CHECK OUT EXPANDED NFL DRAFT COVERAGE
Allure of creating a new ‘Triplets’ era too strong for Cowboys to pass up.
Thursday night was a win-win for IRVING — the Dallas Cowboys.
With its first pick, at No. 4, Dallas could have gone with ultratalented Florida State defensive back Jalen Ramsey, who would have filled a need in that depleted secondary.
But Jerry Jones saw a vision: Triplets Part Deux.
The Jones-owned Cowboys enjoyed their greatest days in the era of the early to mid1990s, when Troy Aikman, Emmitt Smith and Michael Irvin won three Super Bowls in four seasons behind the best offensive line in football. This January will mark 20 years since the Cowboys won their last Super Bowl.
It’s why Ohio State running back Ezekiel Elliott made the most sense with the fourth pick.
“It addresses what we can be as far as getting better on offense,” Jones said. “We think it could add 10 or 12 plays a game on the offensive side of the ball.”
Elliott, Tony Romo and Dez Bryant: I like it.
Winning the NFC East will start with dominating the line of scrimmage, and that will best happen with a running back who’s accustomed to a heavy workload, even if the league is largely one of running back by committee these days. Elliott’s lone trip to Jerry World came in the 2015 national championship game, in which he destroyed Oregon with 246 yards and four touchdowns. That completed a three-game onslaught in which Elliott ran for 696 yards to finish his sophomore year.
That game and consecutive 1,800-yard seasons in Columbus were enough to persuade the Joneses and coach Jason Garrett to go with offense now and worry about pass rushing and takeaway needs on Day 2.
It would have been hard to mess up this pick, and part of me wondered if Jerry would trade it away. He did reveal that there was a deal on the table to trade the pick, but he decided on taking a player he believes will bring a big-play dimension while taking some pressure off aging franchise quarterback Romo.
“We think he’s a damn good football player,” Garrett said. “There is a real consensus for him in our building.”
Come to think of it, it’s been a few moons since the Dallas Cowboys picked a running back this high. He becomes only the third running back since 1977 to go to Dallas in the top 20; the other two were Hall of Famers Tony Dorsett and Emmitt Smith. So I guess you can say the bar is pretty high for Elliott, who will presumably join veterans Alfred Morris, Darren McFadden and Lance Dunbar, if he comes back from injury.
“I’m glad my name is even up there with those guys, but I don’t think anyone can expect more out of me any more than what I expect out of myself,” Elliott said on a conference call. “I’m ready for the challenge. I’m a competitor, and this is what I live for.”
About an hour before the draft, I was hanging with Fort Worth Star-Telegram scribe Clarence Hill, and we bumped into Cowboys running backs coach Gary Brown, who displayed a nice poker face when we mentioned Elliott. He was full of positives minutes after the pick, when he was quoted on the Cowboys’ website as saying that Elliott is “the most complete back that I’ve been able to scout in eight years doing this.”
“It’s really crazy how things work,” Elliott said. “I’m very familiar with Jerry Land, and I think I have a pretty good track record there. I’m excited to get back to Jerry Land and put on a show.”
Hey, Zeke, we usually call it Jerry World. But if you come in and run for 10 stacks over the next eight seasons, they just might re-nickname it for you.