Ezekiel Elliott contract details: Comparing Cowboys RB's deal to Derrick Henry

Ezekiel Elliott contract details: Comparing Cowboys RB’s deal to Derrick Henry

Admin November 18, 2024

Derrick Henry became a free agent during the 2024 NFL offseason for the first time in his career, and he had an ideal landing spot in mind.

The long-time Tennessee Titans running back had visions of joining the Dallas Cowboys. Why?

“I was thinking maybe Dallas because I live there,” Henry said early in the 2024 NFL season. “It’d be a convenient spot.”

However, the Cowboys never came calling. Henry ended up joining the Baltimore Ravens and with them has enjoyed a career renaissance. He leads the NFL in rushing yards and touchdowns through 10 weeks and had a massive game in his early-season matchup against Dallas.

Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones was asked about the team’s decision not to pursue Henry after the running back’s 151-yard, two-touchdown performance against Dallas.

“We couldn’t afford Derrick Henry,” Jones offered as an excuse.

There was some truth to Jones’ admission. Dallas did go the cheap route at running back, turning to familiar face Ezekiel Elliott as one of their only free-agent signings of the offseason to add depth to their backfield.

Elliott has been uninspiring during his second Cowboys stint, showing little burst and working behind Rico Dowdle in a Dallas running offense that entered Week 10 as the second-worst in the NFL.

Here’s what to know about Elliott’s contract, how it compares to Henry’s deal with the Ravens and how each has fared during the 2024 NFL season.

Ezekiel Elliott contract details

The Cowboys signed Elliott to a one-year, $2 million contract during the 2024 NFL offseason. The signing reunited Dallas with the No. 4 overall pick in the 2016 NFL Draft, who spent the first seven years of his career with the Cowboys before a one-year stop with the New England Patriots in 2023.

Below is a look at the contract’s full details, per Spotrac.com.

Term: 1 year
Total value: $2 million
Average annual value (AAV): $2 million
Guaranteed money: $1.625 million

Elliott’s contract is tied for 37th among NFL running backs in AAV with Alexander Mattison of the Las Vegas Raiders and Travis Homer of the Chicago Bears.

Elliott carries a cap charge of $2 million on his current contract, good for just 0.78% of the NFL’s salary cap for 2024.

However, Elliott’s previous contract with the Cowboys is still on the books for $6.04 million in dead cap money, per OverTheCap.com. In this case, his dead-cap hit stems from guaranteed money paid to him on his previous contract, which Dallas voided as part of his 2023 release.

Combined, Elliott’s two deals are occupying $8.04 million of Dallas’ cap space. So, while Elliott is much less expensive than Henry in the total cash on his new deal with the Cowboys, he is still eating up a significant chunk of Dallas’ cap space.

Derrick Henry contract details

Henry’s signed a two-year deal with the Ravens worth up to $16 million during the 2024 NFL offseason. Below are the terms of his deal, per Spotrac.com.

Term: 2 year
Total value: $16 million
Average annual value (AAV): $8 million
Guaranteed money: $9 million

Henry’s $8 million AAV ranks 10th among running backs league-wide, tied with Bears starter D’Andre Swift. Henry’s cap hit for the season is much lower though, as he is counting for just $5.105 million this season. That makes him an affordable option for the Ravens, though his cap hit will balloon to $10.9 million in 2024.

That said, the Ravens are paying Henry a total of $9 million – $1.21 million in base salary and $7.79 million in signing bonus – in 2024 despite his lower cap hit. That makes Henry’s cash payment 4 1/2 times more expensive than Elliott was for the 2024 season.

So, to Jones’ point, Dallas would have had to spend far more to get Henry than it did to get Elliott. But when looking at the Cowboys’ $20.7 million in available cap space and comparing the difference in production between the two backs, it would have been worth it.

Ezekiel Elliott stats vs. Derrick Henry stats

Elliott has continued his downturn in 2024, averaging a career-low 3.2 yards per carry and just 7.6 touches per game. Meanwhile, Henry is on pace to lead the NFL in carries for the fifth time in six years while also leading the league in yards, touchdowns and yards per carry (a career-best 6.1).

Below is a look at each running back’s stats entering Week 11 and where they rank league-wide:

Ezekiel Elliott stats

Carries: 54 (56th)
Rushing yards: 171 (70th)
Rushing TDs: 2 (T-42nd)
Yards per carry: 3.2 (DNQ)
Receptions: 7 (T-249th)
Receiving yards: 40 (T-246th)
Receiving TDs: 0 (T-201st)
PFF grade: 60.6 (53rd of 63)

Derrick Henry stats

Carries: 184 (1st)
Rushing yards: 1,120 (1st)
Rushing TDs: 12 (1st)
Yards per carry: 6.1 (1st)
Receptions: 10 (T-205th)
Receiving yards: 96 (T-214th)
Receiving TDs: 2 (T-64th)
PFF grade: 91.3 (2nd of 63)

Should the Cowboys have signed Henry for that marked up price tag? Perhaps Jones truly didn’t have the money in the budget for him.

But if Dallas did and still decided to go with Elliott over Henry, it’s a choice that Jones and Co. will rue. There’s no doubt that Henry, an Offensive Player of the Year candidate, is worth the 450% cash markup from the deal given to Elliott, who is a replacement-level player at best at this stage of his career.