INDIANAPOLIS -- If he didn’t come out after his junior season at Ohio State, Ezekiel Elliott would be spending this week in Indianapolis at the NFL scouting combine, working to impress teams and scouts and making a strong running back class even stronger.
Elliott is either enjoying the fruits of his rookie success with the Dallas Cowboys -- after having led the NFL in rushing in 2016 -- or preparing for his second season with the Cowboys or both, but there is an Elliott effect being felt in this year’s draft.
Before Elliott’s success as the fourth overall pick in the 2016 NFL draft, running backs were mostly viewed as difficult pieces to find in order to help an offense succeed.
Leonard Fournette, Dalvin Cook, Samaje Perine, Christian McCaffrey and Alvin Kamara mentioned Elliott’s play as a help in their stock this year.
“It helped us completely,” said Fournette, who could be the first of a handful of running backs selected in April's first round. “It showed he was not just a running back. He can help in the passing game. He can run. He can block. I think he led a great way for these running backs coming out now.”
Elliott, who ran for 1,631 yards and 15 touchdowns on 322 carries, was the only running back taken in the first round last year. In 2015, Todd Gurley (St. Louis Rams) and Melvin Gordon (San Diego Chargers) were top-15 picks. In 2013 and 2014, no running backs went in the first round.
The last running back before Elliott to be picked in the top five was Trent Richardson, who went No. 3 overall to the Cleveland Browns in 2012; he was traded to the Indianapolis Colts during his second season and is no longer in football.
There might be four running backs picked in the first round this year in Fournette, Cook, McCaffrey and Kamara; the last time that happened was in 2008. If not for his off-field issues, Joe Mixon could have been a first-round possibility, as well.
“I don’t remember this amount of running backs coming out,” Minnesota Vikings general manager Rick Spielman said. “We just got out of our draft meetings, and there’s a significant amount of talent at that position. And to be honest with you, I can’t remember a year where the draft class at running back is this deep.”
Cowboys coach Jason Garrett’s introduction to Elliott came in the inaugural College Football Playoff National Championship at AT&T Stadium, where he ran through, over and around Oregon to lead Ohio State to the title. The Cowboys met with Elliott at the scouting combine and then held a private workout with him in Columbus, Ohio, with a number of his Buckeyes teammates.
Garrett acknowledged the “don’t draft a running back high” theory as a recent trend, but he doesn’t agree with it.
“The runner matters, and that’s something we’ve believed in for a long time,” Garrett said. “A couple of years ago when DeMarco Murray was our running back, he had a huge impact on our football team. I was fortunate to play with Emmitt Smith for eight years. I know the impact he made in this organization. So great runners make a big difference. They make the offensive line better. They make the quarterback better. They make the receivers better, because everyone is hunkered down to stop the run if you have a great one. And I think it certainly makes the defense and your kicking game better because of the way a runner can help you control a game. So we’ve always valued a running back.
“I understand the arguments about shelf life, and maybe you can find running backs later in the draft. But if you have an opportunity to get a great football player who’s a running back, he can have a big impact on your football team.”
Elliott’s impact was undeniable. He was drafted that high to help quarterback Tony Romo, but after Romo’s injury, Elliott took pressure off fellow rookie Dak Prescott. Like Murray, who had 1,845 yards rushing in 2014, Elliott became the Cowboys’ heartbeat in their 13-3 campaign in 2016.
Fournette, Cook, McCaffrey and Kamara are hoping to do in 2017 what Elliott did last season.
“It shows that anybody can step up and be an immediate force on the football field,” McCaffrey said, “even as a rookie.”