Dallas Cowboys: What does Tony Pollard’s play mean for Ezekiel Elliott?

According to reports, the Cowboys have already offered Elliott a contract that would place him in the top-5 running backs in the league. Previously, Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones had said he planned to offer Elliott a Todd Gurley-type contract, who is the highest-paid running back in the league according to OverTheCap.com, with an average of $14.4 million a year.

But given the fact that Gurley’s been injured, and Elliott seems to be an indestructible tank, maybe Zeke and his agent have been looking for a record-breaking contract, the kind of contract Stephen Jones has stated he won’t offer. Maybe something in the range of $20 million a year?

What if the Cowboys didn’t have Pollard? What if they just had Alfred Morris, Darius Jackson and the rest of their backups? What if Elliott held out into the regular season and the Cowboys were pancaked by the Giants in the season opener? The front office might just panic and write Zeke a blank check. All of that looks very unlikely now.

Put yourself in Elliott’s shoes. Would you want to hold out into the season given Pollard’s performance? What if the rookie were to run for 150 yards against the New York Giants in Week One? What kind of leverage would Elliott have then? Not much. The Cowboys might just tell him to buzz off.

Not in reality, of course. No one would tell one of the best players in the league to buzz off. I’m just alluding to what Elliott might be thinking. What if? Of course, Pollard could also have a lousy game against the Giants. But If I were Zeke, I wouldn’t risk it.

I still think Elliott’s going to get a very generous contract. In fact, I still wouldn’t be surprised if the contract he signed did indeed make Zeke the highest-paid running back in the league. But I think the odds of him getting a $20 million a year contract have flat-lined.

I don’t feel sorry for Ezekiel Elliott though. My own personal policy is to never feel sympathy for someone making millions of dollars a year more than I do. I think Zeke’s going to be just fine. I don’t see any homeless shelters in the star running back’s future. But I think the record-breaking fantasy he’s been dreaming about has been popped He’ll just have to economize, I guess. On the other hand, I could be completely wrong. It’s happened before.