Anybody who watches the Cowboys — HELL, anybody who watches soccer! — is aware of who one of the best operating again in Dallas is. It’s not the previous No. 4 general decide getting paid $15 million a 12 months. It’s 2019 fourth-round choice, Tony Pollard. Even previous to final Sunday’s recreation, there’d been shouting from Cowboys followers throughout the nation for change. In between incoherent cries of “This is our year!” and “We dem boyz!” have been utterances of Pollard’s greatness. Everyone knew that with Ezekiel Elliott out, Pollard wouldn’t simply shine, he’d thrive. Boy, did he.
Pollard tied his profession finest in yards and broke into the top zone for a career-high three scores. He additionally added one reception for 16 yards. To put that in perspective, for the reason that begin of the 2019 season, Zeke has had solely two video games with that many or extra speeding yards. The most up-to-date of which got here on Oct. 3, 2020, greater than two years in the past. It took Pollard one recreation to have a greater recreation than Zeke has had in over two years.
WOW! Anyone of their proper thoughts would definitely make Pollard the crew’s starter shifting ahead, proper? After all, the Cowboys are 6-2, simply 1.5-games again of the division-leading Philadelphia Eagles. Wouldn’t they wish to put their literal finest foot ahead for the rest of the season?
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Despite Pollard’s incredible performance, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones seems insistent on keeping Elliott as the team’s lead back. Now, you could say to yourself “He’s the owner, not the coach. Does he really have any say?” That’s a legitimate question. Perhaps Mike McCarthy and company will opt to use Pollard more frequently moving forward against Jones’ wishes. That said, Jones still has a lot of say in how the Cowboys operate and anything he says shouldn’t be disregarded.
The Cowboys are paying Elliott a lot of money, so it makes sense that they’d want to continue using him at a high rate. What about next year though?
Despite four years remaining on Zeke’s contract after 2022, Dallas has an out in-built after this season. The lifeless cap hit can be a tad below $12 million, however that’s pennies in comparison with what it could’ve been had the Cowboys lower Zeke previous to the 2022 season ($30,080,000). This opt-out was created in case of an emergency, in case Elliott was not wanted. Sure, the Cowboys would like to have a fantastic RB duo behind quarterback Dak Prescott, however $15 million a 12 months for an inefficient RB being outclassed by his backup? That’s not value it.
Could the Cowboys take the out and re-negotiate a brand new contract befitting of his new position shifting ahead? Absolutely! But I doubt Zeke would take to that very kindly. If Dallas opts out of the contract, I wouldn’t be stunned if Zeke tries to discover a position elsewhere and results in the same state of affairs to what occurred with Le’Veon Bell in 2018 — that’s, pondering a crew can be prepared to pay up for him, however nobody biting, then being pressured to play for much less cash than he would’ve made below his new contract with the Cowboys.
There can also be an opportunity that the Cowboys don’t decide out in any respect. This can be silly contemplating that Pollard’s 9.31 yards per carry this previous Sunday are higher than something Elliott has executed for everything of his profession, however I wouldn’t put it previous them. The argument might be made that Pollard’s legs have been contemporary, having not been burdened by a workhorse again’s workload for the primary seven weeks, however individuals stated the identical stuff about Austin Ekeler a number of years in the past — and now look the place Ekeler is. These are NFL athletes. They know how you can maintain in form (some individuals would say that Elliott doesn’t, however I gained’t go there), and so they know how you can modify to elevated workloads.
Pollard is youthful, cheaper, and extra explosive than his backfield counterpart. He deserves the lead position. He higher get that chance subsequent season.