loses when we had Smith on the field. This is what matters for every player we have at every position. When they are out there, we should be better. I'd love to have opposing DC's HAVE to game plan around him. I'd love it if our odds of winning go up significantly with him on the field. If he can do that, I'm a fan and I don't care where he was drafted.

Zero = He was an absolute mirage...a wasted draft pick. I'd hate to find out a year or two from now that all of the things that made him a failure were painfully obvious if we had just paid attention.

But this is the guy I wanted. I didn't see a game changer among any of the top-tier QB's. In fact, I'm all in on Dak and was before we drafted him. I think he's going to end up being the steal of the draft.

 

[Killerinstinct]

I hated the pick. I thought we were set at RB following the addition of Morris and I thought we had several positions in need of upgrade.

Watching Carr and Claiborne play this year will be a whipping. Watching Church play SS will make me wince. Seeing this D-line not sufficiently improved in a draft where extreme talent was available was hard to watch. Collins and Tapper? Seriously with all that talent available? The highest pick in a generation and we use it on a RB? A 2nd round pick that was practically a 1st rd pick used on a guy that will be a rookie NEXT YEAR as a best case scenario? a high 3rd pick that would have been there in the 4th and is already injured.

If you really think we needed to add a RB then Paul Perkins could have been had in the 4th and he would have looked great wearing a star and could have had a great career running behind this line and would have allowed the team to address real needs.

At least we loaded up in FA! UGHHH! Come on Thornton prove your worth!

Hoping the hyped players of past drafts finally do something. DLAW, GREGORY, CHAZ GREEN, ESCOBAR, DAMIEN WILSON, HITCHENS, WILBER, TERRANCE WILLIAMS step up and be a part of a championship!

 

[DogFace]

10 plus td's. At least a couple of looooong ones.

 

[jnday]

I read somewhere that Dallas tried to trade up but like you said the price was too high. Eagles were willing to give up what Cleveland wanted. I'm glad that didn't trade up as well.


Reports are Wentz won't even be active on game days. I think Dallas did plenty of info on the QBs and had a price they would pay. Didn't work for Wentz, Lynch or Cook and I'm glad

The reports I read said that he was the best QB on the team and could already do things that Bradford is not able to do.

 

[jnday]

I hated the pick. I thought we were set at RB following the addition of Morris and I thought we had several positions in need of upgrade.

Watching Carr and Claiborne play this year will be a whipping. Watching Church play SS will make me wince. Seeing this D-line not sufficiently improved in a draft where extreme talent was available was hard to watch. Collins and Tapper? Seriously with all that talent available? The highest pick in a generation and we use it on a RB? A 2nd round pick that was practically a 1st rd pick used on a guy that will be a rookie NEXT YEAR as a best case scenario? a high 3rd pick that would have been there in the 4th and is already injured.

If you really think we needed to add a RB then Paul Perkins could have been had in the 4th and he would have looked great wearing a star and could have had a great career running behind this line and would have allowed the team to address real needs.

At least we loaded up in FA! UGHHH! Come on Thornton prove your worth!

Hoping the hyped players of past drafts finally do something. DLAW, GREGORY, CHAZ GREEN, ESCOBAR, DAMIEN WILSON, HITCHENS, WILBER, TERRANCE WILLIAMS step up and be a part of a championship!

Having two RBs in their declining years with a injury prone scat back is far from being set at the RB position. It would be waste of the biggest strength of this team, which is the oline, to have RBs that are not able to make the most out of good blocking.

 

[Irvin88_4life]

The reports I read said that he was the best QB on the team and could already do things that Bradford is not able to do.

That's not what I read

 

[Killerinstinct]

Having two RBs in their declining years with a injury prone scat back is far from being set at the RB position. It would be waste of the biggest strength of this team, which is the oline, to have RBs that are not able to make the most out of good blocking.

Mcfadden was on pace to rush for over 1600 yards prorated over a full season. Morris is more than an adequate backup. If RB was felt to be a need it certainly wasn't one of the bigger needs and a guy like Paul Perkins could have been had in the 4th.

It is a waste of the biggest strength of this team to use the highest pick in a generation to replace a 1600 yard rusher when the team has so many holes.

 

[Techsass]

I keep coming back to this was the wrong draft to tank for. A lot of solid players, but not too many studs this year. I don't think the Titans or Browns liked our #4 pick as much as getting a quantity of picks, so trading up was probably next to impossible without getting totally screwed. The other 28 teams weren't chomping at the bit for our pick either. Out of the top 10 picks, Zeke was the only player close to being a sure-fire difference maker for our team.

 

[jnday]

Mcfadden was on pace to rush for over 1600 yards prorated over a full season. Morris is more than an adequate backup. If RB was felt to be a need it certainly wasn't one of the bigger needs and a guy like Paul Perkins could have been had in the 4th.

