Former Cowboys RB Ezekiel Elliott to sign with Los Angeles Chargers for playoff run

From @ToddBrock24f7: The 9-year veteran saw career-low numbers in every major category and was finally released Dec. 31 so that he might sign with a contender.

Ezekiel Elliott didn’t rack up all that many yards in his brief return to the Dallas Cowboys in 2024, but he’ll be making a run to playoffs anyway.

Elliott will sign on to join the Los Angeles Chargers’ practice squad, according to multiple reports published late Monday night. The move is expected to hinge on Elliott, 29, passing a team physical on Tuesday.

The Cowboys waived Elliott on New Year’s Eve, after a 15-game reunion that brought him back to the organization that drafted him fourth overall in 2016 and saw him win two league rushing titles, in 2016 and 2018.

After spending the 2023 season with New England and having mixed results, the popular Elliott was brought back to Dallas in free agency, with many hoping he would serve as a leader in the locker room and a short-yardage/goal-line specialist. But the homecoming never really clicked for the three-time Pro Bowler, especially as his on-the-field usage dwindled.

He struggled to carve out a definitive role within the team’s running-back-by-committee approach to the 2024 season. Things got so bad he was reportedly called on the carpet for tardiness and missing team meetings. He was declared inactive and left at home while the club traveled to Atlanta for a Week 9 game against the Falcons.

Elliott started only two games, watching undrafted Rico Dowdle take the lion’s share of touches and ultimately notch his first 1,000-yard campaign. The All-Pro went on to post career-low numbers in rushing attempts (74), rushing yards (226), yards per carry (3.1), and yards per game (15.1).

His late-December release in Dallas came, in part, so that the nine-year veteran might have the opportunity to latch on with a playoff contender and make a run at a Super Bowl

Elliott’s 8,488 rushing yards in a Cowboys uniform make him the franchise’s third-leading all-time rusher, but now he’ll trade the navy blue star for powder blues and a lightning bolt.

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The Chargers’ rushing offense stands 17th- the middle of the pack leaguewide- behind top option J.K. Dobbins and his 905 yards this year. A hobbled Gus Edwards and seldom-used Kimani Vidal and Hassan Haskins round out the Los Angeles RB room.

Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh likely remembers his newest ballcarrier well from their Big Ten days; Elliott posted 214 rushing yards and a pair of touchdowns in Ohio State’s 42-13 win over the Michigan Wolverines in 2015, Harbaugh’s first year in Ann Arbor.

With an 11-6 record, the Chargers own the fifth seed in the AFC postseason bracket and will face the Houston Texans on Saturday in the wild card round.

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