For a team that is desperate to get a little juice heading into what looks like another blah regular season, the Patriots at least made things a little more interesting yesterday as reports surfaced that they were signing former Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott to a one-year deal. After showing some interest earlier this summer in the other veteran free agent running backs worth mentioning-Dalvin Cook and Leonard Fournette-New England settled on Zeke who can earn up to six million dollars in 2023 ($3 million base salary, $1 million signing bonus and up to $2 million via incentives). The Pats already have many other pressing issues-offensive line, wide receiver, quarterback, cornerbacks, etc-but as a backup running back behind their top offensive weapon-Rhamondre Stevenson-Elliott should prove to be valuable assuming that he is not a clown (which can be a challenge for him).
In seven seasons with Dallas, Elliott was very good for the most part after he was drafted fourth overall out of Ohio State in 2016. He made the Pro Bowl three times and was an All-Pro once with four 1000-yard rushing seasons including a career-high 1631 in his rookie season. He has also scored 10+ rushing touchdowns in four seasons which was topped by 15 in that incredible rookie campaign. Ezekiel is known for his excellent pass-blocking (something that figures to be much needed with the Patriots' terrible offensive line) but he has shown the ability to catch the ball out of the backfield as well with 32+ catches in five of his seven seasons. We all know that 30-years-old is the magic age when NFL running backs are grounded into dust and Zeke just turned 28 a few weeks ago.
So why was he available this deep into the preseason? Dallas released him way back in March and he is coming off of easily his worst pro season: 231 carries, 876 rushing yards (3.8 yards per carry), 12 rushing TDs; 17 catches, 92 receiving yards. The Cowboys have running back Tony Pollard who despite the fact that he is coming off a serious knee injury from last season, the fact is that he is younger and better than Elliott at this time in their respective careers. The only other running backs that the Patriots currently employ are the very uninspiring group of Pierre Strong Jr., Kevin Harris, Ty Montgomery and J.J. Taylor. For that reason alone, signing Elliott or one of the other veterans that I noted was a no-brainer.
Fournette was said to be out of shape at his workout with the Pats and you knew that Cook would get the most money since he is the best player of the trio so that is why Elliott signed his contract today and is flying to Green Bay to meet his new team ahead of their joint practices this week and preseason game with the Packers on Saturday night. A few hours after the Elliott news broke yesterday, Cook signed a one-year contract worth up to $8.6 million with the Jets. That seemed like a foregone conclusion from a few weeks ago when Cook made a very public visit to New York's training camp. It is hard not to think that Dalvin chose the Jets over the Patriots since the team in New York is way closer to a championship contender than the one in Foxborough. That is the sad reality of the Elliott signing: it is only a temporary band-aid to make us forget about all the other major holes on this average roster that has all the makings of an 7-10 or 8-9 team.
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