Get a grip, Jerry, Ezekiel Elliott is a role player these days

Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and his delusion about the team knows no bounds. We’ve seen this over the years, and Jones reminded us of this during an interview on 105.3 The fan in Dallas earlier this week.

“The toll Zeke takes on the defense with his power, that’s very impactful,” Jones said. “Not finesse but hard-nosed football we’re trying to establish.”

Child, please. Jerry, you ain’t fooling anybody. We know you’ve got to figure out a way to justify that contract you willingly handed over to Ezekiel Elliott a couple of years ago before you finally gave Dak Prescott his huge deal. Elliott has become an overpaid glorified fullback mostly. Yes, he’s a great blocker in the backfield, but running backs don’t get $90 million contracts because of their blocking prowess.

Elliott has two 100-plus yard games this season, which happened in back-to-back weeks in October. Since Week 5, where Zeke rushed for 110 yards, he’s failed to even crack 70 yards on the ground in any game. From Week 6-15, Elliott has 410 rushing yards at 3.5 per carry. Now, this can’t be the type of production Jones envisioned when Zeke signed his $90 million deal. Yet Jones still had the nerve to say he overpaid for Prescott during the press conference where they announced Dak’s deal in the offseason.

Dak may not be having a Pro Bowl season, but Elliot has basically been replaced by Tony Pollard this year. At this point, Elliott being the designated starting back for Dallas is more like a career achievement award than anything else. I’m not saying Pollard should get all the carries either because he’s not that kind of running back. Zeke appears to be built for the pounding of 20 plus rushes per week if necessary, but his body seems to have forgotten that, and the Cowboys have definitely noticed. Elliot is down to 14 carries per game this year. Elliott has reached 14 rushes only twice in Dallas’ last seven games.

It’s time to face the hard truth, Jerry. You’ll be moving on from Elliott sooner than you would have ever imagined. This signing was a swing and a miss. You can’t keep telling us about his impact when he hasn’t truly impacted a game in what seems like two years. And with all those other big contracts on the roster, it’ll be time to move on from somebody either way. Go ahead and just rip that Band-Aid off and get it over with. You’ll be relieved once it’s over.