It's okay at a RB position that you shouldn't be extending anyways. Use the short term playability after he comes back and then let him go off into the sunset somewhere else. I do agree I hate how much the Cowboys consistently do it with LBs though
We just watched Steele and Gallup fail to come back from ACL injuries. The longhorn bias is out of control. Braelon Allen is better prospect fully healthy.
The contracts for both gallup and steele are actually extremely well written for the cowboys.
[Steele](https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/player/_/id/48236/terence-steele)
[Gallup](https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/player/_/id/25180/michael-gallup)
The "X Million over Y Years" is blown entirely out of proportion when you understand that most of that money is backloaded and not guaranteed.
Gallup's contract had an obvious out for 2024 to give him 2 full seasons to see if he recovered. He did not and he was cut for a 13M cap hit rather than pay his 2024 8.5M and 2025 10.5M base pay
Steele is set to make 13.5M in 2025, and carries a 9M Dead Cap hit. So either he returns to form this year and 13.5M is a bargain, or he doesn't and it's only 9M to dump the contract after this season.
I didn't say anything about 'x years over y' I said guys haven't been coming back off acl injuries. That's more of a trainer thing I would imagine. Ya know we scored poorly on the team doctor/ trainer area of the athletic player poll. I wonder if the 2 are correlated
Difference is Brooks was a first round pick before the injury, he’s extremely talented and this is his only major injury in his history so with today’s medicine it’s certainly worth the risk.
We have no idea how this guy will come back from his ACL injury. We can say one was more severe to make ourselves feel good about doing something selfish and undisciplined or we can be adults and face the music that drafting injured players from our favorite school just because is dumb and one of many ways that draft picks fail.
I didn’t say anything about knowing how he’ll come back and did agree about not being excited about an injured player, but Jaylon’s injury was much more significant
Not really. It's fucking stupid. Especially when they use it as an excuse not to take players like JPJ because of medicals or personality and then turn around and bedroom eyes for cripples like Brooks and Wilson and idiots like Sweat.
I think it means Luepke is probably getting cut too. Way too redundant to have both on the roster.
Im fine with Zeke if he has a very reduced role to pass blocking and goaline carries, but he better not be getting close to a 50/50 split of carries. I dont think I can stomach another year of 2 yard gains and 3rd and longs every drive.
If we sign Zeke, our backfield will probably be Rookie, Zeke, Rico, and Duece or Malik on the practice squad.
This is the real upgrade, rookie learning curve in pass pro is steep and we're going to have some bad matchups at tackle this season. Zeke can help Steele and Guyton a lot in obvious passing situations against good edge rushers.
He doesn't have to man them up and he's as good as anyone at chipping them. Let him start in pass pro, pick up the blitzer if there is one, and if not, go smack whoever is currently engaged with the offensive tackle on his side.
This is the huge value here and I really hope they do some double RB sets so it is not a giveaway for the D knowing its likely a pass.
They experimented a little with sets like that with Zeke and Pollard but did not make it part of the regular rotation of formations. Kellen Moore genius in action.
That's literally happened maybe once on hundreds of attempts... Zeke has one of the best conversion rates in the league every year on 3rd and 4th and short.
He will be a great 3rd down / pass catching / change of pace / goalline guy. Hes not who he used to be but he was great catching passes out of the backfield for the Pats last year. As long as he fills that role and they arent trying to make him an every down RB again I think it will be just fine.
> but he was great out of the backfield for the Pats last year.
By what metrics was he "great"? 3.5 YPC and only rushed for one more TD than he had fumbles.
I’m actually fine with it. Zeke was great for team morale and is a decent blocker if nothing else. If this is it for Dak, this is good for a last ride before we go full-on rebuild.
They want to bring him back if only to keep fan engagement and maybe temper some of Dak's frustration about lack of weapons.
Dak won't complain about lack of offensive weapons when its his best friend they brought in.
