Dallas Cowboys fans spent all of 2022 clamoring for running back Tony Pollard to be the lead back instead of 2016 fourth overall pick Ezekiel Elliott.
There was great reason for that desire, too, given Pollard’s 5.9 yards per touch led the NFL among the 30 players with 200 or more touches that year. Fast forward to 2023, Elliott becomes a New England Patriot and Pollard is anointed the Cowboys’ RB1. The one problem was Pollard suffered a broken fibula in the 2022 NFC Divisional Round playoff game at the San Francisco 49ers. He still ended up playing all 17 regular season games in 2023 and in the Cowboys’ 2023 NFC Wild Card Round loss against the Green Bay Packers, but he was still clearly affected by the injury last season as his numbers below indicate.
Tony Pollard’s last two seasons
|
Carries |
193 |
252 |
|
Rush Yards |
1,007 |
1,005 |
|
Yards/Carry |
5.2 |
4.0 |
|
Rush TD |
9 |
6 |
|
Touches |
232 |
307 |
| Scrimmage Yards | 1,378 | 1,316 |
| Scrimmage Yards/Touch | 5.9* | 4.3** |
| Scrimmage TD | 12 | 6 |
* Led NFL
** 27th among 34 players with 200+ touches
However, Pollard had more explosion when finishing runs the back half of the season with his yards after contact per carry increasing to 3.2 from Weeks 11-18 after averaging 2.7 yards before contract per carry from Weeks 1-10. It was quite clear Week 11 at the Panthers was his turning point where he felt a little bit back to his old self when he ripped off a punishing 21-yard touchdown run.
Dallas franchise-tagged Pollard for a fully-guaranteed salary of $10.1 million in 2023, but this offseason, the Cowboys will allow him to test the open market. They would like him to return to the team in 2024, albeit for what they deem to be the right price.
“Tony had a great year last year. He’s another one of those guys, the type of player you want around,” Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones said Tuesday, per DallasCowboys.com, at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis. “But that will ultimately boil down to the business side of things in terms of what we can do for Tony.”
The 26-year-old Pro Bowl running back, who turns 27 on April 30, will have options, so let’s take a look at a few potential landing spots plus a prediction for where Pollard could end up.
Dallas Cowboys
The Cowboys are a natural landing spot for Pollard since he’s played all five seasons of his career in Dallas since they chose him in the fourth-round of the 2019 NFL Draft. Playing with the NFL’s reigning passing touchdowns…
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