2023 Cowboys Offseason News & Notes

[Mr B]

Brandin Cooks? Not bad! And for a 5th and future 6th, REALLY not bad.

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[Otis Driftwood]

Brandin Cooks? Not bad! And for a 5th and future 6th, REALLY not bad.

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Not bad at all. And the Texans are absorbing $6M of his salary making it a nice fit cap-wise. Hopkins’ $26M hit was never going to work.

Good deal for us.

[bluejerseyjinx]

Thanks for some damn great football, Zeke.

In the end, Father Time never loses though.

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3rd greatest Cowboys RB of all time.

I'm seeing comments coming out about him playing injured all last season.

Wrong and not even close. Don Perkins was a much, and I mean much better RB than Elliott. Even without the numbers, Duane Thomas and Robert Newhouse were better as well. And I'm sure I'm leaving someone else out. Elliott was nothing special.

[bluejerseyjinx]

Thanks for some damn great football, Zeke.

In the end, Father Time never loses though.

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3rd greatest Cowboys RB of all time.

I'm seeing comments coming out about him playing injured all last season.

Was he the 3rd best Cowboys RB of all time? Better than Calvin Hill, Don Perkins, DeMarco Murray, Marion Barber, or Duane Thomas? I think all of these guys have a legit argument to be better RB’s in the Cowboys history than Zeke.

Hell no and its not even close.

[bluejerseyjinx]

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3rd greatest Cowboys RB of all time.

I'm seeing comments coming out about him playing injured all last season.

Was he the 3rd best Cowboys RB of all time? Better than Calvin Hill, Don Perkins, DeMarco Murray, Marion Barber, or Duane Thomas? I think all of these guys have a legit argument to be better RB’s in the Cowboys history than Zeke.

Zeke blows all of them out of the water statistically. The only argument there is would be DeMarco Murray's one amazing year being better from a single season perspective. That year can be argued as the greatest year any Dallas runner has had though.

[Micah Prescott]

Thanks for some damn great football, Zeke.

In the end, Father Time never loses though.

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3rd greatest Cowboys RB of all time.

I'm seeing comments coming out about him playing injured all last season.

Wrong and not even close. Don Perkins was a much, and I mean much better RB than Elliott. Even without the numbers, Duane Thomas and Robert Newhouse were better as well. And I'm sure I'm leaving someone else out. Elliott was nothing special.

You are the worst judge of talent ever

[Cactus Jack]

Brandin Cooks? Not bad! And for a 5th and future 6th, REALLY not bad.

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Not bad at all. And the Texans are absorbing $6M of his salary making it a nice fit cap-wise. Hopkins’ $26M hit was never going to work.

Good deal for us.

It's a steal. Assuming Cooks is healthy.

Much better value than acquiring Dhop at this stage of his career.

[Cactus Jack]

You are the worst judge of talent ever

That's no secret.

[bluejerseyjinx]

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3rd greatest Cowboys RB of all time.

I'm seeing comments coming out about him playing injured all last season.

Wrong and not even close. Don Perkins was a much, and I mean much better RB than Elliott. Even without the numbers, Duane Thomas and Robert Newhouse were better as well. And I'm sure I'm leaving someone else out. Elliott was nothing special.

You are the worst judge of talent ever

Based on talent alone, Perkins was much more superior. When it comes to judging talent, you are the one that is way off. Cowboy's trivia; Who is our first player in the Cowboys Ring Of honor? And did you ever see him play?

[Micah Prescott]

Zeke had more rushing yards LAST SEASON than Perkins ever any season in his whole career.

And that's Zekes worst year splitting carries with Pollard.



Also, generally speaking, today's athletes are superior to those of the 60s. They are much bigger and faster. And Zeke is much bigger and faster than Perkins was.

The talent pool back then was probably 10x smaller. NFL didn't have nearly close to the popularity of has today.

[Mr B]

Zeke had more rushing yards LAST SEASON than Perkins ever any season in his whole career.

And that's Zekes worst year splitting carries with Pollard.



Also, generally speaking, today's athletes are superior to those of the 60s. They are much bigger and faster. And Zeke is much bigger and faster than Perkins was.

The talent pool back then was probably 10x smaller. NFL didn't have nearly close to the popularity of has today.

You’re not exactly comparing apples to apples. They played in totally different eras than Zeke. If you’re just using Zeke’s numbers on why he’s the 3rd best RB in Cowboys history then you’d also be saying guys like Dak and Tony are better than Roger and Troy which is not true even a little bit.

You have to base it on impact. Zeke had a great 4 year run where he lead the team in Rushing and won a couple of NFL rushing titles. A guy like Don Perkins played 8 seasons and lead the team in rushing all 8 seasons. Just because you didn’t see him play doesn’t deny his greatness as a Cowboy. Demarco Murray has the single season rushing record for the Cowboy (over Emmitt). That alone puts him over Zeke in my opinion. Robert Newhouse played 12 seasons for the Cowboys as their lead back.

