After a year apart, Ezekiel Elliott and the Cowboys are back together.
Call it a reconciliation, if you must. Dak Prescott sees it more like a reunion Dallas sorely needed.
"Super excited. Just obviously knowing our history, my experience with him as a brother, but, in this case, as a teammate, understanding what he brings to the team," Prescott said Wednesday, via the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. "Just the locker room alone, the culture he sets, a guy that does everything the right way from, from the locker room to the field."
Prescott didn't outright admit Dallas lacked such a presence last season, but the Cowboys undoubtedly needed help at running back entering 2024, especially after losing Tony Pollard to free agency. The Cowboys' gamble -- that Pollard could replace Elliott's production as a lead back -- didn't quite pay off in 2023, with Pollard finishing with slightly worse final statistics operating without Elliott than he did in 2022, their last season spent together.
When Pollard departed Dallas for Nashville, Dallas was left with a significant hole at running back, and little cash to spend on a replacement. That's how the Cowboys ended up circling back to Elliott, a veteran who needed a job after spending 2023 as a committee back with the Patriots.
Prescott has plenty of reason to be giddy. He and Elliott entered the NFL together as members of the same 2016 class and carried Dallas to prominence throughout their seven seasons spent together.
They're close friends, and as they each embark on their ninth professional seasons, they're together once again. Prescott sees the partnership as nothing but positive, especially now that they're senior members of the locker room.
"He's honest, what you see is what you get as I said, he can have fun when it's time, but when it's time to be serious and lock in, there's nobody better than him," Prescott said. "Just to be able to bring the fun to the locker room, but in the same sense you see that and be able to separate that moment you walk on the field to see his focus, to see his intensity, to see the way that he practiced as I said every young guy should follow, the way that he goes about his business on the field."
Elliott will wear the star in a role that projects to be less than the bell cow he once was, but remains important. He'll be the veteran leader of a relatively young group comprised of Rico Dowdle, Deuce Vaughn and a collection of runners (Royce Freeman, Snoop Conner, Malik Davis and Nathaniel Peat) fighting for roster spots.
Yes, Zeke is officially an OG. And Prescott is excited to see how Elliott will lead the rest of the group in what is setting up to be another pivotal season for Dallas.
"You add a guy like Zeke, to a room that has a lot of depth in that sense, obviously, it's a young group," Prescott said. "But I think that's the benefit of adding a guy like Zeke and what he can bring to that, what he can just give those guys for their career, the way that they can approach it, that's going to speed that process up for them."
