Ezekiel Elliott just recently turned 27, but he is already thinking about what he can do to get into Canton.
The Dallas Cowboys running back spoke to reporters this week and revealed one interesting and specific goal that he has for his NFL career — to get to 10,000 total yards rushing.
“Obviously [reaching 10,000 is] a goal [along with] winning a Super Bowl [and] getting a gold jacket, said Elliott, per Jon Machota of The Athletic. “There’s not many guys with gold jackets that didn’t rush for 10,000 yards.”
Elliott has a good point as only a handful of running backs (including Earl Campbell, Terrell Davis and Larry Csonka) made the Pro Football Hall of Fame without reaching the 10,000-yard mark. Even so though, 10,000 is not necessarily an automatic qualifier for induction — out of the 31 total running backs in NFL history to hit that number, only 16 are in the Hall of Fame. Elliott might be better off gunning for 12,000 yards instead. That has been done by just 16 running backs, 14 of whom are in the Hall. (the only two who aren’t, Adrian Peterson and Frank Gore, are not HOF-eligible as of yet.)
But when it comes to that 10,000 figure, Elliott is within striking distance. He sits at 7,386 yards for his career and has rushed for at least 975 yards in every single season thus far. At that rate, Elliott should be able to hit 10,000 within two-and-a-half to three more years.
2022 will be a good time for Elliott to continue mounting his push. He has backup Tony Pollard breathing down his neck and was recently challenged in public by a notable Cowboys figure. With Dallas having a possible out on Elliott’s contract after this season, the sense of urgency could not be greater.
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