I honestly would put Zeke right there in the mix with Barber, and Calvin Hill and just below Murray. Well behind Emmitt and Dorsette.

[Micah Prescott]

Zeke had more rushing yards LAST SEASON than Perkins ever any season in his whole career.

And that's Zekes worst year splitting carries with Pollard.



Also, generally speaking, today's athletes are superior to those of the 60s. They are much bigger and faster. And Zeke is much bigger and faster than Perkins was.

The talent pool back then was probably 10x smaller. NFL didn't have nearly close to the popularity of has today.

You’re not exactly comparing apples to apples. They played in totally different eras than Zeke. If you’re just using Zeke’s numbers on why he’s the 3rd best RB in Cowboys history then you’d also be saying guys like Dak and Tony are better than Roger and Troy which is not true even a little bit.

You have to base it on impact. Zeke had a great 4 year run where he lead the team in Rushing and won a couple of NFL rushing titles. A guy like Don Perkins played 8 seasons and lead the team in rushing all 8 seasons. Just because you didn’t see him play doesn’t deny his greatness as a Cowboy. Demarco Murray has the single season rushing record for the Cowboy (over Emmitt). That alone puts him over Zeke in my opinion. Robert Newhouse played 12 seasons for the Cowboys as their lead back.

I honestly would put Zeke right there in the mix with Barber, and Calvin Hill and just below Murray. Well behind Emmitt and Dorsette.

First off Perkins era favors Perkins. Zeke plays in the passing era and splits carries. Perkins played in the era that had workhorse runners and less passing.

Second there are only two different ways to rank these guys.

A. Overall career, where E. Smith is the hands down #1
B. Prime year, where D. Murray is arguably the greatest RB that Dallas has had.

Both of these different angles favor Zeke over Perkins, who's prime year and overall career are superior.

Zeke was also superior catching and blocking.

When ranking their overall career, which is the most common way to rank players, Zeke is #3 and there is no arguement. It's no contest. This is something that Zeke haters need to accept.

If we are going by prime, then okay, the list looks different. This is where LaDainian Tomlinson is the GOAT.

[Micah Prescott]

I also feel the need to repeat that I think the vast majority of today's athletes are superior to Perlins era. There are exceptions obviously. But the average 2023 NFL athlete is far superior to the average 1960 NFL athlete. Bigger, faster, better training, better nutrition, more knowledgeable of the game, etc.

Today's worst team (Bears, Texans, Cardinals) would obliterate the Super Bowl Champs of that era. Today's lineman are like 40lbs bigger on average. Zeke would have been a linebacker or DE.

Declaring that Perkins is better than Zeke is an exposure of "good old days" syndrome. Which is exactly what BJJ has.

[bluejerseyjinx]

Zeke had more rushing yards LAST SEASON than Perkins ever any season in his whole career.

And that's Zekes worst year splitting carries with Pollard.



Also, generally speaking, today's athletes are superior to those of the 60s. They are much bigger and faster. And Zeke is much bigger and faster than Perkins was.

The talent pool back then was probably 10x smaller. NFL didn't have nearly close to the popularity of has today.

You’re not exactly comparing apples to apples. They played in totally different eras than Zeke. If you’re just using Zeke’s numbers on why he’s the 3rd best RB in Cowboys history then you’d also be saying guys like Dak and Tony are better than Roger and Troy which is not true even a little bit.

You have to base it on impact. Zeke had a great 4 year run where he lead the team in Rushing and won a couple of NFL rushing titles. A guy like Don Perkins played 8 seasons and lead the team in rushing all 8 seasons. Just because you didn’t see him play doesn’t deny his greatness as a Cowboy. Demarco Murray has the single season rushing record for the Cowboy (over Emmitt). That alone puts him over Zeke in my opinion. Robert Newhouse played 12 seasons for the Cowboys as their lead back.

I honestly would put Zeke right there in the mix with Barber, and Calvin Hill and just below Murray. Well behind Emmitt and Dorsette.

First of all using numbers and numbers alone is total crap. Like Mr. B said guys like Homo and Dak are better than Roger and Troy just based on numbers is also total hog wash. You can say that about many of today's scrubs when you compare them to yesteryear. Somebody in here forgot to mention that the NFL and their players only played 14 regular season games to the 16 and now 17 games they are playing now. So that means if you do like a 7 year sample, Zeke after 7 years has 15-16 more games under his belt in the same time span as don Perkins.
And after all Zeke had one of the best if not the best O-line when he first came into the league. Don Perkins didn't have the best of anything when he played. Outside of Bob Lilly, Perkins was considered the absolute best player on his team with absolutely no talent around him his first 5 years. Cowboys, after starting from nothing with no draft its first year, was pretty much total crap till after the 1964 draft. It took them till 1965 to make the playoffs for the first time and then played in their first championship game in 1966. So basically Don Perkins only had the luxury of playing on 2 decent teams in his career. And yes, they did run the ball a hell of a lot more back then, but the carries were spread out over a number of fullbacks and other RB's. Zeke got more than his share of carries in today's passing league despite sharing carries with Pollard last year. Zeke's carrry's went down because his average yards per carry has gone way down the past 3 years and has lost more than a step the past two years. Without looking it up, I bet Don Perkins had a better yards per carry average than Zeke and was way more efficient in doing so when comparing a 7 year average. 1 & 2 are Dorsett and Smith. #3- Don Perkins, 4- Duane Thomas, 5- Preston Pearson. Those are my top 5. After that a debate can be had for the others.

