Coach's firing could be stern message for Cowboys RB Ezekiel Elliott

The Dallas Cowboys fired six assistant coaches, including running backs coach Skip Peete, per the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. They might as well have shown running back Ezekiel Elliott the door, too.

After being eliminated in the divisional round by the 49ers, Cowboys management and head coach Mike McCarthy clearly believe new voices are needed to push the team to a championship level.

The Star-Telegram noted that Peete was close with Elliott through the player’s agent. Writer Clarence Hill Jr. speculated if the Cowboys planned to keep Elliott, they would have kept Peete.

Elliott is set to make $10.9 million next year, per Spotrac.com. But the Cowboys are already $5 million over the cap before the offseason begins. The running back has frequently been mentioned as a cap casualty, freeing up $12 million if he is cut.

The former first-round pick said he would take a pay cut to stay in Dallas, according to the Dallas Morning News.

"I don’t have a crystal ball; I can’t tell you the future. But I definitely want to be here,” Elliott told the media after the playoff loss.

In his rookie season in 2016, Elliott rushed for 1,631 yards and 15 touchdowns. He finished third in the MVP vote, made the All-Pro team and was runner-up to teammate Dak Prescott in the Offensive Rookie of the Year voting.

Elliott was limited to 10 games the next year, but in 2018 he had 1,434 rushing yards.

In the past three seasons, Elliott has had between 876 and 1,002 rushing yards and never seemed to run with the same energy of his early years. His rush yards per attempt fell from 5.1 in 2016 to 4, 4.2 and 3.8 in the past three seasons.

Elliott also lost carries and playing time to Tony Pollard. The only thing that might keep Elliott around is that Pollard had surgery for an ankle injury suffered in the playoff loss. 

The Cowboys could tag Pollard at $10.1 million, still less than Elliott made, and sign a cheaper backup as insurance.