Ezekiel Elliott, a two-time NFL season rushing champion who left the Dallas Cowboys last season, rejoined the club on Monday, agreeing to terms on a deal for the 2024 campaign.
The Cowboys announced they had reached a deal to bring back the 28-year-old running back after he spent the 2023 season with New England, producing career-lows of 184 carries for 642 yards and three touchdowns.
Elliott was released last year in a salary cap crunch but Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said last Thursday the team was “keenly interested in seeing what the future might look like with Zeke” and that he could still be an NFL starter.
Dallas has mostly inexperienced talent in the backfield with Rico Dowdle, who signed a one-year deal, and the Cowboys did not select a rusher in last week’s NFL Draft.
Elliott, taken fourth in the 2016 NFL Draft, led the NFL in his rookie season with 1,631 yards on 322 carries, both career highs.
He also led the league in 2018 with 304 rushed for 1,434 yards in helping quarterback Dak Prescott maximize the Cowboys’ attack.
Elliott’s 8,262 rushing yards and 68 touchdowns over seven seasons with Dallas rank him third on the all-time Cowboys rushing list behind Emmitt Smith and Tony Dorsett.
The Cowboys, who have not won a Super Bowl since 1995, have not reached the NFC Championship game since that title run and have won only one playoff game in the past five seasons.
