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What does the Cowboys draft say about their star running back’s future."WhiteFanposts Fanshots Sections Dallas Cowboys NewsDallas Cowboys 2019 DraftDoes drafting RB Tony Pollard tell us if Cowboys will give Ezekiel Elliott a second contract?New Leighton Vander Esch Jersey Stitched ,183commentsWhat does the Cowboys draft say about their star running back’s future.CDTShareTweetShareShareDoes drafting RB Tony Pollard tell us if Cowboys will give Ezekiel Elliott a second contract?Jerome Miron-USA TODAY SportsThe Dallas Cowboys are fast approaching a “fish or cut bait” decision regarding Ezekiel Elliott. He’s entering the fourth year of his rookie deal, which includes a team option to retain Zeke for a fifth season. Which means they are soon going to have to decide whether Elliott is worthy of a second contract that would likely approach $15 million or more per year. The decision on whether to extend Zeke will determine how the team plans to handle Zeke’s work load over the next couple seasons.Honestly, being an elite running back in the NFL is a tough gig. Running backs, more than any other position, tend to excel during the early years of their career and then decline rather dramatically once they reach 25. You can read about aging curves by position here. Included in the article by Scott Barrett is this graph he created, which pretty much tells the story:Image by Scott BarrettAs you can see, the average NFL running back peaks 2-3 years into his career with a significant and steady decline thereafter. Which means under the NFL’s collective bargaining agreement running backs face a very difficult challenge maximizing their NFL earnings; by the time they reach free agency they’re a diminished asset in the eyes of NFL decision-makers. But Ezekiel Elliott isn’t an average NFL running back, he’s an elite running back. Over his first three years in the league Zeke has put up 106 yards from scrimmage per game. Know who else averaged 106 yards from scrimmage his first 40 games?Emmitt Smith. That’s one of many metrics where Elliott’s early career performance resembles other Hall of Fame running backs. We’ve written previously about how Elliott’s early career has all the elements of a lengthy, productive, Hall of Fame career. Which puts the Cowboys in a bit of a predicament. On the one hand, you don’t want to hand out a monster contract to a player whose best years are behind him. On the other hand, letting Hall of Fame players walk in the middle of their career is not the smartest thing an NFL franchise can do (fans tend to frown on watching former Cowboys succeeding elsewhere). Which brings us to the decision to draft a running back in the fourth round of this year’s NFL draft. Make no mistake - Tony Pollard was not brought in to play special teams and sit on the bench. He was brought in to contribute on offense. The expectation is that he’ll be a change-of-pace, third-down-type back. While the comparisons to Alvin Kamara are misguided (Kamara had 200 touches his rookie year and 275 last season, numbers Pollard won’t approach barring a Zeke injury) it is clear Pollard will take snaps from Elliott. Zeke had an ungodly 433 touches (including post-season) in 2018. He’s already handled the ball 1,078 times in three seasons (an average of 356 times per year). This despite missing eight games total over those three years. In short, the Cowboys have been running Zeke hard and running him often. And that kind of early career usage is what gives franchises hesitation about handing out a lucrative long-term contract that takes a running back into his 30’s or even late 20’s. And now the Cowboys are reaching a crossroads with Elliott. There’s really only two ways to go from this point forward, when it comes to Elliott’s usage. It’s a sterile Youth Connor Williams Jersey , cold-blooded approach but it’s also 100% logical. The Cowboys can either:Run Elliott into the ground the last two years of his rookie deal - using him as frequently as possible with the understanding that after five years they’ll thank him for his All Pro-caliber contributions, then wish him luck on his future endeavors. Reduce his workload to a more manageable level so that he can continue being a high caliber player for a longer period of time.There’s really no in-between regarding how to handle Elliott’s workload these next two seasons. You either get the most of him while you can, or try to extend his best years through a reduced workload. Again, that’s a cold-blooded approach when you’re talking about a living, breathing person with normal human emotions, but it’s also totally understandable from an asset management perspective.Which brings us to the topic of the day: does the Cowboys decision to draft Tony Pollard tell us which way the Cowboys are leaning in how to handle Ezekiel Elliott?I think the answer is obvious. Again, Pollard isn’t being brought in to sit on the bench and play special teams (that’s the likely fate of the seventh-round pick, running back Mike Webster, should he make the team). Which means the selection of Pollard tells us the Cowboys view Elliott as a long-term asset to be protected and maintained - and not a short-term asset. Now, the future is uncertain. Elliott could be even better than before in 2019 and 2020; or he could suffer a downturn in performance; or something in between. The point is the Cowboys don’t have to make a decision now and future events could make the Elliott decision a no-brainer (in either direction). What is clear (to me anyway), is the front office has rejected one possible approach to handling Elliott’s last two years on his rookie contract. They will not be going to the whip and riding him as hard and frequently as possible. He won’t be getting the DeMarco Murray treatment - Murray had a jaw-dropping 500 touches in 2014. That was both a record-setting season for Murray (who led the league in rushing and set a Cowboys’ record for most rushing yards) and the final season on his rookie contract. The Cowboys made no real effort to retain Murray, which proved to be wise; he never came close to replicating that season and totaled only 2,648 yards the rest of his career, while playing for other teams.Time will tell whether Elliott will get a second contract with Dallas. I hope he does as I think he’s a generational talent. I think the Cowboys see the same thing and their draft decisions show they’re going to put Elliott in a situation to thrive over the long run, not just the last couple years of his rookie deal. What do you think? Does the acquisition of Pollard