Caleb Harris
FRISCO, Texas – Three-time Pro Bowl running back Ezekiel Elliott returns to the Dallas Cowboys in 2024, and as far as his presence in the locker room is concerned, nothing has changed.
“It’s probably the most natural transition you’ve ever seen,” Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy said Saturday. via Atlético. “He came in and he has this unbelievable smile and it’s like he never left. Great personality in the locker room. a 60 year old man [McCarthy] in the ass, and it hurts. It’s those kinds of things that you just like about him, not that I like getting slapped on the ass, but I just like his personality and having him back in the building and stuff like that.”
However, the Cowboys’ behind-the-scenes structure couldn’t be more different in Elliott’s second assignment in Dallas. He looks, in McCarthy’s eyes, like he did in the head coach’s first three seasons with the team, from 2020-2022, when the running back’s efficiency took a significant dip. Elliott averaged four yards per carry in 2020, 4.2 yards per carry in 2021 and 3.8 yards per carry in 2022. His last Pro Bowl selection came in 2019, Jason Garrett’s final year as head coach.
“We’re a running back by committee [team]” said McCarthy. “But I think he will definitely play at the level he played at in my time here [since 2020]. I don’t see any drop in the way he moves. He’s in good shape. …He came here and picked up right where he left off.
The Dallas coaching staff will now be forced to become more creative as they will not simply place Elliott or the late Tony Pollard as the primary ball carrier. That’s not necessarily a bad thing because none of the last seven Super Bowl champions had the player rush for 1,000 yards or more. The last team to win it all and have a 1,000-yard rusher was the 2016 season, when 30-year-old LeGarrette Blount ran for 1,161 yards on 299 carries for the New England Patriots. Quarterback Tom Brady finished second in NFL MVP voting that season.
“I wouldn’t call it a challenge. I think it’s exciting,” Cowboys offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer said Tuesday when asked about being a running back by the committee staff. “I think part of our process now is figuring out what all these guys do. Well, it’s nothing new in the league.”
Schottenheimer coordinated an attack that led to NFL in rushing (172.3 rushing yards per game) as offensive coordinator of the New York Jets in 2009, and that offense featured three players with 70 or more carries: Thomas Jones (1,402 rushing yards on 331 carries), Shonn Greene (540 yards races in 108 races). carries) and Leon Washington (331 rushing yards on 72 carries). The three current Cowboys running backs he referenced when talking about running back by the committee were Elliott, offseason free agent Royce Freeman and 2023 sixth-round pick Deuce Vaughn. Last season’s number two running back, Rico Dowdle, will also likely be factored into the competition for snaps along with returnees Hunter Luepke (2023 undrafted free agent), Malik Davis (2022 undrafted free agent). Undrafted rookie Nathaniel Peat led all the runs at the team’s rookie minicamp over the weekend.
“We lead the league in rushing in New York [where Schottenheimer was the offensive coordinator with the Jets] in 2008 [2009], I think, and we had three guys carrying the ball,” Schottenheimer said. “But again, we have some new parts. The guys are close to Zeke probably more than me [Schottenheimer was a consultant for the Cowboys in 2022, Elliott’s last year in Dallas, before become the OC in 2023]. Thrilled he is back. Learning Royce Freeman. Duke [Vaughn] just, I think the most important thing is to get these guys, the reps, to get these guys to work. I think that’s the way you’re seeing it. I think last year there were maybe nine or 10 1,000-yard rushers in the league just because it’s such a physical task. Seventeen games before the playoffs start and we’re very, very comfortable and confident that it’s going to work out really well for us.”
The Cowboys’ current backfield is made up of players with a diverse set of builds and running styles, from Elliott (6-foot-2 and weighing 225 pounds) to Vaughn (5-foot-11 and weighing 176 pounds), something which Dallas appreciates.
“It’s not a cookie-cutter thing,” Schottenheimer said when asked if he would prefer to have a group of defenders who do the same thing or who have different talents. “Obviously, when guys do different things, it’s harder on the defense. We have to be better at this because we have to compensate for the tendencies of ‘hey, this guy just runs on the outside. This guy is a gap player, no pull, perimeter player, whatever it is, so we have to be better at that, but I will say that it helps us be able to attack the entire field, which is really what you want. you want to make the defense cover the entire field.”
