DeMarcus Ware brought up something about the Dallas Cowboys no one will touch
The NFL Draft is nearly here, which means we are that much closer to moving beyond “draft talk” to ... talking about draft grades, and then the other parts of football talk.
(No sport features more talk than play than football).
The Dallas Cowboys have the 26th pick in the first round of the NFL Draft, which begins Thursday night in Kansas City.
The Cowboys’ needs include defensive tackle, offensive guard, center, backup center, tight end, running back, linebacker, safety, cornerback, owner, general manager, and they still can’t seem to find a dadgum kicker. Probably want to throw in a punter, too.
While we’re at it, wouldn’t hurt to upgrade the local media that covers this franchise; just cycle all of us out in favor of AI, a pack of chimps, or some eager third graders.
On Thursday, former Dallas Cowboys defensive end DeMarcus Ware shared his thoughts on his former team’s draft needs, and he slipped in a sentence of truth that less than no one with the team wants to say aloud.
“Zeke is gone, and you got (Tony) Pollard but you don’t know how he’s going to come back,” said Ware, who is playing in the Invited Celebrity Classic PGA Champions event in Las Colinas this weekend.
Indeed, the Cowboys releasing running back Zeke Elliott is about his contract versus his production more than Tony Pollard. Even if Pollard wasn’t on the roster, Zeke was no longer worth the contract.
Ware asked something rhetorically that everyone within the Cowboys organization assumes is not an issue. Or, if they do, they aren’t saying it louder than a quiet whisper.
Pollard, who signed the franchise tag earlier this offseason, is still recovering from the broken left leg and high ankle sprain he suffered in the Cowboys’ playoff loss at San Francisco in January.
How is he going to be when he does come back? He will be entering his fifth NFL season, and this is the first time he’s suffered a major injury of note.
Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy said he wants to run the ball more this season. They are building their offense around a player they have no way of knowing if he will be the same before he suffered that injury.
Given the nature of the injury, and Pollard’s age, 25, it’s not a horrendous bet. But, they also don’t know until they see Pollard run, and cut, again.
Last season, Pollard carried the ball a career-high 193 times for 1,007 yards. He also had a career-high 39 receptions.
He wasn’t quite the standard “work horse” back, like Zeke was in his first few years in the NFL, but the Cowboys asked Pollard to do more last season than he had ever been asked to do in his football life.
The man produced. The same question about Pollard before the Cowboys handed him the ball more remains: Can he hold up?
The Cowboys can hope, but they don’t know.
“I know he’s going to come back strong,” Ware said, “but I think getting another strong back (in the draft). You’ve got enough wide receivers. So, get another strong back that can move the chains.”
The “strong back that can move the chains” a lot of Cowboys fans desire is Texas’ Bijan Robinson. He is widely regarded as a top 10 talent who has the misfortune of playing a position that the NFL values like a new parents does diapers.
It’s just as conceivable Robinson will be the eighth overall pick as it is he will be the 28th overall pick.
“You know I’m all about defense, but they have enough on defense,” Ware said. “Offensively, you always go toward the trenches, and offensive line.”
The Cowboys will most likely address all of these needs that Ware lists. They will select a running back. Just a question of which one.
Unless it’s Robinson, the starter will still be Pollard.
Or, at least that’s the plan.
