Over the past few seasons, it feels like the Dallas Cowboys exist in a perpetual state where they get rid of running backs. Moving on from Ezekiel Elliott made sense, but the player they moved on from him for, Tony Pollard, ended up signing in Tennessee after just one season as the Cowboys starter, and then his replacement, Rico Dowdle, left after one season as the starter to join the Panthers.
It's turned what seemed like a major strength of the team just a few years ago into a major weakness.
Dallas added two veterans in the offseason in Javonte Williams and Miles Sanders, but there's a reason both players were on the market. The running back situation in Dallas seems...not great right now!
Cowboys have a running back problem ahead of training camp
ESPN's Ben Solak described this running back situation best when he called it a "worryingly weak room."
Why, for example, did the Cowboys pay more for Williams than the Panthers paid for Dowdle, when Dowdle was coming off a 1,000-yard season and Williams played all 17 games and just barely broke 500 yards? I mean, maybe the lack of touchdowns from Dowdle was a concern, but it just seems like a bad move. Sure, Williams is still young and could bounce back, but he just hasn't looked like the same player since a knee injury in 2022. His yards per carry in his first two NFL campaigns were 4.4 and 4.3. In two post-injury seasons, that's dropped to 3.6 and 3.7.
Then there's Sanders, who finished last season with a career-low 205 rushing yards. He was a Pro Bowl selection in 2022 with the Eagles, but his two-year tenure in Carolina showed that his spike in production in 2022 might have just been because he was running behind the Eagles' offensive line. There's no reason to think Sanders can be a lead back in the NFL at this point.
At least the team drafted a running back, though! Except that running back, Jaydon Blue, was a fifth-round selection who finished second on his college team in carries last year, and was second among Texas running backs in receptions as well. He's not ready to challenge for the starting job.
We really aren't talking enough about how concerning this running back room is, are we?
Dallas did a great job trading for George Pickens in the offseason to give Dak Prescott a high-quality No. 2 receiver, but will that matter if the team can't run the football? If the defense doesn't have to respect then run, it can put all its attention on stopping the passing attack. Dallas needs someone to produce on the ground.
But at this point, that looks unlikely with this group. Maybe Dallas just needs to make another trade or wait for a talented cast-off from somewhere else to hit the market during training camp. I don't know. All I do know is this current grouping ain't it.