A recent ranking of NFL running backs by league executives saw Dallas Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott placed outside the top 10. But what does Shannon Sharpe say about Elliott’s recent ranking?
On Wednesday’s edition of Undisputed, Sharpe addressed the ranking of Elliott outside the top 10. He found himself in agreement with it.
Sharpe explained that it’s not possible to justify putting Elliott in the top 10 with the hope that he’ll reclaim his former dominance. He said that running backs in “Year 7” don’t recapture what they lost in previous years.
“You can’t justify putting him in the Top 10,” Sharpe said. “We don’t see RBs in Year 7 recapture what they’ve lost over the last 2-3 years. Zeke’s not that guy anymore.”
In his first three NFL seasons, Ezekiel Elliott led the league in rushing yards per game each season. He nearly won every major award as a rookie after rushing for 1,631 yards and 15 touchdowns.
But the past two seasons have seen Elliott’s production dip a bit. While he’s still finding the endzone pretty regularly, his yards per touch have dropped to the lowest of his career.
Part of that can be attributed to the Dallas Cowboys taking some of the workload away from Elliott and splitting responsibilities with Tony Pollard.
But it still feels premature to write Elliott off as a running back on the downswing. This coming year will be extremely telling.