Dallas Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott remains vital to the Dallas Cowboys offense, but not a few believe that it might be time for the team to hand the RB1 reigns to Tony Pollard. Whether that would eventually be the case in the upcoming 2022 NFL season or not, it doesn't appear Elliott's relationship with Pollard is getting affected by such insinuations.
As Killin' Moore recently noted, Ezekiel Elliott is even the one who willingly brings up the name of Tony Pollard when discussing the Cowboys' run game, and doesn't make it sound like they're not on the same level.
“Zeke, when asked about the run game, doesn't talk about Pollard as a backup. He brings Tony up, unprompted, when asked about the run game. He is part of a tandem, and has no ego about it.”
Back in the 2021 NFL season, Ezekiel Elliott still dominated the snap count share on offense among Cowboys running backs, appearing in 65.88% of offensive snaps. Pollard was second with 30.46%. The gap between Elliott and Pollard in that area in 2021 was slightly tighter than the one they had between them in 2020 when the former had a 68.79% snap count share to the latter's 31.65%.
There are also a number of stats out there that supports the notion that it would be best for the Cowboys to now give the keys to the team's ground attack to Pollard. Per Football Outsiders, Pollard is higher on rushing DVOA (fourth) than Ezekiel Elliott (23rd).
The Cowboys might have a tough decision to make with regard to their running back order before they open their season on Sep. 11 against the Jacksonville Jaguars at home.