Cowboys 54-Man Roster Moves: Ezekiel Elliott left behind in Dallas for Week 9 Falcons match

The decision has been made. While inactives don't have to be announced until about an hour and a half before kickoff, the Dallas Cowboys addressed their running back situation with an early indicator. The club has left the DFW area for their Week 9 game against the Atlanta Falcons, and they boarded the plane without Ezekiel Elliott.

There's no injury, either, rather Elliott is staying behind for disciplinary reasons . With last week's elevation of Dalvin Cook, Elliott was going to be RB3 last week until Rico Dowdle got sick on gameday, and there's a lot of speculation that his feelings about his role may have led to this decision. Along with Cook's elevation, CB Josh Butler is going to make his season debut.

If there's been one microcosm that's been most emblamatic of Dallas' 2024 season, it's been the Cowboys cornerback situation. The offseason plan was that the Cowboys secondary was going to be a strength. After all, sitting atop the league leaderboard for interceptions since the start of the 2021 season were Trevon Diggs and DaRon Bland. The added caveat that Dallas played the majority of the 2023 season without the All-Pro Diggs and Bland wasn't drafted until 2022 made things all the more remarkable.

Diggs' immediate level coming off an ACL tear was questionable, and then right before the season, the club lost third-year All-Pro DaRon Bland to a foot injury that required surgery. Dallas replaced Bland in the lineup with a fellow late-round pick, rookie Caelen Carson, who played admirably until a shoulder injury knocked him out of action. Bland came close to playing before a setback and now a month has passed and he's not practicing again. Carson has been practicing, but for some unknown reason isn't playing yet and now Diggs has a muscle tear in his camp and missed practice all week. This is how a team gets to 3-4.

Here's a look at the club's revamped roster, including this week's two practice squad elevations, RB Dalvin Cook and xxx