The Facts: Elliott's teammates and coaches have noticed how hard he has worked this offseason. Dak Prescott stated during the team's offseason program that the running back is "in the best shape of his life." Some of Elliott's workouts from his offseason now are on social media. Josh Hicks, Elliott's personal trainer, sent a text message to Elliott last week. It included a video of a drill Elliott did three months ago and another one of the same drill recently. Hicks said Elliott was "way quicker, way more elusive, more fluent" in the recent video.

Diehards Line:"Zeke's in good shape," Hicks told Jon Machota of TheAthletic.com. "I agree with Dak. I agree with Tony [Pollard]. I was on the outside looking in. They've been with this man three, four years. They see him way more than I see him. They've seen him work in practice, and they've seen him work in the offseason. I don't think Zeke has ever worked like this in the offseason. I could be mistaken. But me, personally, when it comes to my drills and what I do and how I do it, I know he hasn't worked like this. ..." Elliott ran for a career-low 979 yards in 2020, while averaging a career-low 4.0 yards per carry. The healthy returns of Prescott, left tackle Tyron Smith, right guard Zack Martin and right tackle La'el Collins will help. But Elliott had only three runs of 20 or more yards last season, raising questions about whether he has lost a step. That has driven the three-time Pro Bowler this offseason. "Everybody said it," Hicks said, "and he probably saw it and felt it himself, that he probably slowed down a little bit or lost a step a little bit or whatever." Hicks said Elliott's feet were heavy when they started this offseason, but they are not now. So will Zeke get back to being Zeke, the player who led the league in rushing two of his first three seasons? Time will tell.