Dalvin Cook just became important on first day at work with Cowboys

No team in the NFL is worse on the ground than the Dallas Cowboys. No, seriously. The Cowboys enter Sunday's action ranked dead last in the NFL, averaging a putrid 77.2 rushing yards per game. Their offense has underperformed to start the year, and their lack of a ground attack is a huge reason why.

For whatever reason, instead of pursuing a reliable option at the position like Derek Henry, Josh Jacobs, or even Tony Pollard, the Cowboys elected to bring Ezekiel Elliott back to Dallas. Yeah, that same Ezekiel Elliott who struggled to the point where he was released by the Cowboys after the 2022 campaign. He was brought in to be the team's RB1, and the results have been what most NFL fans expected.

Elliott's predictable struggles allowed 26-year-old Rico Dowdle to take over as the team's lead back. He hasn't been stellar, but he's a clear upgrade over Elliott. There's no arguing that he's the best option in their running back room right now.

That unfortunate fact is why the news that Dowdle became sick upon arriving at Levi's Stadium ahead of Dallas' Week 8 game against the San Francisco 49ers is such frustrating news. He's now questionable to play, and even if he does, chances are, he won't have a full workload.

With Dowdle's availability in question and Elliott buried on the depth chart, there's a good chance that Dalvin Cook's Cowboys debut will involve a whole lot of important work.

Dalvin Cook will be more important than Cowboys fans could've expected in his team debut

It was reported that Cook was going to be active for their Week 8 game in San Francisco, but how much he was going to play remained to be seen. He had spent the season on Dallas' practice squad but hadn't seen any game action with the Cowboys.

With the news that Dowdle is now questionable, it feels as if there's a very good chance that Cook isn't only going to see some action, but might lead the team in carries. With it now being 2024, the thought of Cook receiving a ton of playing time on a Cowboys team trying to fight for their playoff lives is not great.

Once upon a time, Cook was one of the best running backs in the NFL, as was Ezekiel Elliott, but again, it is 2024. Cook has not been a star in quite some time.

Last season, he appeared in 15 games with the New York Jets operating as their No. 2 back behind Breece Hall. He averaged just 3.2 yards per carry on 67 attempts leading to his eventual release. He'd finish out the season with the Baltimore Ravens, but spend most of his time there on the sidelines.

Cook might be getting an offensive line upgrade going from New York to Dallas, but does anyone really expect the 29-year-old to be any better than what they have right now, which is already the worst in the sport?

At the end of the day, this all falls on Jerry Jones for his odd refusal to add a legitimate option to operate out of the backfield. Trying something new when what they've used this season sounds good, in theory, and Cook having the resume he does makes him exciting, but it's hard to expect much here. In fact, it'd be surprising if it wasn't more of the same.