It is a waste of the biggest strength of this team to use the highest pick in a generation to replace a 1600 yard rusher when the team has so many holes.

They didn't replace a 1600 yard RB. They replaced a injury prone declining vet that they had to change the blocking scheme for , so that he could have his last decent season. At least Morris tits the offensive blocking scheme. For once, Dallas is maximizing it's strengths, which is a good thing.

 

[jazzcat22]

I agree.

I liked Wentz and he could've been a great player but a lot of teams didn't see him worthy of the pick or the best QB in the draft.

The Rams, Browns and virtually every team in between where the Browns and Eagles picked that could've used a QB didn't see the need in that much of an investment in him. If the consensus of NFL GM's really saw Wentz as a QB with Andrew Luck potential, the Eagles would've never had an opportunity to make a jump that high.

Wentz went from a mid 2nd round pick, or even bottom 3rd in the 2nd round to a possibly overall 1st. This transpired after ONE game after he returned from a broken wrist. In the lower level college ranks. He then moved up into the late 1st round from that game. Then the mediots started their talk and up he moves some more. After the senior bowl, and combine and all the talk for needs of a QB sent him toward the top.
He was like a hot commodity stock pick. Does he move up or down at this point.

I started back in November saying I would take him in the 2nd round, and even at #4 at one point in time. But as Elliot became more a reality I wanted Zeke, and then any of the other QB's left in the 2nd.
Wentz flew up the charts as Lynch flew down the charts. I always thought in the long run, Lynch would eventually be the best of them all in this draft.

Wentz can be a bust, or he can be great, or he can be Sam Bradford...time will tell...

 

[Risen Star]

Every pick can be had for a price. The question becomes: Is the price higher than you want to pay to move up?

No. Every pick can not be had for a price. The Colts weren't trading out of Luck. The Titans and Browns were willing to trade out. To suggest those two situations were even remotely similar is complete fan nonsense. Your desperate attempt to pretend the Cowboys just didn't have those players available to them, that defense mechanism in case one or both pan out during our future with no QB, is a fail. Any educated fan knows better. The Cowboys chose to pass on both players.

I asked what else you had. You could have just said nothing.

 

[Techsass]

True. I wonder what the FO saw in the QB crop this year. I seriously doubt they expect to be near this high in any more drafts before Romo's done.

 

[jazzcat22]

True. I wonder what the FO saw in the QB crop this year. I seriously doubt they expect to be near this high in any more drafts before Romo's done.

If they aren't near the top when Romo nears being done, then they are doing something right in all the other areas. So they could trade up if needed to get a QB. And it won't hurt losing a few draft picks that way.
I know some will say, they can be picking 18th and it's not near the top, the usual suspects. But I say they will be picking 28 to 32 over the next 2 to 4 years.

 

[Techsass]

I agree & I hope I'm right!!!

I just don't want to become the Jets for the next decade.

 

[AsthmaField]

No. Every pick can not be had for a price. The Colts weren't trading out of Luck. The Titans and Browns were willing to trade out. To suggest those two situations were even remotely similar is complete fan nonsense. Your desperate attempt to pretend the Cowboys just didn't have those players available to them, that defense mechanism in case one or both pan out during our future with no QB, is a fail. Any educated fan knows better. The Cowboys chose to pass on both players.

I asked what else you had. You could have just said nothing.

I said they could have had Wentz and chose not to. I even said that if Wentz turns out good you will have been right.

You should have read everything I wrote.

 

[Risen Star]

I said they could have had Wentz and chose not to. I even said that if Wentz turns out good you will have been right.

You should have read everything I wrote.

You said the Cowboys couldn't have had Wentz because he wasn't available at 4. You said they also could have had Luck too.

You're all over the map in your mad quest to defend this failed team at all cost.

 

[PA Cowboy Fan]

HYPE!

Then he gets hurt and all is lost.

That can happen with any pick including QB. I guess we should only draft scrubs so it doesn't matter if they get hurt or not.

 

[percyhoward]

It doesn't get talked about much for some reason, but Zeke's value depends in large part on how many years Romo has left. Most teams don't have an offense that's so much better than their defense, so for most teams, Zeke may very well have been the best pick. But for this team, defense was by far the area of greater need than offense, and we could have added a couple of defensive starters instead of the best RB. That's if Romo has a few good years left.

However, that all changes if you take Romo out of the equation. Without Romo, we're probably better off taking what seems to be a sure thing, whether that be an offensive or defensive player. Because without Romo, we'll need help on both sides of the ball, just to be competitive.

 

[ufcrules1]

Well the right decision was moving up for Wentz and enjoying eternal football life. If I'm right on him then there is simply no way we don't regret this decision. It may be the biggest mistake of the Jerry era.

Elliott was the best you could do at 4. The only player worth the pick.

I don't think you're right about Wentz. I think Wentz is going to crash and burn in Philly I'm glad they did not trade up for him. I think it would have been a huge mistake.