Dallas Cowboys running back, Ezekiel Elliott is expected to get some reps in Saturday’s preseason match-up against the Oakland Raiders. Take it for what you will, but the fact that the Elliott is playing may allude to the Cowboys brass thinking they will have Elliott for week one when they host the New York Giants.
Jason Garrett met with reports and mentioned that the plan is to have him ready for week one should he be available.
“I think the biggest thing is just having the mindset of preparing him for Week 1 of the season, and that’s the approach that we’ve taken,” Garrett said. “He’s got a number of more reps in training camp than he did last year. If you remember, he had the hamstring injury last year and ended up playing in the second-to-last preseason game and got eight, 10, 12 snaps in that ballgame, so that’s the approach that we’ve taken with him, and anything beyond that we’ll take as it comes.”
Elliott was suspended six games for violating the NFL’s personal conduct policy, but he has filed an appeal, and the hearing is scheduled for Tuesday, August 29th. Anything else is up in the air at the moment. The suspension could get reduced, but if not, Elliott’s attorneys have “prepared to battle” which could ultimately lead to them taking this all the way to court, similar to what Tom Brady did with “Deflate-gate”.
Regardless, it seems that despite all of the speculation as to why Elliott is playing Saturday, it merely would have been the plan all along.
“I think it’s the position that takes more pounding maybe than any other if you think about what their job is, handling the ball, running 25 times in a game and getting tackled 20-25 times in a game. They get hit probably twice as many more times, and so those guys probably take the most physical beating among any players on the field, so you balance that — putting them at risk in that regard and getting them ready to play.”
If the suspension is reduced to a lesser length or Elliott and his team decide to not take it to court, he won’t be available for week one against New York. In his absence, the plan is for the Cowboys to go with Darren McFadden, Alfred Morris and Rod Smith.
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