Will Ezekiel Elliott justify his huge contract and put up the numbers for his fantasy owners?

It has seemed as though Ezekiel Elliott's time in Dallas is running out ever since the Cowboys signed him to one of the biggest (and arguably worst) running back contracts in recent memory.

This begs two questions. What can the Cowboys anticipate from Elliott this season, and how much longer can they wait for him to justify his high salary?

Elliott's play from last season was initially encouraging, but his partial PCL tear in Week 4 eventually led to a disheartening slide over the final three months of their campaign. Elliott played despite the injury, but his performance wasn't even close to what it fans were accustomed to seeing.

Prospective fantasy owners are curious to see if the 27-year-old can regain his Pro-Bowl form or not.

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Ezekiel Elliott 2022 Fantasy Football Outlook

Ezekiel Elliott recently talked about his PCL tear in a press conference.

“It definitely hampered my burst,” he said. “And I think just the stiffness, keeping it warm on the sideline, but basically just the burst.”

Elliott also claimed that he has been completely healthy since the start of organized team activities. That may serve to quell the anxiety of prospective fantasy owners.

Recall that over the past few years, Elliott has always been selected in the first round of fantasy drafts. This offseason, however, concerns about a lack of explosiveness on the field in the previous campaign have significantly hurt his draft status. Elliott undoubtedly appeared to lose his footing last season. If he has indeed regained his form, however, he could be a steal this coming season.

Elliott averaged 19.1 PPG in PPR formats over the first five weeks of the previous season. Had he been able to sustain that throughout the whole campaign, he would have been among the top three RBs last year.

After week five, Elliott's productivity decreased, but his knee ailment was also becoming worse at the same time. Still, Elliott might be a significant draft-day bargain. That's provided he genuinely has his burst back and receives enough workload as the Cowboys' starting running back.

Objectively speaking, Elliott continues to have a high floor in receptions (47) and touchdowns when looking at his final 2021 numbers (12). On the negative side, he had a second consecutive season with low yards per reception. Over the last two seasons, Elliott received 580 touches. However, only seven of those plays produced a gain of 20 yards or more. He made 10 starts between Week 8 and Week 17. Elliott only averaged 3.4 yards per run and 39.4 rushing yards per contest, though.

Over that time, the Cowboys gave him 14.7 touches per week. Over three home starts early in the year (17/95/2, 20/143/1, and 21/110/1) he had his finest performances running the ball. The Cowboys threw him 23 targets in his final seven games (including the playoffs). He also caught 10 passes for 59 yards and one touchdown.

The challenge lies in sorting through last year's real performance and preseason fantasy hype to determine his draft value in 2022.

Having said that, Elliott will likely get fewer opportunities in the passing game this coming season. That means his probable benchmark this coming season is to have 1,175 total yards, eight to ten touchdowns, and 30 receptions. After all is said and done, Elliott still has the stuff to defy expectations. This is true especially since he plays in one of the league's top offenses.