Colin Cowherd: “Dallas is not desperate. Have you watched Tony Pollard play?? He’s pretty good. He’s averaging 5.6 yards a carry in the preseason; that would have led the NFL last year. You say ‘Well, it’s only preseason’… It’s ‘preseason’ for the Cowboys’ offensive line too. Their o-line is healthier than last year, Dak is now in his fourth year, Amari Cooper will play all 16 games, and last year’s rookie wideout Michael Gallup is having a REALLY GOOD preseason. Everything around the running back position is significantly better this year. Do you need 18 million dollars a year at running back?? I’m not saying Pollard is better than Zeke but running back is a weird position in the NFL. Chris Carson, Philip Lindsey, Austin Eckler, Matt Breida, Justin Jackson, Tarik Cohen… Great quarterbacks almost always come from the first round, but running back is all over the board.” (Full Audio at Bottom of Page).
Listen to Colin Cowherd explain why he believes Dallas Cowboys backup running back Tony Pollard could be a diamond in the rough type talent who could make people quickly forget about superstar All-Pro running back Ezekiel Elliott.
Zeke is arguably the game’s best running back, but Colin doesn’t see how a team could ever pay a running back 18 million dollars when the team has one of the best offensive lines in the NFL, among a system that could be very sympathetic towards the production of ANY running back.
Although Pollard was taken in the fourth round (128th overall) in last season’s NFL Draft as a part-time Memphis running back who only rushed for 941 yards in three seasons, Colin explains why the running back positions is a unique spot in the NFL where guys who were literally backups in college that went in the later rounds and sometimes even undrafted, ended up being very good professional players.
With Pollard averaging 5.6 yards in the preseason, Colin says the reason the Cowboys have so much leverage over Zeke during his unyielding contract dispute is because they know they have a viable backup who is ready to step in to one of the best rosters on paper in football.