Ezekiel Elliott returning to Dallas Cowboys, ‘wheels in motion’ last week with no running back drafted

The Cowboys are officially bringing back Ezekiel Elliott.

It was the worst-kept secret in town.

The Dallas Cowboys are officially bringing Ezekiel Elliot back.

For a few weeks now the Cowboys have been dancing around the idea of bringing back their former number four overall pick. Zeke spent seven seasons with the Cowboys and was released last offseason due to the financial ramifications of signing an extension with the team in the lead-up to the 2019 season. He played for the New England Patriots in 2023 and carried the ball 184 times for 642 yards with 3 rushing scores (3.5 YPC).

There is no question that Zeke is a beloved member of Cowboys franchise history, but he was not exactly a productive player last season. We will see how big of a role he will command with the team but he enters a running back room currently occupied by Rico Dowdle, Deuce Vaughn and Royce Freeman.

Tom Pelissero, who broke the news with NFL Network, makes it seem like in his initial tweet that the Cowboys at least partly… strategically did not draft a running back this past weekend based on preliminary talks with Elliott. If that is indeed the case that is quite the choice of process.

The run on running backs happened in the fourth round so if Dallas had wanted one they would have either had to have traded up into the round due to not having a pick (as a result of the Trey Lance trade from last August) or gotten ahead of things with their final pick in the third round when they selected Notre Dame linebacker Marist Liufau.

Ezekiel Elliott had 12 rushing touchdowns in his final season with the team (2022) and can potentially be a goal line option for the team. Perhaps that is the plan.

We will see.