Cowboys Putting Enormous Pressure on Ezekiel Elliott Whether They Like It or Not

Much has been written about the young quarterbacks who were taken with the first two picks of the 2016 NFL draft—of the pressure on California's Jared Goff as the presumptive starter from Day 1 for the Los Angeles Rams in particular.

But among the top picks in this year's draft, there isn't a youngster under a brighter, harsher spotlight than Ezekiel Elliott of the Dallas Cowboys. The Cowboys aspire to play in the Super Bowl every single season, and with each passing day in Big D, something becomes more and more evident.

In 2016, the Cowboys will go as far as Elliott can carry them. (Warning: NSFW lyrics in the following video.)

Not that this is any sort of huge shock. Elliott's selection at No. 4 overall sent a clear message: You don't draft a running back that highly unless you're confident that back is both supremely talented and ready to make an early impact.

The talent part of this equation doesn't appear to be in dispute. Elliott was universally hailed as this year's top rookie running back. More than a few pundits (including Sam Monson of Pro Football Focus) went so far as to call Elliott the best prospect entering the league at the position since Adrian Peterson back in 2007:

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Seriously. Elliott doesn’t have a weakness to his game. Even his single biggest weakness is that he’s less awesome than some of his peers or players that have come before him. He’s being downgraded for not being Todd Gurley or Leonard Fournette with the ball in his hands, and while that’s true, he’s a better blocker than either of them, and is certainly no slouch as a ball-carrier.

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The superlatives kept coming after the Cowboys hit the field for minicamps and OTAs. One former Cowboy raved to the Dallas Morning News that Elliott has the potential to be the best to ever wear the star:

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He is better in the context of his speed, he's faster. In the context of his ability to block, he can block. I just think that he's a smart football player. At the end of the day, I'd like to think that he is better than me because obviously some of those things that we just talked about actually give him the ability to make a house call when he needs to.

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Given that said Cowboy was one Emmitt Smith, those words carry weight.

They also carry expectations. In 1977, Tony Dorsett set the Dallas rookie rushing record, with 1,007 yards. Last year, Gurley led all first-year tailbacks with 1,106 yards on the ground.

As Jamie Dukes of the NFL Network told the Morning News, running behind arguably the NFL's best offensive line, the expectation is Elliott will cruise past both those numbers:

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I think Elliott's the one under pressure because there always is expectations for the Dallas Cowboys. But on top of that, Cowboy fans wanted this guy. They have always been looking for the next Emmitt Smith. They know they got their quarterback. They know they have a wide receiver in Dez Bryant who is wearing No. 88 like our 88. They need that one guy. They believe this is the guy.

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And that's the thing. Elliott isn't just expected to have a decent year and pick up 1,200 yards or so. No. Elliott is being asked to carry a team back into playoff relevance off the bat.

Two years ago, the Cowboys were a 12-win playoff team. The engine that drove that team to an NFC East title wasn't Tony Romo or Bryant, It was DeMarco Murray, who rushed for over 1,800 yards en route to winning Offensive Player of the Year honors.

It wasn't just the 147.1 yards per game the Cowboys ran for that helped vault them into the playoffs. After ranking dead last in the NFL in defense the year before, the Cowboys were 19th in 2014. Not great, mind you—but better.

Part of the reason for that improvement was the simple fact the Dallas defense was on the field less. In 2013, Dallas ranked 24th in time of possession. The next season, the Cowboys leaped to third—because of Murray's ability to sustain drives with his legs.

Safety Barry Church told SiriusXM NFL Radio he believes Elliott can control game tempo in a similar way:

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He’s one of those punishing backs. He’s a three-down back. He can do it all: Catch it out of the backfield, he can run between the tackles. He has enough speed to break the long ones. He’s definitely a three-tool player that can just play on every single down. And it helps out the defense a lot. It takes up our play downs by a lot.

That also happened in 2014 when we had DeMarco Murray. He was punishing defenses and we were three-and-out here, three-and-out there and we were fresh in the fourth quarter. That’s how we won all of our games, by getting takeaways in the fourth quarter, but that was because we were fresh.

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That Dallas defense needs all the help it can get. If defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli gets any more letters from the league offices, he's apt to lose his grip. Defensive ends Demarcus Lawrence and Randy Gregory were both suspended four games. Middle linebacker Rolando McClain got 10.

The Cowboys were going to have a hard enough go of putting pressure on the quarterback before 40 percent of their front seven got put in time out. That's going to put a ton of pressure on a less than stellar Dallas secondary. Even the best pass defenses can only cover for so long.

For at least first month of the season, the Cowboys' best defense will be their offense, running the ball and controlling game flow. It's also an excellent way to insulate a 36-year-old quarterback with a bad back and balky collarbone. Or to ease in a star wideout recovering from foot surgery.

Elliott isn't the only back on the roster. Darren McFadden went over 1,000 yards for the Cowboys last year. The team also signed two-time Pro Bowler Alfred Morris before drafting Elliott.

But Morris is a grinder whose yards-per-carry numbers have dropped every year he's been in the NFL, bottoming out at 3.7 a year ago. And while McFadden played relatively well, he's also an injury-prone back who hadn't gained even 3.5 yards a carry since 2011 before last year.

The Cowboys' confidence in McFadden repeating his 4.6 yards a tote in 2015 became evident as soon as Elliott's name was called.

This isn't to say Morris and McFadden won't see carries, but if the Cowboys are successful in 2016, it's going to be because Elliott is driving a punishing ground attack—just as he did at Ohio State and just as the Cowboys did two years ago with Murray.

There's a lot of pressure that goes with being a first-round pick—even more so in the top five. It ratchets up that much more for every high pick who dons the silver and blue of America's Team.

All Elliott has to do on top of living up to his draft slot is set a new team rookie rushing record, set the table for the entire offense and help keep what's shaping up to be a shaky Dallas defense off the field.

Welcome to the NFL, indeed.

Gary Davenport is an NFL Analyst at Bleacher Report and a member of the Fantasy Sports Writers Association and Pro Football Writers of America. You can follow Gary on Twitter: @IDPSharks.