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OXNARD, Calif .– Ezekiel Elliott doesn’t have to look far for motivation. He’s just had the worst statistical year of his career with the Dallas Cowboys, rushing just 979 yards in 15 games.
“Just having the year I had last year, you don’t need more motivation than that,” Elliott said after the Cowboys’ first training camp practice. “I just know the type of player I am. I don’t think I showed that last year. I have a lot to prove. I just made sure I left no doubt that I did. haven’t done as much as I should. “
In addition to working in the Cowboys’ offseason program, Elliott trained with running backs personal trainer Josh Hicks for the first time in his career. The goal was to improve his shortcourt speed that will help him get more than the two 20-yard or more rushes he had in 2020. He has only had two games with over 100 rushing yards. , reaching 105. He had 26 100-yard games in his first four seasons.
“I think it’s definitely something I had to work on,” Elliott said. “It’s definitely something I needed to improve, so I went to the lab and got better.”
He improved his nutrition with his personal chef who helped him reduce his weight to 218 pounds, 10 pounds lighter than he was last year. The last time he weighed 218 pounds, he was a freshman at Ohio State.
“I heard that as you got older in this league you wanted to start losing weight and nutrition played a big role in that,” Elliott said. “Thanks to my boss, Chef Hoppie, for doing me right and making me lean and ready for the season. I feel great where I am.”
Elliott signed a six-year, $ 90 million extension in 2019 that guaranteed him $ 50 million. He is expected to earn $ 9.6 million this year and his base salary of $ 12.4 million in 2022 is already fully guaranteed.
Its purpose is not to prove the skeptics wrong.
“Prove it to myself. I’m doing it for my teammates. I think the hardest part of last year is you feel like you’re letting your teammates down. It hurts,” said Elliott , who has also groped six times in 2020. “I want to make sure I do my best and do whatever it takes to help this team win.”
Elliott celebrated his 26th birthday on Thursday. Dak Prescott gave him a diamond bracelet as a gift. Fans in attendance sang “Happy Birthday”.
“It goes fast. You hear it all the time (but) until you hit sixth grade you don’t realize it,” Elliott said. “It happens in the blink of an eye. I had a great time. Doing it with great people. I look forward to being here for many more years.”
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