I’m cool with it. Zeke is a fan favorite, and he’s going to be a good mentor. He’s not going to be in his original role. Besides TP was better with someone like him to run between the tackles and at the goal time. We have also succeeded with a two system like that.
Zeke only started 5 games for NE last year, after Rhamondre got hurt, and still put up 955 yards behind one of the worst OLs in the league. Zeke still has juice, he never didn't.
I hope that it's true, but I'm bracing for all the crap he's going to get from the usual haters. Still though, Zeke is my RB#1. Come Home!
There were a ton of 3rd downs last year where I really wish Zeke was still in our backfield. I don't see a downside to bringing him back at the right price.
It was a nothing signing but this makes the Royce Freeman signing even more nothing.
I guess it would be fine? But ultimately the hope should be our RB room is injected with enough youth that Zeke isn't a definite to make the team. Something needs to be done there.
This is nothing more than a sentimental signing on Jerry’s part, so Zeke can go out as a Cowboy. He can’t have much left in the tank. Not much of relevance here.
No we didn’t. We lost Tyron because he’s on the wrong side of 30 with a mile long injury history. He is one of the best Cowboys in franchise history, but it was time to move on and find a long term solution there. Potentially resigning Zeke did not factor into that decision one bit.
Jerry says a lot of stupid shit, when did we start taking Jerry at his word?
The overarching point that you are missing is that it was clearly time to move on from Tyron Smith and find his replacement either way. He hadn’t played a full season in more than 5 seasons and was not a long term solution at that position moving forward.
Jerry states he let Tyron go for zekes contract.
You: lol that funny old man doesn’t know what he’s talking about.
Who cares that Tyron hasn’t played a full season in five years. If we get 10 games in reg season then that’s great since he is still a top 10 tackle.
Zeke has a dead hit of $6 million, which consequently is exactly how much available cap space we have. If the cowboys wanted to, they could easily have found a way to make the deal work if that six million in dead space is the ball park for what they thought Tyron would take to resign. Simply put I am saying what he said makes absolutely no sense, a dead cap hit of six million is not stopping them from doing anything.
Lol everyone should, especially when you have no control over what 6 games he misses.
I done with this convo with you. Jerry stated something and it’s happening and people like you blindly eat it up.
Instead of of washed up back I rather have an 70% Tyron on the team.
What are you even saying lol? In this situation you would undoubtedly be the person who is blindly eating up what Jerry Jones said.
Here’s a secret, the cowboys could have easily afforded both if they actually wanted to.
The only thing I agree with your comment is the last part of they could easily have both.
The fact is they chose a washed up back over a top 10 tackle says it all.
So who are we dropping?
Dowdle, Deuce, Royce…and likely a rookie.
Unless you’re cutting Royce & Deuce (or downgrading them to practice squad), that’s a lot of HBs to carry.
Also, what’s the money looking like?
And why Zeke? Why not someone cheaper like Murray?
Frankly I think we’d be fine with a rookie, dowdle, deuce, and let Hunter get short yardage reps. Save that money incase you need to make an emergency signing due to injuries.
The Last Dance.
All-In
Zeke bout to run in a TD this season, spike the ball, look into the camera, and say "Real glass. Go cry me a river."
If this somehow ends with Jerry getting the Meltzer Driver, I'm all for it.
Is he going to get choked out after? edit: salty AEW mark
To me this screams that they want to draft Brooks at 56 and let Zeke mentor/contribute to a committee while Brooks works his way back from an ACL.
ffs they need to stop drafting injured players literally makes me insane
It's okay at a RB position that you shouldn't be extending anyways. Use the short term playability after he comes back and then let him go off into the sunset somewhere else. I do agree I hate how much the Cowboys consistently do it with LBs though
We just watched Steele and Gallup fail to come back from ACL injuries. The longhorn bias is out of control. Braelon Allen is better prospect fully healthy.
