Ezekiel Elliott's NFL Future: Contributor Role & Team Fits | Patriots, Cowboys, and More!

Zeke Elliott's Future in the NFL: Where Will He Land? | Contributor Role & Team Fits | NFL Analysis" Join Julian Martinez and Kyle Ledbetter as they break down Ezekiel Elliott's uncertain future in the NFL after his release from the Dallas Cowboys. In this engaging conversation, they discuss Zeke's potential as a contributor on a winning team and evaluate his fit with various franchises. From analyzing his performance metrics to considering his role as a short-yardage specialist, the hosts explore possible landing spots for the former star running back. Is a reunion with the Cowboys in the cards? Will the New England Patriots offer him a chance? Get insights, predictions, and more in this thought-provoking discussion. Share your opinions on where you think Zeke should sign this season and don't forget to like, subscribe, and follow us on social media for more NFL analysis. Stay tuned for the latest updates on Zeke's journey in the league!

Julian Martinez: [00:00:05] It's been a tough offseason to be a star running back, and I don't think anyone has experienced that harder than Ezekiel Elliott, The former league's leading rusher, has worked out with one team that we know of since the Dallas Cowboys decided to cut bait, move forward with Tony Pollard as their lead running back. I think we both will agree that Zeke will find a team. But how do you think Zeke can still be a contributor on a winning team? [00:00:26][21.9]
Kyle Ledbetter: [00:00:27] Define contributor? Because if he's going to be a thousand yard running back, getting like 200 carries a game. No, probably not. But, I mean, I feel like Zeke was a contributor last year in the Cowboys, right? I mean, Pollard kind of took over the reins as the starting running back towards the middle of the season. And part of that was I don't think Zeke played a full season last year, if my memory serves me correctly. I think at this point for Ezekiel Elliot, he's reached that 28, 29 year old plateau where running backs their bodies have been worn down and no one really wants to sign them anymore. I mean, we've all seen the evolution of Zeke going from the the six pack in the crop top shirts at Ohio State to now. He doesn't look like he's always in the best of shape and he's had injuries three of the last four seasons that have led to him missing significant amounts of time. And at this point of his career, I think the league's kind of telling you that Zeke is not really worth very much at this point. And then there's also the fact that he's Ezekiel Elliott, former number four pick and star running back of the Dallas Cowboys, which used to be a positive. It used to be like, well, we can get a little bit of clout for this player joining our team in the retirement home of the Arizona Cardinals. Used to do this with players all the time. But I guess now that the NFL's a national sport, it doesn't really make all that much of a difference. If the star running back of the Dallas Cowboys joins your team because you're not actually getting much like positive benefits as a result of it as you probably used to. So I guess that's not a boost that's working in Ezekiel Elliott's favor, which is the popularity points of him joining the Cincinnati Bengals per, say, 15 years ago, and then getting the the popularity boost of being able to sell jerseys and whatever else that that doesn't really exist anymore in the NFL. So at this point, you're just judging Zeke based on his merits in the leagues, telling you that he does not have much merit. [00:02:19][112.0]
Julian Martinez: [00:02:19] Well, we know the one team that he has worked out with was the New England Patriots. That was a couple weeks ago as of this recording, and we still haven't seen any traction on that Rhamondre Stevenson is the lead back there. Do you like that fit? If Zeke was designing New England, maybe. [00:02:34][14.6]
Kyle Ledbetter: [00:02:35] I mean, New England wants to run the ball a little bit and Bill Belichick's the original, just get five running backs and they're all interchangeable and they're either all white or named white. That is the formula that Bill Belichick has been employing for like what, 15 years? So I guess adding another running back into the mix wouldn't hurt, I guess. Speaking of hurt, I'm looking at Ezekiel Elliott's numbers and you have a full season in 2019 and then 15 games in 2020, a full 17 game season in 2021 and 14 games last year. So for Ezekiel Elliott, it's relatively good health, but you've seen kind of a slow, precipitous drop, not just in the amount of yards, but the number of yards per carry for Ezekiel Elliott Based on the numbers, I think he would be a good back up for the New England Patriots at this point, headed into his age 28 season. But I guess that I know it's kind of crazy to say, I guess I would prioritize Rhamondre Stevenson if I'm New England, I know they don't have Damien Harris anymore, but they've got they drafted someone in the draft this year also who's on that. [00:03:36][61.5]
Julian Martinez: [00:03:36] So their current depth chart reads as Rhamondre, number one. Ty Montgomery, who's still in the league, is their number two running back Pierre Strong Junior and Kevin Harris. So I think what Zeke would bring to the team is certainly like an edge at running back. Like, you know, if you need a strong goal line back, like one thing actually that's kind of come to light, that's funny enough. If he ends up back there, the Dallas Cowboys, they're kind of struggling to get short yardage situations, which I think that Zeke still provided to that team. A little bit of a punch because Pollard, obviously he's more known as a speed back, you know, hasn't had a lot of carries in his NFL career. And then you look at what they got now at the back a position with Deuce Vaughn, Deuce finds a spark plug in your backfield certainly but five five he's not exactly going to move the pile whenever you need to get that extra two yards or so you know. [00:04:28][51.3]
Kyle Ledbetter: [00:04:28] Wasn't. That what Zeke was saying in the off season to He was putting it out there via his agent via leaks that he's like, Hey, I'd be happy to come back to the Cowboys. I'm willing to take a pay cut because the alternative option was he just gets cut. So it was either take a pay cut or don't get or get cut altogether. That's what happened with Joe Mixon in the Bengals, too, by the way, and wasn't the right person to take a pay cut. [00:04:50][21.8]
