Ezekiel Elliott has signed his six-year, $90 million contract and that means he will play on Sunday when the Dallas Cowboys take on the New York Giants. That also means Elliott will practice with the team throughout the week and they were on the field Wednesday morning to prepare for their season opener.
So how does Elliott look? A photo of Elliott at practice were released and the Ohio State alum was seen doing individual drills. Wednesday was the first time Elliott has practice with the team since June as he was holding out for a new contract.
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Now the question is how much will Elliott play on Sunday? According to the NFL Network, the Cowboys plan to play Elliott in 20-25 snaps against the Giants. Backup running back Tony Pollard will see his share of action as well as fullback, Jamize Olawale will also see his share of action. Slater mentioned that could change depending on how things go the next couple of days, especially if Elliott looks sharp in well-conditioned in practice.
Ezekiel Elliott went through the portion of full-padded practice open to the media and led the Cowboys in jumping jacks after stretching. He went through individual drills with running backs coach Gary Brown during special teams work. pic.twitter.com/NLYxvRqPym
— Todd Archer (@toddarcher) September 4, 2019
Pollard got the majority of carries during the preseason and performed well, rushing for 84 yards on 15 carries with one touchdown. Last week, Pollard was asked about possibly starting on Sunday if Elliott wasn’t available.
“That’s not for me to worry about,” he said. “I’m just coming in being the best back I can be, doing whatever the team needs me to do.
“It’s not what I expected coming into this situation, but I always prepare to be ready for whatever,” he said. “Since this situation did happen, the way I that I prepare, I guess I was just ready for it and want to continue to make the most of it.”
While Elliott was holding out, he was working out in Cabo and got a chance to train with Hall of Fame running back Marshall Faulk. Elliott is in great shape according to Faulk, but still has a long way to go.
“Play? Yes,” Faulk said on the Dan Patrick Show. “Play at a high level? Yes. But I would say, possibly run the risk, as any player would who was not in game-conditioned shape if you tried to play him the workload that the Cowboys use him. I don’t think he’s in that form that he could go out and do the things that we were accustomed to seeing him do for a whole game.”
Sunday’s game will air on FOX with a kickoff time of 4:25 p.m. ET.
