Cowboys Draft: Win Now Means Draft Ezekiel Elliott Now

If the Cowboys want to turn things around and become a Super Bowl contender ASAP, drafting RB Ezekiel Elliott is a smart move.

Few will argue that the window is closing for the Dallas Cowboys. Tony Romo doesn’t have much tread left on his tires and everyone knows,  No QB – No chance. One could certainly argue that using the #4 pick on a QB heir to Tony Romo is the best way to keep that window open. And while at face value that may be a solid plan, picking a franchise QB is far from an exact science and carries with it a 50% bust rate in the first round.

No matter how you slice it, drafting RB Ezekiel Elliott is the best way for the Dallas Cowboys to win now.

It’s hard to dislike Ezekiel Elliott. Since the 2015 college football season ended, Zeke’s game has been broken down, picked apart, and thoroughly scrutinized by every draft geek under the sun. And after it all, his stock only got higher. That’s pretty rare in this overanalyzing day and age we live in.

The 2014 Cowboys ran the ball. They controlled the clock, controlled possession, and kept their highly-flawed defense fresh.

Once considered only a top-15 draft pick, Ezekiel Elliott has catapulted to a possible top-5 pick and dark horse selection of the Dallas Cowboys at #4. Zeke has been rated so highly, some are fearlessly calling him the next Adrian Peterson.

Being the next AD is certainly high praise, and frankly, we seem to hear something like it every couple of drafts.

But to contextualize how highly Zeke is rating right now, look no further than how he compares to last year’s top RB, Todd Gurley.

At this time last year, Todd Gurley was thought of as the best back to enter the NFL in years. His season-ending injury at Georgia blurred his projected draft slot but it didn’t hurt his overall evaluation. NFL.com gave Gurley a 6.3 score making him a clear day 1 starter with potential for much more. Ezekiel Elliott, this year’s consensus top RB, blows Gurley’s score out of the water with a 7.2 NFL.com rating projecting him as a potential All-Pro.

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Zeke is a special player with a complete and dominant set of skills. By this point everyone reading has unavoidably digested roughly one metric boatload of scouting info on the Buckeye so I won’t bombard readers with things they already know. What I will do is lay out exactly why Zeke is the smart pick if the Cowboys want to win now, in the winter of Tony Romo’s career.

The 12-4 Cowboys 2014 season was by far their most successful season in recent memory. One could even argue it was their best team since their last Super Bowl. What can’t be argued was the dominance of the running game and how much that impacted the other phases of the game.

It’s that lack of rushing dominance in 2015 that exposed the Cowboys for what they really are – a highly flawed and incomplete team with its window closing by the day.

Quite clearly, an injured Tony Romo and unhealthy Dez Bryant played a significant role in the Cowboys’ disappointing 2015 season, but look at the Cowboys’ struggles in the three games they actually had Romo and Bryant playing together. Even then, the Cowboys hardly looked like the 12-4 franchise that rolled through the 2014 season the year before.

Simply put: The 2014 Cowboys ran the ball. They controlled the clock, controlled possession, and kept their highly-flawed defense fresh.

Be honest. The 2014 Cowboys defense was terrible. It wasn’t the all-time worst like 2013, but play for play, it was only marginally better. In that 12-4 season, the Cowboys still offered up nearly six yards per play, still had a completely overmatched secondary, and still lacked any semblance of a pass-rush.

I’ll even go out on a limb and say this – If DeMarco Murray hadn’t had such a great season in 2014, that defense probably would have fared even worse than that epically bad 2013 defense.

What a difference a dominant running game makes, right?

DeMarco Murray’s amazing 2014 season absolutely dominated the time of possession (and scored a ton of points in the process). By doing so, it kept the defense fresh and allowed Rod Marinelli to play his top players a greater proportion of the snaps.

You see, Rod Marinelli is a man who values effort as much as he values skill. He doesn’t tolerate 95% effort. He would rather play a lesser-skilled player a couple snaps in a rotation than let a veteran coast on those plays plays. The longer the defense is on the field at any given time, the more snaps the lesser players play.

Offensively, the dominant running game formed the perfect complement to Dez Bryant’s big play potential on the outside. Dez Bryant always required double coverage which usually called for a safety over the top. DeMarco Murray required an in-the-box safety to stop the punishing rushing attack.

Not only did both players still find consistent success and post career years, but their dominance opened things up for players around them who were absolutely neglected by defensive schemes.

In the end, the trickle-down effect of the running game made every other facet of the team better. Exponentially better than they would otherwise be on their own.

The 2016 Cowboys roster is still riddled with holes and the draft has no way of filling all of those holes before the new season begins in September. But drafting a guy like Ezekiel Elliott would do wonders to disguise those holes and would give the Cowboys the best chance to win now.

Next: Here's the Perfect Late-Round Sleeper RB for the Cowboys

The Cowboys’ primary need is still pass-rusher but for a team that wants to win now, players like Joey Bosa and DeForest Buckner may be too little, too late. Win Now? Draft Ezekiel Elliott Now.