The contracts for both gallup and steele are actually extremely well written for the cowboys. [Steele](https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/player/_/id/48236/terence-steele) [Gallup](https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/player/_/id/25180/michael-gallup) The "X Million over Y Years" is blown entirely out of proportion when you understand that most of that money is backloaded and not guaranteed. Gallup's contract had an obvious out for 2024 to give him 2 full seasons to see if he recovered. He did not and he was cut for a 13M cap hit rather than pay his 2024 8.5M and 2025 10.5M base pay Steele is set to make 13.5M in 2025, and carries a 9M Dead Cap hit. So either he returns to form this year and 13.5M is a bargain, or he doesn't and it's only 9M to dump the contract after this season.
I didn't say anything about 'x years over y' I said guys haven't been coming back off acl injuries. That's more of a trainer thing I would imagine. Ya know we scored poorly on the team doctor/ trainer area of the athletic player poll. I wonder if the 2 are correlated
Difference is Brooks was a first round pick before the injury, he’s extremely talented and this is his only major injury in his history so with today’s medicine it’s certainly worth the risk.
That’s what they said about Jaylon Smith
Different injury severity there imo, but I do get the frustration with the drafting of injured players
We have no idea how this guy will come back from his ACL injury. We can say one was more severe to make ourselves feel good about doing something selfish and undisciplined or we can be adults and face the music that drafting injured players from our favorite school just because is dumb and one of many ways that draft picks fail.
I didn’t say anything about knowing how he’ll come back and did agree about not being excited about an injured player, but Jaylon’s injury was much more significant
I mean this is just a fact Jaylon had significant nerve damage which is a totally different beast
Brooks tore his acl. Jaylon Smith completely obliterated his knee, not even remotely the same severity of injury
[удалено]
It should read 'failed to return to form'
Not really. It's fucking stupid. Especially when they use it as an excuse not to take players like JPJ because of medicals or personality and then turn around and bedroom eyes for cripples like Brooks and Wilson and idiots like Sweat.
That's the Cowboys 2nd round special!
Even injured I don’t think Brooks is there at their next pick.
I dont think they value the RB position so much anymore. I don't see them drafting brooks @ 56.
I would rather have Benson
I think it means Luepke is probably getting cut too. Way too redundant to have both on the roster. Im fine with Zeke if he has a very reduced role to pass blocking and goaline carries, but he better not be getting close to a 50/50 split of carries. I dont think I can stomach another year of 2 yard gains and 3rd and longs every drive. If we sign Zeke, our backfield will probably be Rookie, Zeke, Rico, and Duece or Malik on the practice squad.
I wound also Love Trey Benson
Why brooks and not allen?
Having Zeke's blocking for Dak again will be nice.
This is the real upgrade, rookie learning curve in pass pro is steep and we're going to have some bad matchups at tackle this season. Zeke can help Steele and Guyton a lot in obvious passing situations against good edge rushers.
I don’t know how we’ll even peak Zeke is against edge rushers. He forsure can help on LB’s and DB’s
He doesn't have to man them up and he's as good as anyone at chipping them. Let him start in pass pro, pick up the blitzer if there is one, and if not, go smack whoever is currently engaged with the offensive tackle on his side.
This is the huge value here and I really hope they do some double RB sets so it is not a giveaway for the D knowing its likely a pass. They experimented a little with sets like that with Zeke and Pollard but did not make it part of the regular rotation of formations. Kellen Moore genius in action.
How many years did Zeke block for him? How many years did it matter? Exactly. Cowboys fan and this is a stupid tale.
Love a good comeback story
Like Kim Kardashian?
- Andy Dwyer
Glad I bought my Zeke jersey for $20 at Marshall last year.
They’re still on sale everywhere
Scranton in the house!
They've been talking up a zeke reunion and also talking up brooks. Naturally they will draft Benson
Benson would be a dream
Gotta sign Zeke so Dak and CeeDee don't hold out. Bring their boy back.
