SportsDay's Jon Machota answered questions in a chat Friday. Here are some highlights.

Question: I know it's shorts and no pads, but what are your impressions so far of Ezekiel Elliott?

Jon Machota: He definitely looks the part. He looks good in individual drills. But there's really not much you can get from the team period until the pads come on. Defenders aren't allowed to have much contact so it's difficult to really know how effective some of these runs would be on Sunday. He seems to be on the same page with Romo during the pre-snap part of team drills. Tony isn't having to tell Zeke where to go or anything like that. But it's going to be tough to get a real assessment of Zeke before the pads come on and he's facing Sean Lee coming downhill at him.

Question: Everybody says Romo looks great (he says he feels great). How does he look to you?

Jon Machota: He looks as healthy as I've seen him in a while. He doesn't appear to be favoring his shoulder or dealing with any back pain. He's moving around well and making all of the throws. I don't think there's any reason to worry about Romo right now. His workload is being closely monitored. And he's not going to take any big hits between now and the preseason. The focus for him going forward is just staying healthy on Sundays, avoiding the big hit that could cause problems for his back or shoulder.

Question: What do you think about WR Brice Butler? Any chance he beats out Terrance Williams for No. 2 WR spot?

Jon Machota: I wouldn't bet on it. Butler will have a role in this offense as long as he stays healthy and on the same page with Romo and the other receivers. The positive thing for Brice is that he's going to see a lot of first-team practice reps with the Cowboys trying to be cautious with Dez Bryant's workload. The more snaps with Romo, Witten, etc. the better for him.

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