The Dallas Cowboys placed the franchise tag on Tony Pollard Monday afternoon, sources confirmed.
Doing this will cost the Cowboys $10.09 million, a move we all thought would be coming. After a career-best 1,007 rushing yards and 12 total touchdowns, the team needed to make the move to bring him back to the team for the 2023 season, and it starts with the tag, for now.
There was hope Pollard would reach a deal with the Cowboys to avoid the tag but for now this is the solution. The two sides now have until July 15 to work out a long-term deal. If not Pollard will play under the tag this season. As long as it does not turn into a Dez Bryant situation.
This now allows the team to strictly focus on Ezekiel Elliot’s contract. They need to either cut him or make him eat some of that money to fix his enormous cap hit next season.
Let me be the first to say I am happy with this move. I wanted them to use the tag on either Pollard or Donovan Wilson. 2023 is a key year for the Cowboys, and bringing back arguably their first or second most important player on the offensive side of the ball is a big first step.
Pollard suffered a broken leg in January in Dallas’ playoff loss to the 49ers, he had surgery in January and early reports last week said that Pollard should be ready to go for training camp, a huge bonus for the team.
As we know, this team will need more than Pollard to get to the next level in 2023, but having him in the lineup will help. I will hold my breathe until we see how he recovers from that broken leg, but we saw Dak Prescott throw for 37 touchdowns in 2021 in his first year back.
With Kellen Moore gone, and Mike McCarthy in line to call the plays for next season. Bringing back players that already know the system is smart. He was vocal last week saying he wants to run the football. More than what they did a season ago.
While Zeke will still probably be a part of this offense, Pollard is the answer here. Although this brings me back to another point, should the team pay another running back? The team is in this situation because of a running back. Do we think they will get themselves into another one with Pollard?
Until something is done about the hit on Zeke contract the Cowboys are now paying over $20 million dollars to their backfield.
The fun has now begun for the Cowboys off-season. This tag will probably result in Dalton Schultz hitting the free agent market. He played on the tag a season ago. This was my prediction just last week. They have two others behind him that can carry the load. The team doesn’t have that with Zeke or Malik Davis.
Pollard needed to come back, the draft class is loaded with running backs. They can always add to it if they let Elliott walk.
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