Mac Engel: Cowboys cut Ezekiel Elliott because he was expensive and done. Now he's cheap and done.

FORT WORTH, Texas — Jerry has finally found something that he can’t sell, spin or market. Unless you are related to him, no one is buying this latest move.

The standard optimism and curiosity from the NFL draft wasn’t even 48 hours old before Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and his “team” took a bulldozer to that hope by signing a running back who is done with a capital F.

The Cowboys are not just testing the theory that any running back can suffice in this era of NFL, they are now the crazy Instagram scientist who thinks just because he wears a lab coat whatever lunatic idea he spews is legit.

The Cowboys bringing back Ezekiel Elliott is a bad enough idea but adding him to this running back room is the Super Bowl MVP of Horrible Player Moves. Apparently Julius Jones, Paul Palmer and Herschel Walker were not available.

On Monday, the Cowboys brought Zeke in for a physical. If he passes, he will sign which does not mean he will make the final roster before Week 1 of the regular season.

Zeke is a good pro and a nice guy to have in an NFL locker room, but on an NFL field he has nothing left. The Cowboys, mostly under previous head coach Jason Garrett, used up everything of note that Zeke could produce on a field.

We know this because we all saw what he did in what we thought was his final season with the team, in 2022. That was the worst season of his career, a year where he was essentially replaced by Tony Pollard.

Every Cowboys fan remembers what should have been Zeke’s final game: in the divisional round of the 2022 playoffs at San Francisco.

Pollard suffered a leg injury in the first half, which put Zeke back in his familiar role. It was not painful or ugly to watch Zeke that day, but sad. He ran the ball 10 times for 26 yards and caught two passes for seven yards.

One of the best parts to his game, blocking, wasn’t the same, either.

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