Ezekiel Elliott Expected To Be Back With Cowboys In 2022

Tom Pelissero of NFL Media reports that the Cowboys are expected to bring back RB Ezekiel Elliott for the 2022 season.

Dallas is projected to be over the cap at the start of free agency so there are moves that will need to make in terms of their roster.

Pelissero notes that the Cowboys liked how Elliott performed after returning from the PCL injury and appreciated his work ethic.

Pelissero says that Cowboys WR Amari Cooper‘s status is more up in the air than Elliott’s right now.

Elliott will count $18,220,000 against the Cowboys’ salary cap in 2022. According to OverTheCap.com, releasing Elliott would be too prohibitive as they would incur an additional cap hit of $11.86 million for a total of $30.08 million of dead money.

Even designating Elliott as a post-June 1 release wouldn’t create any cap space for the 2022 season, so Dallas is pretty much stuck here in terms of a release. Trading him would create some cap room, but it’s unlikely a team would be willing to take on his contract at this point.

Elliott, 26, was taken with the No. 4 overall pick by the Cowboys back in 2016. He signed four-year rookie contract worth $24,956,342, which included a signing bonus of $16,350,068.

Elliott was set to make a base salary of $3.85 million for the 2019 season and another $9.1 million in 2020 under the fifth-year option when he elected to hold out for a new deal in 2019. Dallas eventually re-signed him to a six-year, $90 million extension that included $50 million guaranteed. 

In 2021, Elliott appeared in 17 games for the Cowboys and rushed for 1,002 yards on 237 carries (4.2 YPC) to go along with 47 receptions for 287 yards receiving and 12 touchdowns.