indicate the Cowboys see Elliott as a generational running back? Or was it just common sense to bring in a quality second running back? The Cowboys could benefit from a slide by the Crimson Tide’s star."WhiteFanposts Fanshots Sections Dallas Cowboys NewsDallas Cowboys 2019 DraftCowboys draft prospect: Safety Deionte ThompsonNew,54commentsThe Cowboys could benefit from a slide by the Crimson Tide’s star.CDTShareTweetShareShareCowboys draft prospect: Safety Deionte ThompsonKelley L Cox-USA TODAY SportsName: Deionte ThompsonSchool: University of AlabamaHeight: 6’1”Weight: 195 lbs2018 stat line: 14 games, 78 tackles Connor Williams Jersey Stitched , 3.5 tackles for loss, 2 interceptions, 6 passes defensed, 1 fumble recovery, 3 forced fumblesCombine results: did not participateThere was once a time when Alabama safety Deionte Thompson was considered the consensus top prospect at his position in this draft class. Thompson burst onto the scene at the end of the 2017 season and had a hot start to the 2018 season, all of which made him appear to be the next great Alabama defensive back. But his last half of 2018 revealed some flaws in Thompson’s game that’s led to him dropping down draft boards. Thompson has primarily played free safety for the Crimson Tide, and in their defensive scheme that meant Thompson got a lot of time playing as a single high safety. This helped him showcase some of his more athletic traits that put him in good position defensively. Thompson has really good explosiveness and long-range speed, which allows him to cover a lot of ground very quickly. That’s the kind of trait that is necessary in the type of free safety Alabama uses. Similarly, Thompson is a very fluid player in the open field. It’s easy to tell that all of the movements and breaks come naturally for him, whereas some players can become too robotic in their movements and cause them to be too patient or pensive, getting burned by faster receivers. That’s not a problem with Thompson, who is comfortable in his center field role and does a good job of patrolling all across the back end of the field. Thompson is also very skilled in going after the ball, although not necessarily a ballhawk. Whereas others like Juan Thornhill or Amani Hooker have a knack of pulling the ball out of the air for the interception, Thompson is more adept at ensuring an incomplete pass. His athleticism allows him to challenge nearly any receiver at the catch point and Thompson is good at going after the receiver’s hands and denying the ball from being caught. He only has three career interceptions, and it’s primarily because of this approach he takes. Thompson does seem to have a ballhawk mentality, though, even if the statistics don’t back it up. He’s very quick to break on the ball and expresses a desire to go after the ball every time it’s in the air. This is one of the problems with Thompson’s game Youth Michael Gallup Jersey , though. He’s too eager to make the play, and that aggressiveness gets him in trouble. He’ll bite on pump fakes or take a bad angle in his effort to make a play on the ball, and it’s resulted in some big gains being given up. This goes to the larger, overarching flaw in Thompson’s game that’s contributed to his stock tumbling down: he’s too undisciplined, which is rare for a player in Nick Saban’s program. As explosive as Thompson is, his poor footwork can sometimes negate that, as he gets his ankles crossed or takes awkward strides that don’t allow him to get to where he needs to be in time. He’s not the most patient player in a zone either, which often allowed receivers to fake him out or get him to bite on shallower routes while deep routes were left open. While Thompson didn’t get too many opportunities to contribute in run defense due to being a single high safety, it seems that his lack of discipline carries over there as well. When Thompson runs up to make tackles, he usually comes in out of control. This is partially due to his footwork being so inconsistent, but Thompson also takes bad angles with a somewhat high regularity. Far too often, Thompson lowers his head before going in for the tackle, which contributes to poor form and missed tackles. That said, Thompson brings some force on the rare occasions he does come down in run defense. Just as his athleticism can sometimes make up for his poor fundamentals, so too does Thompson’s strength as a tackler. His 103 tackles in the last two years, only one of those seasons seeing him as a full time starter, didn’t happen by accident. Thompson isn’t incapable of tackling Michael Gallup Jersey Stitched , but he’s not a wrap up tackler and for that reason he probably can’t be counted on to play up in the box too much. Another big question mark casting doubt over Thompson’s stock is a torn ligament in his wrist that kept him out of both the combine and his pro day. Thompson had surgery to repair it in the offseason and missed the key workout sessions that many teams place a lot of stock in. While Thompson is almost certainly going to be ready to play for whichever team drafts him, the injury has to be a concern to some. All of this pools together into a scenario where Thompson, much like another former Alabama safety by the name of Landon Collins, could fall into the second round for some lucky team. Thompson will likely fall farther than Collins did, and he could be an option for the Cowboys at 58. Taking Thompson would likely mean that Xavier Woods would have to play more strong safety, as Thompson can’t be relied on in that role in Cover 1 sets. While that wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing, as Woods is good enough to play either safety position, his best fit is as that single high safety. Pairing Woods with Thompson might jeopardize the defense’s run contain, but it would also give them two dynamic coverage players in the back end of the secondary. In the short term, at least, Woods could play free safety with George Iloka at strong safety on run downs, and rotate Thompson in at free safety and move Woods into the box in passing downs. That’s good in theory, but what would be the solution after Iloka is departed? Those are questions for the Cowboys front office and coaches to answer. Thompson is a player with some legitimate talent, but he needs serious refinement of the fundamentals in order to become the player he was once billed as. If Dallas thinks they can develop him in those key areas, then getting him at 58 could turn out to be a steal. After all, Jason Garrett’s well-documented relationship with Saban could give them some insider knowledge on the safety.