Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott is on pace to finish this season with 1,875 yards, which would break the NFL’s rookie rushing record. But teammate Dez Bryant thinks Elliott will go beyond that.
Bryant said Elliott’s sights shouldn’t just be set on Eric Dickerson’s rookie record of 1,808 rushing yards. Instead, Bryant is expecting Elliott to become the first rookie in NFL history to top 2,000 rushing yards.
“Yeah, I believe it. Two thousand or more. That’s my prediction,” Bryant said, via the Star-Telegram.
Only seven players in NFL history have rushed for 2,000 yards in a season: Eric Dickerson, Adrian Peterson, Jamal Lewis, Barry Sanders, Terrell Davis, Chris Johnson and O.J. Simpson. For Elliott to join that club as a rookie would be an extraordinary achievement.
But it’s probably not going to happen. As great as Elliott has been so far, he would need to average 130 yards a game for the rest of the season to reach 2,000, and that’s an enormous amount to ask. Elliott has a good chance at leading the league in rushing and at the offensive rookie of the year award (where teammate Dak Prescott is his biggest competition), but he’s probably going to come up short of Bryant’s bold prediction.