It feels like it’s been a decade, but only two years have passed since Dak Prescott and Ezekiel Elliott led a renaissance of sorts within the Dallas Cowboys as rookies.
Dak ultimately won Rookie of the Year honors that season (Zeke had a great case for it as well as MVP), and the impact of what rookies can do in the NFL was highlighted again. The bar had been raised.
Of the two, only Elliott was a first-round pick, and obviously first-round picks carry the highest pedigree and the highest expectations (Dak defies this conventional wisdom). Last season when Green Bay’s Kevin King made a play early on in the game the Packers played against Dallas there was a collective sigh from Cowboys fans that wanted the former Washington cornerback with last year’s first-round pick.