There’s no shortage of high expectations for Cowboys rookie running back and first round pick Ezekiel Elliott. Some are ready to hand him the Rookie of the Year award more than three months away from the start of the season. But as head coach Jason Garrett always says, “it’s a process.”
Elliott is participating in his first organized team activities this week for the Cowboys and got in some first team reps on Wednesday. So is this what he expected over the last couple of days?
“Yesterday, I’m not going to lie, I was a little bit shell shocked,” said Elliott. “But today I came out and was a little bit more prepared and was kind of more ready mentally and it started to be a little easier for me.”
It’s not that Elliott isn’t use to the spotlight, because there was no shortage of it playing at Ohio State. But as Elliott admitted, this is the next level and it’s something that you have to adjust to.
“He’s making some rookie mistakes, which is to be expected,” said running backs coach Gary Brown. “But we’re putting enough pressure on him that he’s staying tight and doing everything necessary to get himself right. It’s going to be a long process for him but he’ll get there eventually.”
Elliott is walking into a nice situation with the Cowboys. He has one of the top quarterbacks in the league in Tony Romo, a passing game led by Dez Bryant and Jason Witten, and possibly the best offensive line in the NFL.
Elliott has the tools to be a complete running back in the league, and showed some of that on the practice field Wednesday. He just may need a little time to develop and learn how the process works.