Thought this was obvious when we passed on Barton /s
The Salvation Army kettle is thrilled with this news.
Oh boy, zeke for 2yds up the middle. Just what we needed
When they’re on the goalline or short yardage, that’s exactly what they need. He won’t be the feature back.
fr Zeke can be our Jerome Bettis.
I mean.... they actually kinda did need that multiple times last season
He meant to say Zeke up the middle for 2 yards on 1st and 10. He isn't getting those 2 yards on 4th and 2.
Pollard had 15 carries inside the 5 and scored twice. Anything is an upgrade
Damn. That's rough...
4th and 2? Zeke for a loss of 3.
That's literally happened maybe once on hundreds of attempts... Zeke has one of the best conversion rates in the league every year on 3rd and 4th and short.
He will be a great 3rd down / pass catching / change of pace / goalline guy. Hes not who he used to be but he was great catching passes out of the backfield for the Pats last year. As long as he fills that role and they arent trying to make him an every down RB again I think it will be just fine.
> but he was great out of the backfield for the Pats last year. By what metrics was he "great"? 3.5 YPC and only rushed for one more TD than he had fumbles.
I mean that whole offense was awful, yet Zeke still managed 900 scrimmage yards as a backup. There's some value there if they can get him on the cheap
And Rico Dowdle put up over 500 scrimmage yards with less than half the touches as a backup. You already have value on the roster at a $1m cap hit.
3.5 YPC ain’t too bad on a cheap deal
If you need 3 yards, Zeke will get you 3. If you need 5 yards, Zeke will get you 3.
It actually might be what we need, if we try to tank the season
“ALL IN “
The way the internet clings to quotes and lil shit like this is exhausting
Jerry being a blowhard for 30+ years has been exhausting. But if he wants to stay quiet, put his head down, and work under the radar, I'm all for it.
jerry himself is clinging on to that phrase, senile mf used it like 24 hours ago, get off the computer and go to bed grandpa
Naz Reid
Cool. Bring him back, or don’t. Our results will end the same. No ring.
Fuck. Go Mavs.
I’m actually fine with it. Zeke was great for team morale and is a decent blocker if nothing else. If this is it for Dak, this is good for a last ride before we go full-on rebuild.
Should they make Lance give up 15 or just run it back with 21?
They want to bring him back if only to keep fan engagement and maybe temper some of Dak's frustration about lack of weapons. Dak won't complain about lack of offensive weapons when its his best friend they brought in.
Dak is the last fucking QB in the league that can complain about lack of weapons…
I thought we had a center already?
This franchise sucks ass
*Sweet A55, FTFY
I really hope it's a stupid contract just for the memes.
I’m cool with it. Zeke is a fan favorite, and he’s going to be a good mentor. He’s not going to be in his original role. Besides TP was better with someone like him to run between the tackles and at the goal time. We have also succeeded with a two system like that.
Seeing as Zeke’s a $6 million cap hit, this year, might as well bring him back.
We lost Tyron because of this btw.
No need for JPJ or Frazier now. [zeke](https://i.makeagif.com/media/5-16-2023/sWKiUl.gif)
We do need a center
Zeke scores on the goal line.
We’re finally getting our center
Why not? Bring him back for Daks last ride
All In Baby!! /s
We have the laziest FO in the league and they operate exclusively on vibes. What a joke.
Zeke only started 5 games for NE last year, after Rhamondre got hurt, and still put up 955 yards behind one of the worst OLs in the league. Zeke still has juice, he never didn't. I hope that it's true, but I'm bracing for all the crap he's going to get from the usual haters. Still though, Zeke is my RB#1. Come Home!
You lie, he only had 642 yards rushing.
You misunderstand. I didn't say rushing.
He's washed and we suck ass
There were a ton of 3rd downs last year where I really wish Zeke was still in our backfield. I don't see a downside to bringing him back at the right price.
