After signing Alfred Morris earlier this week, Cowboys executive Stephen Jones admitted his club likely wouldn’t have brought in an established running back if Ezekiel Elliott were not holding out. “We were going to look at something no matter what but probably not as much,” Jones said, via Clarence Hill of the Star Telegram. “Every time you are missing a guy you need to have a guy in here and it made sense for us to get a guy we were comfortable with.” Morris, who served as Elliott’s backup in 2016 and 2017, says he’s been given no assurances that he’ll stick on Dallas’ roster if/when Elliott returns to the team.

Here’s more from the NFC East:

• Giants wideout Golden Tate is fighting his recent four-game performance-enhancing drug suspension, but sources tell Ralph Vacchiano of SNY there’s “almost no way” the ban gets reduced. Tate has said the failed test stems from a prescribed fertility drug, but that explanation is unlikely to help his cause, as multiple sources tell Vacchiano the NFL’s drug policy is both “unforgiving” and “rigid.” In a best-case scenario, Tate could see his suspension cut from four games to two or three, but that’s an unlikely outcome. New York can ill afford to lose any more pass-catchers after Corey Coleman tore his ACL and Sterling Shepard suffered a fractured thumb.
• Cornerback Orlando Scandrick‘s deal with the Eagles is for one year and $1.12MM, reports Adam Caplan of SiriusXM NFL Radio (Twitter link). Scandrick will collect a $1.03MM base salary and can earn up to $90K in per-game roster bonuses. Cre’Von LeBlanc, Philadelphia’s primary nickel corner in 2018, recently suffered a foot sprain and could be out of action for awhile, so the 32-year-old Scandrick could have an opportunity to slide into the team’s starting lineup.
• In addition to tight end Jake Fisher, the Cowboys also recently worked out tight end Jerome Washington and linebacker Emmanuel Beal, according to Todd Archer of ESPN.com. Linebacker Justin Phillips was also part of the cattle call, and ended up signing with Dallas on Wednesday.