Dallas Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott has established himself as one of the premier workhorses in the NFL. Despite his success in such role, the Cowboys have indicated that they would like to lighten his workload a bit moving forward.
Elliott's taken on a central role in the Cowboys offense. According to Charean Williams of Pro Football Talk, running backs coach Gary Brown indicated that Dallas will make sure that he is as healthy as possible for the postseason:
“I think it’s a situation where we understand what Zeke is to our football team, to our organization, to our success,” Brown said. “I think it’s important for us as an organization to maximize his ability to go out and help us win championships, and the way we do that is to take a little bit off of him. You know, 300 carries last season. It must be over 1,000 touches so far. So we’ve got to make sure we take care of that guy.”
The prospect of Elliott taking on a lesser role in the offense certainly seems a bit far-fetched. He has been the workhorse in Dallas since his arrival and his touches have only increased with each season. He finished the 2018 campaign with 304 carries and a career-high 77 receptions.
Regardless, the plan to ensure Elliott's health for the postseason makes sense. The Cowboys are now at the point where they would like to legitimately compete for championships. That will be much more difficult to do if Elliott is anything less than 100 percent in the playoffs.
Fortunately, Dallas has taken important steps to ensure they do not have to rely as heavily on Elliott as they have in year's past. While the offense has relied heavily on the run due to the lack of weapons in the passing game, that changed with the arrival of wide receiver Amari Cooper. It will be on quarterback Dak Prescott to lighten the load for Elliott by carrying the offense with his arm.
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