After spending the entire offseason embroiled in contract drama, holding out through camp for a new deal, and ultimately locking down a 6-year, $90 million extension with the Cowboys, Ezekiel Elliott has done exactly what he was supposed to do: balled OUT. He’s a top 10 RB and is on pace for a 350-touch, 1,680-yard, 13-TD season through 6 weeks, which has squashed any internal competition for carries in the Cowboys’ offense. Zeke has out-touched backup Tony Pollard 71-7 over the last 3 weeks, averaging 5.3 targets per game in that span on top of his usual workload of 20-30 carries. Dallas’ offense isn’t perfect by any means, but Elliott has secured his bell-cow role for presumably the rest of the season, and that alone is enough to make him a must-start regardless of opponent.
It was predictable that Dak Prescott would cool off after his hot start to the season, but the fact that it hasn’t impacted Ezekiel Elliott‘s outputs is a great sign moving forward — especially with Amari Cooper likely to miss at least one game with a bruised thigh. Zeke has proven throughout his career that he’s the type of guy that can put an offense on his back for 4 quarters if he has to, and he may need to do exactly that while his QB gets his shit together and his WRs and O-Line try to get healthy.
Dallas’ schedule moving forward will test Zeke’s consistency for sure, with tough matchups with the Eagles, Vikings, and Patriots over the next 6 weeks. While the matchups aren’t necessarily ideal, Elliott’s heavy workload isn’t going anywhere, and his top-10 scoring defense can keep his team in games when the offense does struggle. Zeke is comfortably sitting in the RB2 spot on The Wolf’s Rest of Season rankings, and he should be able to stay there for the foreseeable future.
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