The Cowboys made Ezekiel Elliott’s release official on March 16. Despite his public wish list of teams for whom he would like to play, the running back remains a free agent.
He isn’t likely to receive an offer until after the draft when teams reassess where they are and what their remaining needs are.
The Cowboys used the franchise tag on Tony Pollard, so he will start in 2023. They signed veteran Ronald Jones to join Rico Dowdle and Malik Davis in the running backs room.
The team, though, has kept the door ajar for Elliott’s possible return if it doesn’t draft a running back. Texas running back Bijan Robinson is a possibility for Dallas if he unexpectedly falls that far.
“I know myself, and I can tell you there’s a lot of people not only on the team but the organization that would love that,” Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott said on The Adam Schefter podcast, via Mike Fisher of SI.com. “We understand that this is a business and the market changes and things go up and down, so it doesn’t always work out the way we see it, but hopefully, that could happen.”
Prescott and Elliott became fast friends after arriving together in the 2016 draft. Prescott said it “doesn’t still feel right” starting the offseason program without Elliott in the building.
"[He’s] been my locker room buddy for years and just a guy I’ll go to war with, and I’ll do anything for in this world,” Prescott said. “It’s tough not going to work with him now, but change is good as well, and I’ve got to embrace that and embrace what we’ve got moving forward, and I’m excited for it.”
Elliott had the Bengals, Eagles and Jets on his wish list, but those teams did not show interest.
He had career lows in carries (231), rushing yards (876), yards per attempt (3.8), touches (248) and yards from scrimmage (968) in 2022. His longest run was only 27 yards.
