Canton Cowboy? Ezekiel Elliott Eyes Rushing Milestone, Football Immortality
Dallas Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott has been criticized for his performance last season, as well as seemingly regressing in recent past. While others look back at Elliott's recent seasons with disdain, he continues to look forward with lofty goals.
“Obviously reaching 10,000 yards is a goal, along with winning a Super Bowl and getting a gold jacket," said Elliott, per The Athletic. “There’s not many guys with gold jackets that didn’t rush for 10,000 yards.”
Entering this season, Elliott has 7,386.
At his career average of 1,231 per season, he could play two more full years and still be shy of 10,000. For what it's worth, if/when Zeke reaches the 10,000 yards he'd still have to play another seven full seasons to flirt with former Cowboy Emmitt Smith's NFL rushing record of 18,355.
Despite Elliott essentially skipping preseason games and the team's plan to feed him the ball, no one in the Cowboys' universe expects him to gaining yards with a star in his helmet come 2031.
One aspect that bodes well for Elliott's lofty goal? Cowboys owner Jerry Jones recently revealed a continued large work load for the featured back.
"Seriously, Zeke's gotta be our feature, and he is our feature," Jones said, via NFL.com. "We can feature him in a lot of different ways. It's critical that we make Zeke -- because he's capable of being that -- really the focus of what we're doing.''
In June, head coach Mike McCarthy stated his confidence in Elliott's abilities, as well as his offseason so far. McCarthy expects a bounce-back season for the Dallas running back.
“I think the biggest thing with Zeke is he’s completely healthy now and he’s had a tremendous offseason,” McCarthy said. "He’s in top shape. At the end of the day, he’s an extremely instinctive, tough, smart football player, great teammate. So, I think he’s definitely set himself up for that."
With a bounce back season and a sustained work load, Elliott would be on the right path to his rushing goal. Meanwhile, Cowboys fans will just be hoping he hits the Super Bowl part of that goal.
