Cowboys Draft: The Case FOR Drafting Ezekiel Elliott

Cowboys Nation has grown quite an affinity for Ohio State running back, Ezekiel Elliot. This is how that selection makes sense for the Cowboys…

Yesterday, we looked at the case AGAINST drafting Ohio State running back, Ezekiel Elliott, in the first round of the 2016 NFL Draft. Today, we are going to make the case FOR drafting the young Buckeye.

Ezekiel Elliott is regarded as one of the best RB prospects in years and possibly the best since Adrian Peterson. His 7.2 NFL.com prospect rating blows last year’s top RB, Todd Gurley, who only had a 6.3 rating, out of the water.

I’m not going to spend the length of the article attempting to convince readers that Ezekiel Elliott is a great talent worthy of a top pick. You either believe it or you don’t. If you believe what the experts are saying then you believe he is. If you have your own opinion, then you don’t. It’s as simple as that.

What I am going to do is discuss how a player like Zeke makes sense for the Dallas Cowboys. As mentioned earlier, we discussed the economics of drafting a RB with a premium pick and how Ezekiel Elliott does NOT make sense for the Dallas Cowboys. In case you missed it check it out as the related story here:

Great running backs can be found in virtually every round. While the success rate decreases as the rounds progress, steals can be found later in the draft. The problem is…that strategy still fails more often than it succeeds and since the middle rounds only yield a 20% success rate (Pro Bowl) for RBs, it could take four to five years to find that “steal”.

And four to five years is something the Dallas Cowboys do not have.

The window is closing for the Cowboys and that’s largely because the window is closing on Tony Romo. But it’s that closing window that makes a player like Ezekiel Elliott make so much sense and it’s that impending retirement of Romo that makes Elliott so economically feasible.

The argument against drafting Elliott largely revolved around the economics. Investing high in another offensive player (especially RB) will greatly inhibit the Cowboys ability to re-sign all three of their potential All-Pro offensive linemen.

The Cowboys had a plan to pay their linemen instead of their RBs. To depart from that strategy now could set them back even further. It would also leave peanuts for the defense to improve and would no-doubt make the Cowboys a very one-dimensional team for the next decade since no funds will be left to pay the defense.

But Tony Romo’s looming retirement opens things up considerably for the Cowboys’ budget. Whether you believe Romo can play four years or just one year, the Cowboys will find massive salary cap savings when their signal-caller comes off the books. It’s that savings that the Cowboys can use to go large (financially) in the running-game.

With Tony Romo, Jason Witten, and even Dez Bryant likely to be done in Dallas in five years, most fiscal planning is impossible to speculate.

Five years from now the Cowboys will likely have three of the NFL’s highest paid offensive linemen. That’s a lot of money dedicated to the running game especially if they re-sign Zeke Elliot, who’s expected to be an All-Pro himself. But without Tony Romo and his $20M+ yearly salary on the books, they can afford to go big on the running game.

Interesting note: I’m a believer that teams should draft QBs every draft, but if the since even unproven QBs demand ridiculous money on their second contracts, drafting and developing a QB this year would prohibit the Cowboys from re-signing Zeke and the offensive line. Look no further than Denver and the Brock Osweiler situation. They drafted and developed Brock and then when the time came to hand him the reigns, he walked away for big-time money.

With Tony Romo, Jason Witten, and even Dez Bryant likely to be done in Dallas in five years, most fiscal planning is impossible to speculate. That’s the beauty of the “closing window”.

What’s even better is that if Ezekiel Elliot turns out to be as advertised, he would be a great bridge to the next signal caller that eventually follows Tony Romo. Do you think Teddy Bridgewater appreciates that he joined a team with an established offensive line and domaint RB?

I think you know that question was rhetorical.