Should Cowboys regret Ezekiel Elliott’s massive expansion?

Ezekiel Elliott will enter the 2022 NFL season as the highest paid back-back in the league.

But since signing his six-year, $ 90 million contract in September 2019, he hasn’t named the figures he made in the season that led to the jackpot extension.

And on Tuesday “Undoubtedly,” Skip Bayless and Shannon Sharp discussed whether paying Zika was an expensive solution – literally and figuratively – for Dallas Cowboys franchise.

Ezekiel Elliott of the Cowboys has the highest salary among all RB NFL, I AM DEFINITELY

Zeke has averaged fewer yards per game each season since joining the league and has not scored an average of more than 70 yards on the ground since 2019. Was it a mistake for Dallas to give him big money?

“If you pay a guy first, two first money, and he gives you the 18th or 19th player in the league, based on that, it was absolutely a mistake to pay him,” Sharpe said. “He didn’t live to see what you paid him for.”

In his first three seasons, NFL Elliott ran 4,048 yards on 868 quarries, adding 28 touchdowns and 4.7 yards per carry. He raced for 101.2 yards per game and was a significant threat, making 135 receptions for 1,199 yards and six touchdowns, publishing 19 100-yard performances during that time.

Elliott led the NFL in the number of yards in 2016 (1631) and 2018 (1434), and was the only player to score more than 4,000 yards in 2016-2018.

For that reason, Bales said Tuesday that he understands why Elliot got the money, even though his production has shrunk.

– How big a mistake was that? Said Bailess. “Well, on a scale of 1 to 10 it was a zero error. I didn’t condemn it then, so I can’t be a hypocrite 20-20 and say, ‘How dare you?’ What a fool of you, Jerry Jones. ‘ I liked it. I danced. I was very excited because he was coming back from Cabo. He was training downstairs. He came back and he was still running on the sand of Cabo when they started playing real football games. “

Indeed, it has not been very good for Eliot and the Boys since he signed his monumental contract.

Over the past three seasons, Elliott has run 3,338 yards, making 782 careers and 28 touchdowns. He still charges 4.3 yards per carry, but averages 69.5 yards per game. He collects 3.2 admissions per game and 21.8 yards per admission.

Over those three years, Elliott has played 11 games per 100 yards and only two in each of the last two seasons after the previous four seasons there were at least five per season.

“Once a team pays a man, they don’t pay him for what he did, they pay him for what they think he will do,” Sharpe said.

Elliott was third in the Associated Press NFL MVP poll in 2016, first All-Pro team in 2016, second All-Pro team in 2018 and participated in the Pro Bowl in 2016 and 2018. Since then, Zika has had only one Pro Bowl Appearance Bowl, which was the season after his mega-deal. He also has the highest license among the backbacks – $ 18.22 million and the highest cash salary in 2022 among the backbacks – $ 12.4 million.

Before Elliot signed the contract, the Cowboys had an overall score of 32-16 and reached the playoffs twice, losing in the divisional round in both cases. Since the new deal, Zika Cowboys have gone 26-23 and only once reached the playoffs (2021), where they lost again in the divisional round.

The 2022 season is still months away, but expectations from Jerry Jones ’Cowboys are always high.

Will his star, running back, finally silence the haters and get back in shape? 1 week of the season will start to open the answer.