A closer look at RB Phil Mafah and what he can and can't be

[Bullflop]

Whether Phil Mafah succeeds or not, it will be interesting to see what he's able to do in TC and the preseason. If he doesn't make a decent impression, it's likely he won't be around too long, unless he somehow proves a major blessing for the special teams. I'll wish him well, but he needs to earn it.

 

[Jarntt]

I'd say definitely better than 50/50 he doesn't make an NFL roster week 1. But he has all offseason to change that narrative. Go Mafah!!!

 

[blueblood70]

Based on everything I’ve seen and read about Phil Mafa including his college tape, IMO he is not a complete back. His best hope is an occasional contributor.

Maybe he can develop. But IMO, expecting a guy at the bottom of the draft to turn into a regular contributor to a running game screaming for major help is the hole in one or a full court length basketball shot kind of hope. Possible. Not likely.

As always, I could be dead wrong. For anyone believing Phil Mafah is going to be an immediate help, now is the season for hope. Anxious to see Mafa in TC.

You know I don't think anyone saw what Rico did last year coming did nothing as first 3 years I don't remember him being anything coming out of college I don't even know what college he played for he finished 12th in the league in yards I mean I think nowadays aren't very many dynamic backs that could just be carrying a team you need a running back by committee and I believe this guy is going to be better than advertised he could do everything Rico does maybe even better as far as running harder he's probably going to be better in short yardage and go line but if we even get that out of him I don't think anybody thought Rico was going to do what he did last year and he did..

Guys like him even I compare him to Najee Harris they just need the carries they'll do The Dirty work and then you get some other guys who come in and get the chunk yards guys you can take out the edge go out into routes long as they pick the right group that's fine i'm not Guaranteeing anything either but I believe like others in here are talking about he's going to be better than people think he won't be a 3 down back he's not going to be dynamic but again I use our own player from last year almost had 1100 yards..

You have to have an offense willing to commit for guys like this and give them as many carries as possible in normal run downs and then you mix in the other guys you know the Thunder Lightning get a good rotation I think we could get that out of our young guys who knows of Williams or Sanders even makes this team this will be the fun part of camp and preseason all these guys are going to have to play big snaps...

 

[blueblood70]

Whether Phil Mafah succeeds or not, it will be interesting to see what he's able to do in TC and the preseason. If he doesn't make a decent impression, it's likely he won't be around too long, unless he somehow proves a major blessing for the special teams. I'll wish him well, but he needs to earn it.

Every running back on this team will have to fight in training camp and preseason they'll all have to earn it every single one of them.. I can see this guy start trucking dudes in preseason and start to become a fan favorite for his effort and his toughness.

I still don't understand how you guys don't see that hes a slightly better version of probably Rico, nobody saw what Rico did last year coming ,but Rico took 4 years to get to that point ,and I don't think it's going to take this guy four years,

but he needs to be just part of a group backfield... No one's promising anything but I just see more out of him than others and there's some other people in here that can watch film and make up their own minds I just think he's tough short yardage go line guy get that tough 3-4 YPC and then blue and others can be the change of pace...

 

[Bullflop]

Every running back on this team will have to fight in training camp and preseason they'll all have to earn it every single one of them.. I can see this guy start trucking dudes in preseason and start to become a fan favorite for his effort and his toughness.

I still don't understand how you guys don't see that hes a slightly better version of probably Rico, nobody saw what Rico did last year coming ,but Rico took 4 years to get to that point ,and I don't think it's going to take this guy four years,

but he needs to be just part of a group backfield... No one's promising anything but I just see more out of him than others and there's some other people in here that can watch film and make up their own minds I just think he's tough short yardage go line guy get that tough 3-4 YPC and then blue and others can be the change of pace...

I'm glad to see someone sees the possibilities in this rookie, Mafah. I've only seen his videos that likely displayed the best of his rushing attempts, although his ability to power past some really solid tackle attempts looked pretty doggone impressive to me. He'll have to be better than what others seem to expect of him to make the roster, but proof of worth what TC and preseason is for.

There were some examples of criticisms that left me wondering if what I saw on those videos that were provided were actually closer to some of his performances that weren't shown. We'll see. Often, it takes time for any rookie's development to come to the surface. It took Rico years to prove what he's actually capable of. It was a pleasant surprise, to say the least.

Anyhow, I can't wait to see for myself in actual professional action if Phil deserves more credit than what many others didn't see in him. I'm really looking forward to watching him in TC and the preseason games to see things for myself as he's being tested. Let's hope he proves to be just what we need.

 

[shabazz]

We don't need a 5'5'' RB taking up a roster spot.

There's no way to be nice about it. Just reality

I appreciate reality. The family based experiment may have run its course.

The only thing to consider is that there's a portion of folks here that contend that under McCarthy, he wasnt given a real chance....could they have a point?

Will he be scooped up be a McVay and get a different result?......thats always the chance if they cut him

 

[Angus12]

He's a serviceable underrated RB that might have a better pro career than college. At worst, he's a 700-800 total yard guy. Maybe gets 5-10 TDS a year. At best? That's the question. None of us really know right now. Not til the pads are on.

At WORST, a 7th round guy is a 700-800 yard, 5-10 TD guy? Damn. We struck it rich.

