Ezekiel Elliott was a monster during his rookie season in the NFL, leading the league in rushing (by more than 300 yards) and finishing second in voting for Offensive Player of the Year. In short, the Dallas Cowboys have to be very pleased with their draft investment in the former Ohio State star and one former Cowboy heaped considerable praise in Elliott's direction this week.
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Herschel Walker, in speaking with Adam Grosbard of the Dallas Morning News, spoke highly of Elliott:
"I love Zeke. I love his fire and the way he plays. Elliott loves to play football. It's amazing that he's carrying the ball 30-some times a day. People don't know, that's tough. And the guy comes back the next week and does the same thing and loves it. I was shocked that he's had the speed that he's had."
In fact, Walker went on to laud Elliott and NFL Draft hopeful D'Onta Foreman in making the running back position appealing again after seemingly going out of style in recent years.
"Even though they talk about the West Coast offense and all this stuff, to be honest, whenever you want to win the Super Bowl, who do you go to? The running back. Because you can pass the ball all you want to do, but when you want to win the game you better be able to run the ball and you better have that running back."
Whether top-five draft picks should be invested in the position remains up for debate, especially because the Cowboys deploy something of an old-school offensive mindset that sets them apart from other NFL teams. Beyond that, Dallas employs the league's best offensive line by a wide margin and that undoubtedly made Elliott's transition easier as a rookie.
Still, Walker's sentiment is almost certainly shared by others and it always helps to have a dynamic ball-carrier at your disposal in various game situations. Ezekiel Elliott fits that bill.
