Ezekiel Elliott believes Cowboys can be NFL’s best team in 2019

The Dallas Cowboys appear to be trending in the right direction after they won a playoff game last year for the first time since 2014, and Ezekiel Elliott is expecting much bigger things heading into 2019.

During an interview with CBS 11 (KTVT-DFW) at his youth football camp on Sunday, Elliott said he believes the Cowboys have the potential to be the best team in the NFL next season.

“I think we have a lot of the right pieces,” Elliott said, per Jon Machota of the Dallas Morning News. “I think we’re loaded at every position. We have a lot of depth and we have a great group of leaders and some great team chemistry going on. We just have to lay that foundation now and carry it through camp and make it happen during the season.”

Elliott racked up more than 2,000 yards from scrimmage last year and led the NFL with 1,434 yards rushing, so Dallas is clearly set at the running back position. They also now have a true No. 1 wide receiver in Amari Cooper who displayed great chemistry with Dak Prescott, and Jason Witten has come out of retirement to rejoin the team. Elliott spoke about needing to take on a bigger leadership role heading into his fourth NFL season, and Witten’s presence will undoubtedly help in that department.

“I’m excited about the leadership group we have. I think we have a lot of the right pieces,” Elliott said. “I think we have a lot of promise for this season.”

Perhaps we saw an indication that Elliott feels he has something to prove with the way he fired back at his critics earlier this offseason. He’s right that the Cowboys have the pieces both on offense and defense to make a deep run, but we could have said that about a lot of teams in Dallas over the past several years. Putting it all together has been the issue, and Jason Garrett may find himself on the hot seat this year if he can’t figure out how to do that.