Former Dallas Cowboys wideout Dez Bryant came to the defense of his former teammate Ezekiel Elliott after a recent report raised concerns about his declining health and overall free agency value.
Elliott's play clearly declined during the 2022 season, with fellow running back Tony Pollard recording a better campaign compared to him. It sparked questions about his future with the team, especially since he has a $16.72 million cap hit to the Cowboys. A lot of scouts and analysts also believe that he has little left in his legs to be productive. With that said, a report from Bob Sturm of The Athletic noted that Elliott's only option might be to stay in Dallas and take a pay cut–a massive one that is–since no other team would want him.
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Bryant saw the report and was quick to blast the narrative being put out against Elliott. The ex-Cowboys wideout pointed out that the story should be fair to the running back, highlighting that it was clear he was playing injured in the past campaign. Not to mention that he thinks the talks about his poor health is largely exaggerated.
“How can all scouts and analysts agree to this?” Bryant started. “Zeke ain’t gotta tell me s**t for me to know he was sacrificing his unhealed body to give the Cowboys the best chance to win games playing whatever role.
“But if you[‘re] going to talk about his game declining make sure you talk about how badly injured he was. Make it make sense. Everybody will eventually take a step back but nowhere near how they are trying to make Zeke look… keep your mental tight, Zeke.”
The reports about Ezekiel Elliott's health is definitely concerning, but as Dez Bryant pointed out, it's unfair to judge him until we actually see how he performs when fully healthy.
Bryant does make a great point highlighting that the story against Zeke might be exaggerated just because of one poor season.
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