[bluejerseyjinx]

I also feel the need to repeat that I think the vast majority of today's athletes are superior to Perlins era. There are exceptions obviously. But the average 2023 NFL athlete is far superior to the average 1960 NFL athlete. Bigger, faster, better training, better nutrition, more knowledgeable of the game, etc.

Today's worst team (Bears, Texans, Cardinals) would obliterate the Super Bowl Champs of that era. Today's lineman are like 40lbs bigger on average. Zeke would have been a linebacker or DE.

Declaring that Perkins is better than Zeke is an exposure of "good old days" syndrome. Which is exactly what BJJ has.

[Micah Prescott]

Stats aren't everything but they are much more telling than any highlight reel. (Zeke wins in highlight hurdles anyway)

Look, if a Runningback-A goes for 800 yards and 5 TDs and Runningback-B goes for 1600 yards and 10 TDs then B had more impact that season, sorry. You can try to reason around it with receiving and blocking and other facets but the problem is Zeke wins there too.

The discrepancy in numbers is far too large to just brush off and say "meh stats don't mean anything". Zeke scored 80 TDs over 7 years and Perkins scored 45 TDs over 8 years. That's basically twice the production. If they were within 5-10 TDs of each other we could debate but when it's basically double you can't ignore that.

[Micah Prescott]

This is the average weight of Super Bowl winning NFL linemen over time.

from 240lbs in 1965 to 320lbs in 2015

That is a whooping 80lb difference.

Zeke weighs 225, he's just 15lbs off from being a offensive lineman in the 60s.



You don't understand how much the NFL has evolved since your childhood favorites played. These current players would absolutely wreck the players of old. That's just the reality of it.

[Mr B]

This is the average weight of Super Bowl winning NFL linemen over time.

from 240lbs in 1965 to 320lbs in 2015

That is a whooping 80lb difference.

Zeke weighs 225, he's just 15lbs off from being a offensive lineman in the 60s.



You don't understand how much the NFL has evolved since your childhood favorites played. These current players would absolutely wreck the players of old. That's just the reality of it.

That’s part of what I mean when I say you’re not exactly comparing apples to apples. When talking about the greatest RB’s in team history you have to almost throw out the stats. You can’t compare stats against each other is what I mean. Zeke has been playing 16-17 game seasons on a run heavy team, and getting 20-25 carrie’s a game. Yea it’s passing league but the Cowboys are a run first/run heavy team. Greatest Cowboys RB in team history is as much about lore as it is about anything else. How did the player dominate his era?

[Micah Prescott]

This is the average weight of Super Bowl winning NFL linemen over time.

from 240lbs in 1965 to 320lbs in 2015

That is a whooping 80lb difference.

Zeke weighs 225, he's just 15lbs off from being a offensive lineman in the 60s.



You don't understand how much the NFL has evolved since your childhood favorites played. These current players would absolutely wreck the players of old. That's just the reality of it.

That’s part of what I mean when I say you’re not exactly comparing apples to apples. When talking about the greatest RB’s in team history you have to almost throw out the stats. You can’t compare stats against each other is what I mean. Zeke has been playing 16-17 game seasons on a run heavy team, and getting 20-25 carrie’s a game. Yea it’s passing league but the Cowboys are a run first/run heavy team. Greatest Cowboys RB in team history is as much about lore as it is about anything else. How did the player dominate his era?

Zeke was better against his peers. He was the NFL rushing leader 2x. Perkins never led the NFL in rushing.

1 Jim Taylor*+ 1,474 19TDs
2 John Henry Johnson 1,141yards 7TDs
3 Dick Bass* 1033yards 6TDs
4 Jim Brown* 996yards 13TDs
5 Don Perkins*+ 945yards 7 TDs

^^^ That was Perkins best year, still 5th in the NFL in yardage.



Rushing yardage and TDs carries over from era to era better than QB stats that are heavily affected by rule changes and such.

[Micah Prescott]

I think one facet of this debate is that there is an obvious dislike or even hatred for Zeke by many fans and the root of that should be explored. The bias against him is pretty clear in this thread.

No one hated Marion Barber, all the fans loved him, but why didn't that love exist for Zeke? Marion Barber wasn't a better human as far as I know. He didn't win more. What is it about Zeke that makes some fans hate the guy? Just because he got paid? RBs put their mental health on the line for that paycheck (see Marion Barber). No one should hate Zeke because he got a decent payday.