During McCarthy’s 13 years in Green Bay, there was only one season where one of his running backs toted the ball over 300 times, Ryan Grant in 2008. There were only three other seasons where one of his backs surpassed even 250 carries, Ahman Green (266) in 2008, Grant (282) in 2009 and Eddie Lacy (284) in 2013.
The only season where Ezekiel Elliott didn’t surpass 300 carries was in his suspension shortened 2017 season when he totaled 242. The Cowboys have been gradually placing more of the offense’s success in Prescott’s hands with each passing year. His passing attempts have gone up by at least 20 every season, which includes an increase of 70 attempts from 2018 to 2019.
This trend will only continue under McCarthy, but don’t expect him to completely shift the offense totally towards Dak. The Cowboys are still at their best when Zeke is acting as a bell cow back.
Even with Dak having statistically his best outing to date in 2019, his team still went 8-8 and missed the playoffs. Truth be told, Zeke is hands down the best back McCarthy has ever had to work with. There’s no reason for McCarthy to be rigidly stubborn with his pass-first approach with this kind of back at his disposal.
Will Elliott’s touches go down? Perhaps, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Two straight seasons with at least 350 total touches is taxing on the body, even if Zeke will only be 25 years old heading into next year. Reducing his total touches will benefit him in the long run, and just because he sees a decrease in touches doesn’t mean he’ll see a decrease in production.
The more fresh Ezekiel Elliott is throughout the year, the better off the Cowboys will be as a team come December and January. Expect Zeke to continue being the elite back we’ve seen him be since he entered the NFL.
