The Dallas Cowboys have officially released three-time Pro Bowler Ezekiel Elliott.

And per Tampa Bay Times' Rick Stroud, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are interested in his services.

In fact, in discussions with the agents for other free-agent running backs, the Bucs expressed their interest in Elliott if he were to be released. – Rick Stroud, Tampa Bay Times

The Buccaneers just parted ways with a veteran running back in Leonard Fournette, but the remaining rostered running backs have a combined 245 carries over the course of their respective careers. So, on the surface, it makes sense to add an experienced, very productive veteran to balance things out.

That doesn't need to happen with Elliott, however. 

For starters, the Buccaneers have a talented running back in second-year player Rachaad White. He should be able to have success in Dave Canales' zone scheme and as mentioned earlier, he's very young. 

White will also count just $1,165,909 against the cap in 2023. Ke'Shawn Vaughn and Patrick Laird, the other two rostered backs, are set to count $1,465,713 and $1,010,000, respectively. In all, they represent a $3,641,622 cap hit. 

Elliott will cost that, himself. There's also a very realistic world where he costs close to twice that amount in 2023. He won't be making the tens of millions he's made over the last few years, but someone will pay him a decent amount to come in and be their RB1. 

Elliott is only 27-years-old and is actually a year younger than Fournette, despite getting drafted a year before him. The key, however, is the amount of carries and hits Elliott has taken over the years. The two-time rushing champ leads the NFL with 1,881 carries since 2016. 

For total perspective: it's 131 more than second-place Derrick Henry. White ran the ball 129 times last year, alone.

That's a lot of carries. 

They're starting to wear on Elliott, too. He played on a partially torn PCL in 2021 and missed two games in 2022. The two games represented the first time he missed back-to-back games (due to injury) in his career. 

There are a couple of younger, less-worn options on the market (James Robinson, D'Ernest Johnson) that represent better choices than Elliott and of course, there's also the draft. The 2023 NFL Draft is extremely deep when it comes to the running back position. The Buccaneers can certainly find very good value there.

Again, it initially makes sense for the Buccaneers to be interested in Elliott. Especially when considering his former position coach is now with the team. 

A lot of teams are going to be interested in Elliott. But when breaking it down, there are simply too many reasons why they shouldn't sign him compared to why they should.

You can check out Stroud's full column, here.