FRISCO, Texas -- Simply having three-time Pro Bowl running back Ezekiel Elliott back in the Dallas Cowboys locker room after the team re-signed him to a one-year deal last spring elicited the following reaction from quarterback and BFF Dak Prescott.
"[It's] the f---ing best," Cowboys three-time Pro Bowl quarterback Dak Prescott said of Elliott's return and first full month back in Dallas back in June.
Dallas nine-time Pro Bowl right guard Zack Martin concurred.
"The first day he's back he put a big smile on everyone's face in the locker room," Cowboys seven-time First-Team All-Pro right guard Zack Martin said at mandatory minicamp. "He's got an infectious personality, maybe something we missed at times last year. So, it's great to have him back."
If that's the reaction teammates have for Elliott, imagine the roar of "FEED ZEKE" at AT&T Stadium on Sunday for the team's Week 2 matchup with the New Orleans Saints when he scores his first touchdown back in his home stadium of eight seasons. Cowboys home games averaged an attendance of 93,594 in 2023, the best in the NFL. He scored a three-yard touchdown in Dallas' 33-17 road win at the Cleveland Browns on Sunday, but he is already looking forward to that feeling at AT&T.
"Definitely expecting it to be better at home, but I mean honestly just want to go out there and get a win," Elliott said.
"A little of everything," Elliott said of what went into his three-yard touchdown run in Week 1. "It's more power and determination. Two, understanding the scheme. Understanding my landmarks. Understanding kind of having an understanding of where a ball might hit, just making sure I stay disciplined."
For much of his time running on the AT&T Stadium turf, Elliott was of the league's most feared backs, leading the NFL in rushing yards in two of his first three seasons and pacing the league in rushing yards per game in each of his first three seasons from 2016-2018. Now, he is in a committee with 26-year-old back Rico Dowdle after leading the NFL in carries (2,075) since entering the league eight years as the fourth overall pick in the 2016 NFL Draft. The two backs rotated pretty stringently on every other series.
"Yeah, I think it went really well," Elliott said of rotating with Dowdle every other series. "I think it will continue the same way. It probably got a little tough in the second half, we didn't get much going. I was probably on the field for like two or three plays. That's just how the game went. If we do what we need to do on offense and sustain drives that will help get both me and Rico going."
Not quite the same as when he averaged 18.3 carries per game his first seven seasons in Dallas from 2016-2022. Efficiency is the new volume in terms of Elliott's new game day goals.
"Yeah, it's definitely different," Elliott said. "Definitely not as much touches, but you just got to make sure that you make every one count. You're going to get 10 or 12 a game. You have to make sure you're efficient and make all of those touches count."
It's a little easier for Elliott to accept a lesser role than he is accustomed to because gets to celebrate lining up alongside Prescott, someone he used to pay for when the two would hang at the beginning of the careers. Prescott, a 2016 fourth-round pick who had a four-year rookie deal worth $2.7 million, and Elliott, who had a four-year rookie deal worth just under $25 million ($24.96 million), had just a little bit of a compensation gap.
Now, the roles are reversed with Elliott on a one-year, $2 million deal, and Prescott having signed the richest deal in NFL history on an average per year basis, a four-year, $240 million contract. Elliott was one of the first people Prescott hugged after getting the call from agent Todd France that the deal was done. Yet, the running back says the quarterback doesn't need to feel like he needs to treat Elliott for awhile.
"Just surreal," Elliott said of being with Prescott and him being paid. "Seeing the work the guy puts in day in and day out, year in and year out. I can't say there's a guy more deserving of that contract. I think every day Dak embodies what it means to be a Cowboy. Very happy for him. He doesn't owe me anything. We're friends. What goes around comes around."
That's true among friends and Elliott and the Cowboys, and now he's set to come full circle, back home to AT&T Stadium. "ZEKEE" chants will once again be in full force Sunday afternoon.