Ezekiel Elliott to Wear No. 21 Cowboys Jersey After Signing Contract Worth Up to $3M

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Ezekiel Elliott's second tenure with the Dallas Cowboys will look a lot like the first.

Elliott will once again wear No. 21 with the Cowboys after signing a one-year contract with the team Monday. Elliott wore No. 15 during his lone season with the New England Patriots.

Elliott's lone season in New England was not much of a success. He had career lows in rushing attempts (184), yards (642), touchdowns (3) and yards per attempt (3.5) while failing to have a single 20-yard carry.

The Cowboys released Elliott a year ago in favor of franchise tagging Tony Pollard, who left for the Tennessee Titans this offseason. Rather than address the hole at running back in free agency or the draft, the Cowboys instead decided to tap into the Elliott well once again.

"I know this, I saw as recent as the end of the year, I saw Zeke play," Cowboys owner Jerry Jones told reporters last week. "And I will tell you he's good enough to be a starter."

Jones also indicated the team plans on staying active as it looks to improve the position.

"I've seen teams win the Super Bowl with running backs that they traded for midseason. The point is that this thing is a long way from being over as to how you're going to line up (during the season)," Jones said to reporters after the Cowboys failed to draft a running back.

The Cowboys will head into next season with major long-term questions across their organization. Head coach Mike McCarthy, quarterback Dak Prescott and wide receiver CeeDee Lamb are all currently heading into the final season of their respective contracts.

While allowing McCarthy to dangle as a lame duck makes some sense, the lack of extensions for Prescott and Lamb are baffling. Extending Prescott could have freed up $22 million in cap space for this season. Lamb is one of the NFL's best wideouts, and the receiver market is rising well over the $30 million per season mark.

A committee approach could work out at running back, but none of the Cowboys' current players on the depth chart offer much optimism. Rico Dowdle has been a career backup as he approaches his fifth NFL season, and Deuce Vaughn is a 5'6" role player who is best used in short spurts.