Getty Dallas Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott runs onto the field during an NFL game.
The Dallas Cowboys are entering a critical season in a lot of ways, and the situation is not lost on one of their highest-paid stars.
Dallas needs to find playoff success under head coach Mike McCarthy, develop the wave of new talent that has arrived in recent years, and star running back Ezekiel Elliott has to prove he’s either worth his huge contract or figure out what’s next.
Elliott counts as a $18.22 million cap hit in 2022, the most of any running back in the NFL per Spotrac. Training camp has now arrived, and Elliott is facing the media about recent rumors and rumblings that he could be moving on after this year.
“I think it is a big season, but I think you can’t look too far down the road,” Elliott said. “I think if I focus on every day, if I focus on having a good day of camp, if I focus on taking it week by week, I think everything will handle itself… I think if I handle my business every day, then I’ll be in a pretty good situation at the end of the season.”
There’s no question that Elliott is one of the NFL’s better running backs, but his contract has become an “albatross.”
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Cowboys Insider Thinks Elliott is Gone in 2023
While Elliott isn’t focusing on what comes at the end of the season, the rumors and rumblings surrounding Zeke have not stopped since the end of the 2021 season.
105.3 The Fan host Bobby Belt recently spoke out on the Cowboys running back’s deal, stating that he thinks an All-Pro season couldn’t keep Elliott in Dallas.
“Zeke could rush for 1,400 yards and 14 touchdowns this year and I think he’s still probably done here,” Belt said in a chat with NBC Sports Washington. “They need to move on. That contract has been such an albatross for them — one of the worst deals in football. And as much as they love his toughness and things like that, it’s about time to rip off the Band-Aid. He’s not the same player anymore.”
The reason Belt believes this so strongly is due to how much Elliott still needs to be paid after the 2022 season. There is still $50 million remaining for 2023-2026, and Elliott is already arguably past his prime. Plus, the Cowboys can make the cut in 2023 and only lose $11.86 million in dead money, a reasonable price to get the biggest running back contract in the NFL off the Dallas books.
McCarthy Speaks on Zeke
On the same day as Elliott’s comments on his future, McCarthy was asked about the Cowboys RB’s standing with the team and his future.
The Cowboys HC credited Elliott’s toughness for playing through a partially torn PCL in 2021, before calling him a vital member of the squad.
“Players play hurt in this league and he did for a big part of the season,” McCarthy said in his presser. “I look at it from the other end. I think it is really a reflection on who he is as a competitor and a football player… Ezekiel Elliott is one of our rocks on this team. He’s a keystone player. You need those types of individuals to win championships.”
It’s the kind of quote a coach has to say, but also a completely fair point: Elliott still cracked 1000 rushing yards last season despite his injury, and it’s only fair to expect him to go above that for 2022.