Cowboys' Ezekiel Elliott: Could catch more balls

Elliott may take on a larger pass-catching role to help compensate for the offseason departures of Dez Bryant and Jason Witten, Jon Machota of The Dallas Morning News reports.

Elliott's 74.3 percent career catch rate (58 of 78 targets) is mediocre for a running back, but he owns impressive marks of 10.9 yards per catch and 8.1 per target, thanks to a pair of big plays -- 83 and 72 yards -- that account for 24.5 percent of his receiving output. While unlikely to reach the Le'Veon Bell/David Johnson workload in the passing game, Elliott should draw four or five looks per game as the Cowboys try to replace Bryant and Witten's 220 combined targets. Elliott led the league with 24.2 carries per game last season, and while he only averaged 2.6 catches and 3.8 targets, he typically stayed on the field for passing downs.

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