Jerry Jones addresses possibility of Ezekiel Elliott returning to Dallas for 2023

Since his release from the Dallas Cowboys, Ezekiel Elliott hasn’t signed with a new team. As a free agent, the former first-rounder can ink a deal at any point – even with Dallas.

Cowboys team owner and general manager Jerry Jones addressed the reasons behind Elliott’s release this week. He also commented on the possibility of bringing the Buckeye alum back in the future.

“It was all about making the adjustment, principally, because of the cap,” Jones said on Monday from the NFL meetings. “It was because of where we were. That’s not to imply that we didn’t think that, in the grand scheme of things, what we were going to possibly give up there — that Zeke brought us — we would love to have him. But, again, with what we need to do to make our cap work, and with what we can do to improve … that was worth us saving that money on the cap.”

“[A reworked deal] was on the table, and you might say that, to some degree, that hasn’t changed,” he added. “It won’t until he’s signed someplace else.”

Jones made it clear he doesn’t want to get fans too excited about a potential reunion.

“I don’t want to ever leave him hanging, our fans hanging, or anybody but I wouldn’t take any possibility off of the table,” said Jones.

Although Elliott’s agent has put out some potential landing spots for the former league-leading rusher, nothing concrete has come of it over the last week.

NFL head coaches shut down Elliott rumors

New York Jets head coach Robert Saleh had a simple response to recent reports connecting the former Cowboys running back to his team. Elliott was reportedly “down to” the Jets, the Bengals and the Eagles at the end of last week and wants to get a deal done by the end of this week.

“We love our running back room,” Saleh said. “I’ll leave it at that.”

There’s at least one Jets running back that should be happy with his head coach’s comments. After the initial report, Breece Hall tweeted, then deleted, at backup Michael Carter, “I think we good over here @8kMike hbu [how ‘bout you]?” with a yawn emoji.  

Unfortunately for the former first-round draft pick, Bengals head coach Zac Taylor also responded in the negative to reports about his team pursuing Elliott.

“There’s a lot of great players that are available right now,” Taylor said Thursday night, via Mike Dyer. “We like our team as where it’s at right now. But it’s always funny when things get thrown around. Sometimes, it’s the first you hear of it. But that’s just the way life works.”

Taylor’s comments seemed to shut down that lane for Elliott. However, there’s heavy interest from another team’s players in landing him for next season. Numerous Eagles players started recruiting Elliott to Philadelphia after the initial report.