Dallas Cowboys: Will Ezekiel Elliott exceed 400 rushing attempts?
In the quarterback-friendly league of today’s NFL, could Ezekiel Elliott be the first Dallas Cowboys running back to exceed 400 regular season carries?
The Dallas Cowboys are getting one step closer to games that matter as the offseason ended on June 15th. In a few weeks, training camp will begin in Oxnard, California. There were two things that caught my attention during the Cowboys offseason workouts. Let’s talk about the most important player on the Cowboys roster – running back Ezekiel Elliott.
Elliott’s rookie season was fantastic and nearly record breaking. Hopefully, he proved to everyone that he was worthy of the fourth overall selection in a league that has depreciated the value of players at his position. It helps to have the best offensive line in the NFL, but I believe Elliott is one of those talents that would be elite on his own.
Last year, Elliott ran for 1,631 yards with 322 attempts in 15 games. Breaking down the numbers, that’s 21 attempts per game and an average of 5.1 yards per carry. At 20 years old, he led all running backs in rushing attempts, rushing yards and yards per game. As a team, the Cowboys averaged 30.8 rushing attempts per game. Elliott signed a four year contract with a 5th year option.
I believe Elliott is a long term investment that will get better as he learns to run smarter. Examine his first season and the way he finished runs. There were moments he fought for more yards, times he stepped out of bounds and occasions he hurdled defenders. What you didn’t see was the violent collisions that worried everyone that remembers watching Marion Barber III aka Marion the Barbarian in action.
Barber’s career lasted seven years and ended in injury. He spent most of his career as a back up to running back Felix Jones. Barber reached a peak of 238 carries in 2008. The duo helped Tony Romo earn many of his 78 career wins and carried the Cowboys to a division title and playoff appearances in 2006, 2007 and 2009. Barber was a bruising runner that had a short career with limited carries.
There are now reports that the Cowboys want MORE of Elliott this year and have pledged to give him more carries than his rookie year. Hall of Famer Emmitt Smith exceeded 300 carries seven times during his 15-year career and that’s not including the playoff games. Smith’s career in Dallas lasted a remarkable 13-years and his maximum regular season carry total was 377.
Finally, there was the single season of running back DeMarco Murray. In 2014, the last year of his contract, Murray had 392 carries and led the NFL with 1,845 rushing yards. Combined with Romo’s 34 passing touchdowns, 69.9 completion percentage and 3,705 passing yards, the dynamic duo lost in the playoffs due to the reversal of “the catch” and a porous defense.
During Murray’s final season, we were briefly concerned with wearing Murray out. It became clear that the Cowboys were going to give Murray a new contract when he became a free agent. The offense decided to run him into the ground. Not being concerned about the running back’s future equaled 392 regular season carries.
Next: Dallas Cowboys - Minicamp to training camp, Notes to ponder
In this quarterback friendly passing league of today’s NFL, could Elliott be the first Cowboys running back to exceed 400 regular season carries? If the attitude is – Win Now – then enjoy watching Elliott while you can.
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