Much of Schottenheimer’s focus when it comes to managing Dallas’ running back rotation will focus on avoiding the predictability he alluded to.
“The computer work we have to do during the week is maybe more of a challenge than when we get that guy who is a bitch and does a little bit of everything,” Schottenheimer said. “I think we’ll be able to mix and match the guys. They’re all really good players, either way. We’ll have to improve throughout the week and just be mindful of what the guys did because we know the defense is looking for that, but it’s exciting. and I think, again, we have the right pieces.”
“I think we have a lot of young, talented guys,” Elliott said of the Cowboys’ backfield. “There are a lot of guys with different skills, so I’m looking forward to getting in that room, getting to know these guys and helping them increase their football knowledge and sharing some of my experience with them.”
Cowboys running backs coach Jeff Blasko said Tuesday that he “thought” Elliott “had a very, very productive year running the football in New England” for a 4-13 team. He was the team’s leading rusher (642 rushing yards) and pass catcher (51 receptions. The 2023 season was the eight-year veteran’s worst: he totaled career lows in rushing yards (642), rushing touchdowns (three ), rushing (184) and yards per carry (3.5).
Elliott won’t necessarily be the committee’s designated RB1, despite being by far the most talented on Dallas’ roster. Blasko said the coaching staff’s approach to the committee “may change weekly” and that it will be a matter of “feel.” The Cowboys still believe Elliott can be exactly what they need in short-yardage situations.
“He’s obviously a killer in that department. [short yardage],” Blasko said of Elliott. “He is a guy who throughout his career can create himself in these situations. Everything doesn’t necessarily need to be blocked perfectly. He’s been kind of an eraser for that: covering up whether it’s a mental error or a fundamental error [blocking] error. He’s been able to be a band-aid, so to speak, to cover it up. I think there were times last year where having a bigger body type that could hammer, I think would have helped us.”
The three-time Pro Bowler’s third-down talk rate on runs with fewer than five yards to gain for a first down was 72.2 percent, the league’s fifth-best mark among the 44 running backs who have at least 600 carries since that Elliott entered the NFL in 2016 as the fourth overall pick.
“I think you all know what I’m going to give when I’m on the field,” Elliott said on May 1st at the 11th annual Reliant Home Run Derby, an event in which proceeds went to the Salvation Army “I will do whatever it takes, whenever I can, to help this team succeed.”
The Cowboys corrected their approach to the running back position, opting not to draft a running back in the first five rounds of the draft. NFL Draft since hiring McCarthy in 2020, but that doesn’t mean they won’t look to trade some draft capital via trade for a reliable return if the early-season committee approach doesn’t bear fruit.
“A lot of teams do this (committee approach) and do it successfully,” Cowboys COO and executive vice president Stephen Jones said Saturday. via Atlético. “A lot of teams are heading in that direction because of the burnout that comes with this league. Like I also said, we’re not done yet. We continue to look at players, looking for ways to improve, not just the running back position, but any other position in this team.”
Owner and general manager Jerry Jones is well aware that teams can win a Super Bowl without a “bellcow” running back, but if the Cowboys’ running game fails to produce results during the first half of the season, he could handle the position. running back as he did at his wide receiver position in 2018, the season after releasing Dez Bryant. Dallas started the season 3-4 after having a wide receiver room “by committee” and then decided to trade their 2019 first-round pick to the Raiders to acquire Amari Cooper during their off week. The Cowboys certainly won’t trade a first-round pick for a running back in 2024, but Jones alluded to being open to adding to the position via trade at the running back position if necessary.
“We can probably trade with another club for the next six or seven months, can’t we? … I’ve seen teams win the Super Bowl with running backs they traded midseason,” Jerry Jones said. following the conclusion of the 2024 NFL Draft on April 27. “The thing is, this thing is far from over when you have to line up next fall.”
