Ezekiel Elliott will be entering into his third NFL season in 2018. The first two seasons have been really impressive. Of course, his rookie season the Dallas Cowboys went 13-3 and he was the league’s leading rusher. In 2017, even though he missed six games he finished tenth in the league in rushing yards, falling just seventeen yards short of another thousand yard season. He is tied for the league lead in 100 yard rushing games since 2016.
Elliott is already a top three running back in the NFL and is the Cowboys best offensive player yet he still can grow at his position. You might ask, “How can a great player like Zeke improve?”
Elliott is an exceptional blocker, has game breaking speed with great vision. He is an all around back. One part of his game that hasn’t quite been showcased as much is his ability to catch the ball out of the backfield.
In his first two seasons, Elliott had 58 receptions for 632 yards. The Cowboys have said this offseason that they want to make the offense more “Dak friendly” and have more creativity to the offense.
One way to do that is to feed Zeke and you can do that by giving him more than just 20-25 carries a game against loaded boxes. Without the game breaking receivers on the outside and with a back like Elliott that should be a focal point.
When you watch teams like the Steelers with how they utilize Leveon Bell, the Rams with Gurley, and the Saints with Ingram and Kamara and then a couple seasons ago, Cardinals with David Johnson there are running backs all over the league making an impact catching the ball out of the backfield. All the running backs listed have had at least fifty catches in a season, with every running back except Ingram eclipsing the sixty catch mark.
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