NFL Rumors: Cowboys exploring depressing plan at RB after missing out on stars

The Dallas Cowboys have had an extremely depressing start to what is a crucial offseason for them. The Cowboys looked like legitimate Super Bowl contenders before being embarrassed on their home field by the Packers in the Wild Card Round.

The Cowboys have a roster capable of competing once again in 2024 but have only gotten worse so far thanks to their lack of aggressiveness. Not only did they lose Tony Pollard to the Titans, but they've watched their division rivals improve dramatically. The Eagles have been arguably the most aggressive team in free agency thus far, landing Saquon Barkley, Bryce Huff, and Chauncey Gardner-Johnson.

Dallas has several holes to address this offseason and a new one happens to be at the running back position. With Pollard gone, the Cowboys have no clear solution in the backfield. One that Ian Rapoport of NFL Network says that they're considering happens to be very underwhelming.

Cowboys have depressing plan at RB position after letting several stars sign elsewhere

The running back class was stacked in free agency, but for whatever reason, the Cowboys wanted no part of it. They could've had any of Saquon Barkley, Josh Jacobs, Derrick Henry, D'Andre Swift, and even Pollard. They also got lucky with the Packers releasing Aaron Jones after they snatched Jacobs. The Cowboys did not land a single one of those guys, and are now fighting for scraps.

Rapoport reported that the Cowboys are one of at least three teams considering signing AJ Dillon, with the Giants and Colts among the competition. Yikes.

Dillon has spent each of his four NFL seasons with the Packers after being selected in the second round of the 2020 NFL Draft and has mostly split carries with Jones in their backfield.

While he was a fairly efficient runner in each of his first three seasons Jones is coming off what is clearly his worst year in the NFL, rushing for 613 yards on 178 attempts and two touchdowns. He averaged just 3.4 yards per carry, a minuscule number.

The 25-year-old has proven to be a capable No. 2 option in a backfield over the course of his career even coming off of his down season, but has never quite been the bell cow. Cowboys fans saw how a career No. 2 running back who had done well splitting carries fared when given a bulk of the work. Spoiler: it wasn't pretty.

Perhaps Dillon can surprise playing behind a stout Cowboys offensive line, but don't hold your breath. This would be a pretty disappointing addition if it comes to fruition.