If Dallas Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott ends up being disciplined by the league for a domestic violence accusation, what does the team do?
The NFL is starting to make a habit of dragging things out. After spending two years — and who knows how many millions of dollars — trying to figure out if New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady knew a ball was flat, the league is again taking forever to decide whether or not to punish a star player.
Dallas Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott has been facing league discipline pretty much since joining the NFL last season for an accusation of domestic violence.
More than once it seemed like this was going to go away and both Elliott and Cowboys owner Jerry Jones have gone public asking the league to make a decision about the case. Now ESPN’s Adam Schefter says there could still be some kind of punishment coming Zeke’s way, despite recent whispers indicating the opposite (via Bob Hille of Sporting News):
"“His is a situation that has gone back and forth so many times, I’ve spoken to some people within the league who, during the course of the offseason, got a sense that some form of discipline could happen. And then I spoke to somebody last week and they’re like, ‘Yeah, I don’t think anything is going to happen here.’ And then a decision that many people thought would come before the start of the the July Fourth weekend on Friday when the NFL usually makes a lot of decisions, hands down some news, I was told that was being pushed back.”"
The discussion on the incident by Schefter brings the question back to life about what the Cowboys will do should Elliott wind up missing time. Currently they have Darren McFadden, Rod Smith and Alfred Morris on the roster, but is that enough?
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McFadden went for 1,089 yards in 2015 and seems like the logical choice to back up Zeke for a short spell. However, he missed most of 2016 with an elbow injury and wound up with just 87 yards on 24 carries (3.6 yards per rush).
As for Morris, he too has topped the 1,000-yard mark in his career, doing so from 2012-14. The first-year Cowboy wasn’t any more impressive in 2016 than McFadden though as he had 3.5 yards per rush on 69 attempts and has seen his yard-per carry average dip in each season since exploding onto the scene as a rookie. Smith, the final option has two carries for five yards in his career.
Should the Cowboys look elsewhere for help, or stand pat with the players they have? Currently the best players available in free agency would be DeAngelo Williams and Chris Johnson. Both played well when called upon in their last stops with the Pittsburgh Steelers and Arizona Cardinals respectively.
While neither may be a huge upgrade over what Dallas has, it wouldn’t hurt to look. They also may need to pay close attention to the waiver wires to see what names pop up as cuts start to come during and after training camp and the preseason.
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One thing that’s for sure, they can’t just pretend like they don’t need a backup plan, because it’s starting to become obvious that this thing isn’t going away for Elliott.