No. 4 worst NFL contract in 2022: Ezekiel Elliott, RB, Dallas Cowboys
6 years, $90 million, $50.052 million guaranteed
At an average of $15 million per season, Ezekiel Elliott is the second-highest paid running back in the NFL each year and his average annual value cracks the top 100 overall in the NFL.
He’s got the second biggest cap hit on the Cowboys in 2022 and the 32nd highest cap hit ($18.22 million) of any player in the league.
The Dallas Cowboys figured that Elliott could revive the value of the running back from the 1990s, but that hasn’t happened.
He’s undoubtedly one of the best backs in the NFL, but would Elliott be one of the top 32 most coveted players in the entire NFL?
In terms of the practical guarantees in his contract, Elliott’s $50 million-plus is easily the biggest figure at his position group in the NFL, ahead of Christian McCaffrey by almost $12 million and ahead of Alvin Kamara by $17 million.
The bizarre thing is, this contract reset the market all the way back in 2019 and nobody’s really even come close since then, at least not in terms of guaranteed money.
McCaffrey topped Elliott’s deal in terms of average annual value, but that’s what you get when you catch 100 passes multiple times as a running back.
Kamara matched the $15 million annually, but on a shorter deal.
The Cowboys have really stuck themselves with Elliott and maybe they’re okay with that.