Robin Alam/Icon Sportswire through Getty Photos
After receiving a vote of confidence from Jerry Jones earlier this week, Dallas Cowboys operating again Ezekiel Elliott has laid out a plan for the remainder of his profession.
Talking to reporters on Wednesday, Elliott stated that his purpose is to succeed in 10,000 speeding yards and assist the Cowboys win a championship.
“Clearly that is a purpose, successful a Tremendous Bowl, getting a gold jacket. There’s not many guys with gold jackets that did not rush for 10,000 yards,” he defined.
There have been some analysts calling for the Cowboys to make use of Tony Pollard as their characteristic again this season. The 25-year-old had a breakout 2021 with 1,056 yards from scrimmage and averaged 5.5 yards per keep on 130 speeding makes an attempt.
Elliott was nonetheless a productive participant, ending with 1,002 speeding yards and 10 speeding touchdowns. He solely averaged 4.2 yards per keep on 237 makes an attempt.
Per ESPN’s Bill Barnwell, Pollard’s success charge per speeding try was greater than six share factors increased than Elliott’s final 12 months (46.9 % to 40.5).
Pollard was additionally a extra environment friendly receiver with 39 catches on 46 targets for 337 yards (8.6 yards per reception). Elliott had 47 receptions on 65 targets for 287 yards (6.1 yards per catch).
Showing on NFL Community’s Coaching Camp: Again Collectively Saturday on July 30 (h/t NFL.com’s Kevin Patra), Jones acknowledged the Cowboys “gotta have” Pollard on the sphere however Elliott has “gotta be our characteristic, and he’s our characteristic” again.
Elliott does have a robust probability of reaching his purpose of 10,000 yards, particularly if he has Jones’ help. The three-time Professional Bowler has 7,386 speeding yards over his first six seasons. He has cracked 1,000 yards 4 instances in his profession and fallen simply in need of the mark within the different two seasons.
A complete of 31 running backs in NFL historical past have surpassed 10,000 profession speeding yards. Solely 16 gamers in that group have been inducted into the Corridor of Fame. (Frank Gore, Adrian Peterson, LeSean McCoy and Marshawn Lynch aren’t but eligible.)
The Cowboys have many roster questions to determine in the event that they need to be a viable Tremendous Bowl contender in 2022. Amari Cooper and Cedrick Wilson Jr., who mixed for 1,467 receiving yards and 14 touchdowns final 12 months, are not with the group.
Randy Gregory, La’El Collins and Connor Williams additionally left as free brokers in the course of the offseason.
Dallas received the NFC East with a 12-5 document in 2021 however misplaced within the Wild Card Spherical to the San Francisco 49ers.