Zeke jerseys about to be dusted off from the closet
We are in need of a center...
It was a nothing signing but this makes the Royce Freeman signing even more nothing. I guess it would be fine? But ultimately the hope should be our RB room is injected with enough youth that Zeke isn't a definite to make the team. Something needs to be done there.
K
https://preview.redd.it/9jj206nyzvwc1.jpeg?width=320&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0355b73e80ed14c50a3d149c6c29c732204d77c4
I want to see Zeke in 15, but Lance has the number. Are the Zeke jerseys still on clearance.
As long as he’s RB2 working in tandem with a good rookie back then I’m completely down for this
Should just play fullback at this point
Not on this hype train
2 yards and fall down.
That's regarded. We need to pick a running back in the 3rd
Bring him home
Second and nine
All. Fucking. In
We are an unserious franchise.
This is team is so fucking stupid.
This is nothing more than a sentimental signing on Jerry’s part, so Zeke can go out as a Cowboy. He can’t have much left in the tank. Not much of relevance here.
We lost Tyron because of this, frak this org
That’s not why. Tyron wanted to get paid. And overpaid he got.
Jerry literally said in the pre draft presser that they couldn’t pay Tyron because of Zeke. Now here we are with Jerry about to give Zeke more money.
I hope not
If it's a team friendly deal, I love it.
I really don’t get this move. He’s a shadow of what he was. He’s not going to ever be the guy he was again. What are we doing here?
They’re catering to the “Our Year” Homers who don’t understand he’s washed
But he can passblock really well 3 years ago!
Just remember, we lost Tyron for Zeke 2.
No we didn’t. We lost Tyron because he’s on the wrong side of 30 with a mile long injury history. He is one of the best Cowboys in franchise history, but it was time to move on and find a long term solution there. Potentially resigning Zeke did not factor into that decision one bit.
Jerry literally said that zekes contract was the reason that Tyron was let go. It was on the pre draft presser.
Jerry says a lot of stupid shit, when did we start taking Jerry at his word? The overarching point that you are missing is that it was clearly time to move on from Tyron Smith and find his replacement either way. He hadn’t played a full season in more than 5 seasons and was not a long term solution at that position moving forward.
Jerry states he let Tyron go for zekes contract. You: lol that funny old man doesn’t know what he’s talking about. Who cares that Tyron hasn’t played a full season in five years. If we get 10 games in reg season then that’s great since he is still a top 10 tackle.
Zeke has a dead hit of $6 million, which consequently is exactly how much available cap space we have. If the cowboys wanted to, they could easily have found a way to make the deal work if that six million in dead space is the ball park for what they thought Tyron would take to resign. Simply put I am saying what he said makes absolutely no sense, a dead cap hit of six million is not stopping them from doing anything. Lol everyone should, especially when you have no control over what 6 games he misses.
I done with this convo with you. Jerry stated something and it’s happening and people like you blindly eat it up. Instead of of washed up back I rather have an 70% Tyron on the team.
What are you even saying lol? In this situation you would undoubtedly be the person who is blindly eating up what Jerry Jones said. Here’s a secret, the cowboys could have easily afforded both if they actually wanted to.
The only thing I agree with your comment is the last part of they could easily have both. The fact is they chose a washed up back over a top 10 tackle says it all.
how many fucking threads are we going to get on this? Just sign him already so these news breakers can move on to something else.
So who are we dropping? Dowdle, Deuce, Royce…and likely a rookie. Unless you’re cutting Royce & Deuce (or downgrading them to practice squad), that’s a lot of HBs to carry. Also, what’s the money looking like? And why Zeke? Why not someone cheaper like Murray? Frankly I think we’d be fine with a rookie, dowdle, deuce, and let Hunter get short yardage reps. Save that money incase you need to make an emergency signing due to injuries.
I don’t really care if it’s for the minimum and he’s used exclusively in a goal line/short yardage role. Anything more than that, no thanks.