Julian Martinez: [00:04:50] The Cowboys felt like they didn't want to insult Zeke with the offer. Maybe that was a cop out, but that's something that they definitely said after they let Zeke go, that they didn't want to insult him with a lowball contract offer, which is probably what he's worth now. [00:05:03][13.4]
Kyle Ledbetter: [00:05:04] Really they didn't want to insult Ezekiel Elliott after they turned him into a meme for the rest of time in his last game ever. And there's less. [00:05:11][6.9]
Julian Martinez: [00:05:12] That ever with the Dallas Cowboys. That was Kellen Moore. He's gone now. [00:05:15][3.4]
Kyle Ledbetter: [00:05:17] Yeah, but Jerry Jones loved Ezekiel Elliott Like that was the whole thing, is that Jerry Jones had this fascination with Ezekiel Elliott becoming the the old school face of the Dallas Cowboys, a running back who could churn through the backfield. And remember, Ezekiel Elliott was picked with the fourth pick in the draft. He was as big a running back prospect as there had ever been going into that 2015 or 2016 draft class. And during his contract holdout years ago, Jerry made it clear we're going to get him done, we're going to get it paid, we're going to get Zeke in in the huddle. Like he really wanted Zeke to be a fundamental part of this team. And he gave them $90 million on that contract. Now, Zeke only got to see the guarantees. From what I understand of the contract, which is around 40 something million. But, I mean, at the end of the day, for Ezekiel Elliott, at this point, he is a backup running back. I don't know exactly why nobody has wanted to pick him up at this point, given that he is at the very least still a serviceable NFL running back. But in addition to being 28 years old, I've got his stats here. He's got 322 rush attempts, 242 in ten games, 304 300, 244, 237 231. Like they have been really, really grinding up Zeke Elliott during these seven years that he was in Dallas. And so at this point there might not be a whole lot left other than to make me feel old. Realizing that Dak and Zeke are in their eighth season together with the Cowboys, considering it felt like just yesterday they were the Rookie of the Year tandem that won 13 games, they got the number one seed in the NFC. [00:06:53][96.0]
Julian Martinez: [00:06:54] Now, again, I want to reiterate, I think he's going to find a team because we just played the first week of preseason games. There's going to be some injuries. There's going to be some running backs that get banged up as things go along. And every year you're still going to see a veteran running back get signed like Zeke to help a team. Remember, Melvin Gordon last year ended up signing that contract with the Chiefs and then I'm getting a Super Bowl ring out of it. LeSean McCoy again gets boring with the Chiefs. Ironically enough. [00:07:22][27.4]
Kyle Ledbetter: [00:07:22] I saw Latavius Murray running for, like, three different teams last year. It was crazy. He's like he played two different London games, one with the Saints, one with the Broncos. [00:07:30][8.0]
Julian Martinez: [00:07:31] It was literally a year ago that Zeke was running for a thousand yards. Now, I think the biggest thing about that is the yards per rush keep going down and down. So his efficiency isn't there, but he still can pick up yards. He still and he actually is a pretty decent pass catcher still, too, which is something that a lot of these like running backs later in their career can't really say. Michael Turner. That's what you know, Zeke, I think ideally would be for an NFL team at this point, like a michael Turner. Again, push the pile, get us a few more touchdowns then we could in short yardage situations. Otherwise, remember, even like Todd Gurley is banged up as he was still got double digit touchdowns his last year with the Falcons. That's what Zeke would be. [00:08:11][40.5]
Kyle Ledbetter: [00:08:13] Yes. But the only thing I'll ever remember from that Todd Gurley Falcons season was that he accidentally scored a touchdown when he was supposed to go to the ground, which then led to the Detroit Lions scoring a game winning touchdown drive the last 40 seconds of the game. [00:08:26][13.3]
Julian Martinez: [00:08:26] I will give Todd Gurley a little reprieve. Come on, Falcons defense, do better. We scored a touchdown. You should hold your lead . Hold your water. [00:08:33][7.3]
Kyle Ledbetter: [00:08:34] Yeah that was the most Lions Falcons game of all time. It was incredible. But I mean, you just mentioned like the Michael Turner role for Zeke. And I think that's a great comparison. And just thinking of like the teams who probably would need a michael Turner type of back right now, I know Samaje Perine now plays for Denver, so maybe the Bengals are looking to fill a need there. Obviously the Patriots were interested in Zeke's. They're clearly looking to add more running backs here. [00:08:57][23.7]
Kyle Ledbetter: [00:08:58] I wouldn't say Minnesota. [00:08:58][0.6]
Julian Martinez: [00:08:59] Alvin Kamara just placed on suspension. [00:09:01][1.3]
Kyle Ledbetter: [00:09:02] Yeah that would be an interesting combination there. I was going to say Minnesota with Alexander Mattison and not a whole lot else in that running back room. Maybe they have like Ty Chandler, but still like putting Alexander Mattison as the lead back is an interesting strategy going into the season. So yeah, there's a few options out there that we think could be fits, but I mean there's obviously no place where we're going to see Zeke getting 231 carries like he had last season with the Cowboys. [00:09:29][27.4]
Julian Martinez: [00:09:30] No, exactly. He's definitely a role player at this point in his career. Long gone are the days of superstar running back Ezekiel Elliott. But anyway, guys, let us know in the comments section. Where would you like to see Zeke sign this coming NFL season again? We know the Patriots are interested. We know there's some interest potentially at a reunion with the Cowboys. But is there a Darkhorse contender for his services? We'd like to hear your thoughts in the comments section. Click on the video, subscribe to the channel. Follow us on all our social media from Juju and Kyle stay safe, happy and healthy. We will see you next time. [00:09:30][0.0]
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