 

[blueblood70]

I'm glad to see someone sees the possibilities in this rookie, Mafah. I've only seen his videos that likely displayed the best of his rushing attempts, although his ability to power past some really solid tackle attempts looked pretty doggone impressive to me. He'll have to be better than what others seem to expect of him to make the roster, but proof of worth what TC and preseason is for.

There were some examples of criticisms that left me wondering if what I saw on those videos that were provided were actually closer to some of his performances that weren't shown. We'll see. Often, it takes time for any rookie's development to come to the surface. It took Rico years to prove what he's actually capable of. It was a pleasant surprise, to say the least.

Anyhow, I can't wait to see for myself in actual professional action if Phil deserves more credit than what many others didn't see in him. I'm really looking forward to watching him in TC and the preseason games to see things for myself as he's being tested. Let's hope he proves to be just what we need.

I'm not claiming he's going to be good, but it's going to be fun to watch him try,

I mean isn't that what camp and preseason games are I mean all these running backs are going to be expected to play and play heavy minutes fighting for their spots and that should be fun to watch...

In no way am I giving a guarantee that he's making the team and he's going to get heavy minutes during the season..​

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I just see something in him that he could just be a better version of Rico but not take four years to get there, Rico was far rawer than this guy....​

So, I don't want people to come off here thinking I'm just guaranteeing things when I'm talking about it I just giving my general opinion of what my eyes see and my feelings on some of these players and I really believe it could come down too ended up being we start both our rookies mafah as the dirty yards guy and then Blue as the spark..

And maybe they'll pick one or the others sanders or Williams to fill in the running back by committee...

I can also see a scenario where they cut both the veterans and bring in another one off the cut downs before the season starts that's what the camp and preseason's going to be full on competition and it could be the Cowboys realize the error in their ways and bring in somebody else..

But for some strange reason I have faith in both these draft picks I really do I don't know why just a gut feeling I guess....

 

[blueblood70]

At WORST, a 7th round guy is a 700-800 yard, 5-10 TD guy? Damn. We struck it rich.

Yes I can see this getting 700 yards and five touchdowns but running back my committee they're not going to stack stats as an individual and then you have blue coming in as they spark so you got thunder and lightning mix in one of the free agents as long as the offensive line and the scheme and the play calling are falling in line it's not difficult to get a productive efficient run game you don't need one player..

I mean I prefer to have a prime Ezekiel Elliott or Demarco Murray but when you don't I've seen it around the NFL you can put together a very nice run game it just comes from more than one source they say running back by committee it's done more often than people think you either have one horse or you have a committee.

It's how you use those players though this is up to the coaches to do this right we need the offensive line to block well we need the scheme to be really good and the play calling mean when you're bringing these packages in the games as the game takes on its own identity you need to have the right players coming in at the right time you need to find a rhythm in that game on how you're utilizing talent which a lot of our coaching staffs have falling short on that...

 

[blueblood70]

This is the time of year where every draft pick is considered an immediate impact player by many fans. When in reality, a 7th round draft pick is a long shot at best.

Cowboys beat writer Calvin Watkins has watched Mafah in mini-camp and has said he is a developmental project probably headed for the practice squad. Unless he can be an excellent ST player, he is definitely a long shot.

Yeah but everyone's definition of impact is going to be different some of us have a positive outlook but we're not going to get ridiculous on what the player can do or just going by looking at videos looking at stats just looking at the player like how he plays on the field with energy and motivation strength physicality this guy has that Mafah could easily be an early contributor....

no one's talking about big impact, star potential

, but if you're going to use a running back by committee, I can see him being an important part of the mix taking all those short yardage dirty yards and maybe it's delusional but as long as you're not expecting this guy to give you 1000+ yard season and 10 touchdowns,

more like you hope to get 600 yards and 5 touchdowns out of the guy at minimum, and leave your expectations right there,,​

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I see that in this guy being able to be at really good short yardage you know when you're expecting an early rundowns and then you find the right mix behind him in Blue and one of the FAS..​

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we don't have to have a complete negative outlook on it like all you all do, " look don't count on a 7th round pick and I'm going to post what Blues pre-draft status to down play their potential"​

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Look from someone's whose watched them in college, blues can surprise some people too as long as they're not making him a three down power back and overusing the guy, we're talking about utilizing the right 3 running backs coming out of camp and preseason in a running back by committee situation.​

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This has more to do with the scheme and the play collar how is the offensive line going to block and are they going to use the right mix at the right time in the game you have to know your players and I've seen the running back by committee work a few years ago with San Francisco but they know how to design and use play calls they didn't need Christian mccaffrey and pay him $19 million because they got to the same spot without him with three running backs having about equal amount of stats they all had 500 plus yards they all chipped in with a handful of touchdowns and did it actually worked..​

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I mean it's nice to have one of the top 5 workhorse running backs that you can just put in all three downs and only need to give a breather but most teams use 2 and sometimes 3 backs and I know running back by committee is a bad word but it could work but it's totally up to this coaching staff and especially how they design the run plays with the offensive line working well..​

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Rico Dowdell was far from a star player the man was about as average of running back as you'll ever get in this league, and he was able to get near 1100 yards once they figured out the offensive line and got everything going last year..​

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I see Moffa as a better version of Rico, he will be better year one than Rico was year 1, I think he's a better running back but if Rico can get close to 1100 yards, I don't see why he can't not first year but he has that potential you just keep giving him the ball he's got that kind of body in physical style they can handle just handing the ball and taking all those hits and then you work in the rest of your guys at the right moments..​

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