Ezekiel Elliott

:Elliott is heading into his 6th NFL season. It’s quite likely that he has declined at least a little vs. the beginning of his career. But the results of his first 5 years also suggest that injuries to teammates impacted his 2020 quite a bit. Dak Prescott’s Week 5 downfall certainly hurt the offense on whole. And Elliott undoubtedly was hurt by losing his starting center plus another 36 player games among LT Tyron Smith, RT La’el Collins and RG Zack Martin. All 3 of those guys return this year, as does Prescott. Tony Pollard also returns as a workload challenger, but he reached 10 carries just twice in 15 shared games with Elliott last year. And the season’s final 2 contests -- following the game Elliott missed with a hamstring injury -- found Elliott out-carrying Pollard 33-14. We see no reason to project Pollard to take significantly more work from Elliott in 2021. The Dallas starter belongs in consideration near the end of Round 1 in fantasy drafts.  

Elliott's 2020 season was considered a letdown by those who drafted him, which is really something when you consider that he finished top-five at RB in carries and targets while posting his fifth-consecutive top-12 fantasy campaign. The issue, of course, was a split season that saw Elliott post the third-most fantasy points during Dak Prescott's five starts (top-13 every week) before plummeting to 24th (one weekly finish better than 12th) the rest of the way. Prescott and Dallas' elite offensive line are back and healthy for 2021, which positions Elliott, who paced the NFL with 22 carries inside the 5-yard line last season, for a big rebound. The 26-year-old could prove to be a steal late in the first round of drafts.

Does the offensive line make the back or the back make the offensive line? In truth, a great running game emerges from a confluence of solid line play and talented ball carriers. Ezekiel Elliott remains one of the league's most talented tailbacks, but he's coming off a down season that casts doubts on the decision to sign him to a six-year, $90 million extension. Elliott set career lows in attempts per game (16.3), yards per attempt (4.0), yards per target (4.8), and touchdowns (8) while playing fifteen games. Optimists can blame more than degrading offensive line play. They can point to Elliott's bout of Covid in the summer, Prescott's season-ending injury, and the defense's poor play. Presuming the All-Pro has a productive, healthy training camp, expectations for a bounce-back season are probably justified.