Tony Pollard SZN?

Tony Pollard is one of the 2022 hype trains, mainly based on Zeke’s decline and his heralded rise to prominence. Can this investment in the Cowboys’ RB2 pay off?

Who Is Tony Pollard?

A 6’0″, 209-pound running back of the Dallas Cowboys, drafted in the 4th round of the 2019 season.

What Comes Out In Favor of Him?

Efficiency

Pollard was well ahead of the league (~4.35) in rush yards per attempt since he entered the league in 2 of his 3 professional seasons.

Season	Pollard Rush Yds/Att
2019	5.29
2020	4.31
2021	5.53

Ezekiel Elliott‘s Mileage and Decline

One of the most talked numbers about Ezekiel Elliott is his rushing attempts since joining the Cowboys in 2016: 1,650 only in regular-season games.

Naturally, the older the running back, the worse he is for fantasy purposes, and Zeke is entering his 7th season as the workhorse in Dallas.

Also, Zeke was under the league’s average efficiency in the past two seasons:

Season	Rush Yds/Att
2016	5.06
2017	4.06
2018	4.71
2019	4.50
2020	4.01
2021	4.22

What Comes Out Against Him?

Tony Pollard: Measurements and Redzone

As I said at the beginning of this article, Pollard is a 6’0″, 209-pounder, while Ezekiel Elliott is the same height, but heavier (228 lbs). And how that stacks up in redzone rush attempts, the most valuable touches for running backs?

Players built like Pollard had a little over 1.5% of RB rushing attempts in the redzone, while players with Zeke’s body type had over 8.5% (over 5 times more than the first group).

The following tables show the top-three in redzone carries for Dallas since Pollard joined the Cowboys.

2019:

Player	Rush attempts
Ezekiel Elliott	59
Dak Prescott	14
Tony Pollard	2

2020:

Player	Rush attempts
Ezekiel Elliott	45
Tony Pollard	13
Dak Prescott*	6

*Played only 5 games.

2021:

Player	Rush attempts
Ezekiel Elliott	45
Tony Pollard	15
Dak Prescott	15

Conclusion

Tony Pollard is slowly getting a bigger role in the Dallas Cowboys offense as Zeke loses efficiency and shares more workload with his teammate. However, we should not expect Pollard’s TD upside to increase much because of Zeke conceding touches to him, since he lacks physicality (according to historical numbers) to get more touches in the redzone.