Lone Star Legend

How the Dallas Cowboys’ Ezekiel Elliott dominates the NFL

- Keith Gordon

Ever since he was a teenager, all eyes have been on Ezekiel Elliott. After all, that’s the inevitable result when you’re a superstar running back who played first for Ohio State and now for one of the most high-profile football teams in the country, the Dallas Cowboys. It’s also part of the territory when you dominate the NFL as Elliott has since his arrival in 2016, beginning with his monster rookie season where he averaged over 100 rushing yards a game and led the Cowboys to the playoffs.

He’s followed that up by establishing himself as an elite all-purpose back for the league’s most popular team, and in doing so, embraced the high expectations placed upon him when he was fourth overall in the 2016 draft, an atypical early selection for a running back. In a mere three years in the league, Zeke, as he’s known by many football fans, has already led the league in rushing twice, proving himself as a dominant force right out of the gate.

Unlike many high draftpicks, selected by struggling teams looking to rebuild their rosters, Elliott found himself in the perfect setting. Not only did the Cowboys find a star quarterback to play alongside him, un

covering elite passer Dak Prescott in the fourth round of the draft, but they already had in place one of the best offensive lines in football, one of the most important factors in any running back’s success. As a result, both Elliott and Prescott made the Pro Bowl as rookies, the first quarterback-running back teammates in modern NFL history to achieve such acclaim as first-year players.