No Tag For Tony? Micah Parsons Hopes Cowboys Re-Sign 'Every-Down Guy!' Pollard
To say that Tony Pollard's first season as the Dallas Cowboys' feature back didn't go as well as he hoped would be an understatement.
Pollard's stats look fine at first glance, as he rushed for 1,005 yards and added another 311 yards as a receiver. However, his efficiency took a sharp decline this season compared to last. He averaged just four yards per carry in 2023, down from 5.2 in 2022, and his yards per reception plummeted to 5.7 from 9.5 the season prior.
After a disappointing season that followed "TP'' being franchise-tagged, the Cowboys now have to decide whether to re-sign Pollard, or let him walk to free agency in hopes of securing an upgrade at the position.
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Out of the question, it can be assumed, is yet another one-year tag. That cost Dallas $10 million a year ago to secure Pollard; this time around, the tag window opens on Feb. 20, with a 15-day decision period for teams.
The running back tag is now $14 million. That's surely not happening here, but ...
For Cowboys linebacker Micah Parsons, Pollard does deserve another chance even after a tough go of things in 2023.
"I would say toward the end of the season Tony Pollard was catching his rhythm again," Parsons said on The Stephen A. Smith Show. "I do think he's an every-down guy. You've got to think, he broke his fibula, tibia, something, that's a catastrophic injury. You're talking about a guy that's really been off from that January, came back Week 1 but he didn't really do a lot.
"It takes a while to get back into football. He didn't do OTAs. He didn't do minicamp. He kind of did camp a little bit like working through it, getting back into it. You saw him increase, like he even said, 'I'm just now getting back to myself.' I would give Tony Pollard another shot."
Pollard was indeed fighting an uphill battle for the early part of the season, as he suffered a fractured fibula in last year's playoff loss to the San Francisco 49ers. The aftereffects of that injury and the subsequent surgery were clear to see, especially early on.
Still, he never quite regained the form he had in prior seasons, even towards the end of the year.
Perhaps another year to recover could help Pollard get back into form, but either way, Parsons clearly believes in his teammate.
