Dallas Cowboys Running Back Tony Pollard underwent successful surgery Tuesday for the injury to his leg sustained in last weekend’s Divisional round loss to the San Francisco 49ers.
Those close to the team say he had a “tightrope procedure” to repair a high ankle sprain, but he also suffered a broken fibula that should heal without surgery or even a cast.
I hate to see this injury happen to one of the best young offensive players in football.
This now puts the Cowboys in an interesting situation. They can either sign Pollard to a contract, place the franchise tag on him, or let him walk as a free agent.
All three would come at a cost.
If the Cowboys do indeed tag Pollard, it would cost the Cowboys somewhere near $10m.
They are already paying a base salary for Ezekiel Elliott of $10.9m. We know that a team will pay to get TP in their building. He had a stellar year in a two-back system.
https://twitter.com/PFF/status/1617902756660142081
The Cowboys should not let a guy like Pollard walk. Ezekiel Elliott said he would be willing to take a pay cut to stay with Dallas. That is something to keep an eye on.
We are in a situation the Cowboys found themselves in with Zeke a few years ago.
We learned that paying a running back big money turned out to be a mistake. The Cowboys will have to pay a nice penny, even coming off an injury, to keep Pollard with the Dallas.
The question I ask myself is, do the Cowboys want to win now or not?
He rushed 193 times for 1,007 yards. He had 12 total touchdowns, nine on the ground and three receiving.
My Prediction
As I write this on the evening of January 26th, and you read it on January 27th, if I had to guess what happens with Pollard, it would be that the Cowboys use their franchise tag.
Whether or not Pollard would play on the tag remains to be seen.
Could this turn into a Dez Bryant situation?
After the injury, Pollard would be happy to play again. If the Cowboys don’t bring him back, that will leave an aging Zeke with an undrafted free agent, Malik Davis, as the backup.
We saw how different the offense looked when Pollard got hurt; they looked for CeeDee Lamb, and that was nearly it.
Therefore, Pollard would be happy to play even if the Cowboys tagged him. A running back has a short shelf life, and the Cowboys have gotten as much out of that Zeke contract as they could.
The offense needs as many playmakers on it as possible next season, and if the Cowboys can’t hang onto Pollard it might hurt them.
Pollard should be the first priority this off-season.
This topic will heat up as the summer months approach. Let’s enjoy Dan Quinn returning as the defensive coordinator, and the slight hope we might lose Kellen Moore!
As long as Pollard is back and Zeke takes a pay cut, it’s a win-win.
Hello Shane! Man, I sure hope this is not the last time we see Tony Pollard in a Cowboys uniform. He’s electric with the football in his hands. You feel like , if he makes it to the second level of the defense, he’s a threat to take it to the house. Can’t say that for Elliott! I was reading that if the Cowboys release Elliott they can save 11 Million dollars. Seems like a no-brainer to me. However, we’re talking about the Cowboys, which means we’re talking about an intelligent decision coming from Jerry and Stephen Jones. I think you just extend Pollard period and if all else fails franchise tag him. We CAN’T AFFORD TO LOSE HIM NOW!!!! We should keep Davis as the backup, but also draft a stud tailback in April’s draft. Save some money and disappointment going forward by just releasing Zeke.
Shane, no sensible and responsible General Manager is going to hire Kellen Moore to be a Head Coach. He’s in over his head as an Offensive Coordinator! I don’t think he’ll EVER BE AN NFL HEAD COACH. If a Division One College offers him a job again, hopefully he’ll accept it and leave us alone.
I’d probably franchise tag him, make Zeke take a pay cut or else cut him, and then take a mid to late round flier on a RB in draft to insure us there in case Pollard loses a step after that injury, or at the least, that’ll give us flexibility to just move on from Zeke all together in future, gonna need to have a great run game if we gonna be able to do anything with Dak
TP is a big part of this offense, so hopefully they will have the good sense to retain him in some way. If they tag him, that should give the team some flexibility to see what is available in this year’s draft, while not tying themselves to yet another long-term contract. Conversely, Tony has produced VERY good results and deserves a good (but not a stupid) contract. Maybe the one-year tag will give both sides some time to see what is best for the team and also for TP in particular.