FRISCO, Texas (AP) — The Cowboys released running back Ezekiel Elliott on Tuesday, a quiet end to a Dallas career that started with two rushing titles in three seasons but faded quickly from there.
The move was the end of Elliott’s second stint with the team that drafted him fourth overall in 2016. The Cowboys dumped him in a cost-cutting move after the 2022 season.
This time, Elliott’s release could give the 29-year-old a chance to be a late add for a playoff team looking for veteran help at running back.
The same thing happened last season with four-time Pro Bowler Dalvin Cook, who was cut by the New York Jets and played for Baltimore in a wild-card win. Cook is on Dallas’ practice squad right now.
“Out of respect and appreciation for Zeke and wanting to provide him with an opportunity to pursue any potential playoff participation possible, we are releasing him from the Cowboys roster today,” owner and general manager Jerry Jones said. “As I have said many times previously, Zeke’s impact as one of the greatest to ever play with the Star on their helmet will never change and is etched in our record books and history forever.”
Elliott spent one season in New England before returning to the Cowboys on a one-year deal, the club hoping there might be something left in a player who averaged 1,351 yards per season and 97 yards per game his first four seasons.
Instead, Elliott never really challenged fifth-year player Rico Dowdle for the role of lead back, and Dowdle went on to become the franchise’s first undrafted running back to rush for 1,000 yards.
Dowdle has 1,007 yards going into the season finale for the Cowboys (7-9) against playoff-bound Washington (11-5) on Sunday. Elliott had just 74 carries for 226 yards with a 3.1-yard-per-carry average, all career lows.
Off-field drama marked Elliott’s first two seasons with the Cowboys, including a six-game suspension in 2017 over domestic violence allegations. There was more this season, when he was left at home for a game at Atlanta for disciplinary reasons. He played the next eight games.
Elliott had two rushing titles and had led the NFL in yards rushing per game in all three of his seasons when he held out all of the 2019 preseason before signing a $90 million extension. His production never came close to matching the expensive contract.
The 2016 All-Pro and three-time Pro Bowler finishes his Dallas career with 1,955 carries for 8,488 yards and 71 touchdowns, third on the club in all three categories behind Pro Football Hall of Famers Emmitt Smith, the NFL’s all-time rushing leader, and Tony Dorsett. Elliott has 9,130 yards and 74 touchdowns overall.