Ezekiel Elliott has had a rough time on the injury front lately. In 2020, he battled a calf issue at the end of the season that contributed to him falling short of 1,000 yards for the first time in a full season. Last season was no different as he suffered a torn PCL.

Elliott is entering his seventh season with the Cowboys. With 1,650 carries (1,938 total touches) on his legs, is not far-fetched to see why Elliott has had some injury issues lately. The Cowboys need Elliott healthy for their running game to reach its potential, and while he was endorsing rookie Tyler Smith when he spoke with Jori Epstein of USA Today, Elliott mentioned that he's not quite fully healthy yet, but he's close.

"I think I’ll be there pretty soon,” Elliott said.

Elliott worked like a mad man last offseason to get into the best shape of his career with running backs guru Josh Hicks. It paid off at the beginning of the season as Elliott was third in the NFL in rushing after five games with two 100-yard performances.

The two-time rushing champion had his best outing last season against the Carolina Panthers when he rushed for 143 yards in Week 4. Elliott paid a hefty price for his performance as his aforementioned PCL injury took place during that game.

The former Buckeye put up 110 yards the next game against the New York Giants but failed to run for more than 69 yards for the rest of the season until his 87-yard performance in the final game against the Philadelphia Eagles put him over the 1,000-yard mark.

As rough as the last 12 games were for Elliott last season the way he performed before his injury was an encouraging sign of what he can still do when healthy. Having an explosive running mate like Tony Pollard can assist in Elliott's health seeing as he doesn't have to be the 25-30 carry a game bellow runner he once was.

When Elliott is effective running the football the Cowboys are a better offense because the attention he garners allows quarterback Dak Prescott to carve teams up with the play-action passing game. With CeeDee Lamb, rookie Jalen Tolbert, and eventually Michael Gallup once he's fully healthy, Elliott doing his thing on the ground this season can put the Cowboys' offense right back at the top of the league like it was in 2021.

Feature image via Orlando Ramirez-USA TODAY Sports