Are we really better off at RB than last year?

[starfan1]

IMO, no.

Man have some blind faith lol!

 

[SteveTheCowboy]

Our RB "situation"...depends on our O-line, our scheme, and our QB able to operate the offense, read the defense, and call the options. Like 10% RB and 90% rest of the team. I'm not a huge fan of Barry Sanders...but some consider him the best RB ever....or close to it. Many blame his team for lack of success.

So even if we had Barry Sanders....would we be significantly better? Not with previous personnel and scheme. Can you pronounce "brick wall"?

i HATE...that we wasted Zeke...not only running but we told him he had to block for this ASININE o-line and scheme. We were idiots. Would barry sanders have done that Would Barry hike the ball and be the whole o line? He'd say F you and DID say it in better conditions.

Fix the o line. Fix the scheme. Fix the QB...and see the RB able to operate. Otherwise peeing in the wind.

 

[Pass2Run]

Hey, duece ran a 4.56 and we've kept his waste of a roster spot for two years.

Why do you think Im screaming Jed is an idiot?

Replace Deuce with a FA DT. We don't need 4 ball carriers. A TE can take Luepke's role. And we need to stack up on at least mid-level veteran talent.

 

[pansophy]

I see some hope being placed in the RB group that we've added this year, and that's understandable to some extent simply because we haven't seen this group either succeed or fail here. However, I do think there is reason to look at this group and wonder if we did any better this year than last year.

Miles Sanders vs. Ezekiel Elliott: Elliott had hit the wall that catches up to all players. He had averaged 3.8 YPC, then 3.5 YPC his last two years before going to New England and averaging 3.1. Elliott was in his seventh year when the wheels fell off. Sanders is going into his seventh year, but it appears that his wheels may have come off sooner. He's averaged 3.3 and 3.7 the last two years. Expecting him to recapture his juice is probably expecting too much. This one is likely a wash.

Rico Dowdle vs. Javonte Williams. Dowdle was our best back last year. He was coming off a season in which he averaged 4.1 YPC in a No. 2 role and averaged 4.6 when given a bigger role. That earned him a deal with Carolina, and Williams was brought in as his replacement. Williams has averaged 3.6 and 3.7 YPC in a time-sharing role in Denver the last two years. It's hard to say that he'll ever get back to the form of his first two years while Dowdle's stock is on the rise. Advantage Dowdle.

Jayden Blue vs. Royce Freeman, Before stashing Dalvin Cook on the practice squad and finding out he was just as cooked as Elliott, Dallas first brought in Freeman. Freeman was coming off a 4.1 season with the Rams in a backup role. He had a decent start to his career (averaging 4.0 per carry as a rookie) but it derailed pretty quickly. Blue brings an element to the run game that Dallas didn't have last year with his speed. The Cowboys are hoping that he can outplay his draft status (fifth round). Freeman was a third-round pick (71) while Blue was taken at 149, and we saw what became of Freeman. With this one, we just hope it turns out better.

Phil Mafah vs. Malik Davis. Davis was a UDFA that looked like he was going to at least carve out a backup role, but he faded quickly. Mafah was practically a UDFA, since he was taken in the seventh round. We have to hope he outplays his draft status as well.

Deuce Vaughn vs. Deuce Vaughn. There are times that Vaughn has shined and times when his lack of size has shown. He likely has to prove this year that he deserves a spot on the roster or he'll be gone. He had a grace period the last two years as a fifth-round pick and the son of a Cowboys staffer.

We're all hoping that the guys we've got will be better than the ones we lost or cut, but there are a lot of question marks here. We did not clearly upgrade and may have actually downgraded from Dowdle. It'll be interesting to see how it turns out, but the grass isn't always greener on the other side.

I think our running game improves due to scheme and a new OL coach as much as anything else. I do think Blue and Vaughn fit the scheme really well, so I think you have to view the backs in that context.

 

[plymkr]

I see some hope being placed in the RB group that we've added this year, and that's understandable to some extent simply because we haven't seen this group either succeed or fail here. However, I do think there is reason to look at this group and wonder if we did any better this year than last year.

Miles Sanders vs. Ezekiel Elliott: Elliott had hit the wall that catches up to all players. He had averaged 3.8 YPC, then 3.5 YPC his last two years before going to New England and averaging 3.1. Elliott was in his seventh year when the wheels fell off. Sanders is going into his seventh year, but it appears that his wheels may have come off sooner. He's averaged 3.3 and 3.7 the last two years. Expecting him to recapture his juice is probably expecting too much. This one is likely a wash.

Rico Dowdle vs. Javonte Williams. Dowdle was our best back last year. He was coming off a season in which he averaged 4.1 YPC in a No. 2 role and averaged 4.6 when given a bigger role. That earned him a deal with Carolina, and Williams was brought in as his replacement. Williams has averaged 3.6 and 3.7 YPC in a time-sharing role in Denver the last two years. It's hard to say that he'll ever get back to the form of his first two years while Dowdle's stock is on the rise. Advantage Dowdle.

Jayden Blue vs. Royce Freeman, Before stashing Dalvin Cook on the practice squad and finding out he was just as cooked as Elliott, Dallas first brought in Freeman. Freeman was coming off a 4.1 season with the Rams in a backup role. He had a decent start to his career (averaging 4.0 per carry as a rookie) but it derailed pretty quickly. Blue brings an element to the run game that Dallas didn't have last year with his speed. The Cowboys are hoping that he can outplay his draft status (fifth round). Freeman was a third-round pick (71) while Blue was taken at 149, and we saw what became of Freeman. With this one, we just hope it turns out better.

Phil Mafah vs. Malik Davis. Davis was a UDFA that looked like he was going to at least carve out a backup role, but he faded quickly. Mafah was practically a UDFA, since he was taken in the seventh round. We have to hope he outplays his draft status as well.

Deuce Vaughn vs. Deuce Vaughn. There are times that Vaughn has shined and times when his lack of size has shown. He likely has to prove this year that he deserves a spot on the roster or he'll be gone. He had a grace period the last two years as a fifth-round pick and the son of a Cowboys staffer.

We're all hoping that the guys we've got will be better than the ones we lost or cut, but there are a lot of question marks here. We did not clearly upgrade and may have actually downgraded from Dowdle. It'll be interesting to see how it turns out, but the grass isn't always greener on the other side.

I wish we could have kept Dowdle over Sanders or Jevonte.

 

[rambo2]

If Blue and Mafah are the 1-2 punch for the Cowboys it would be very bullish for the future of the team.

 

[plasticman]

The Cowboys running game literally couldn't get any worse.

 

[gimmesix]

I feel confident that with the upside owned by our current players happens, we should be quite nicely improved over what we had last year. Mafah supplies a very nice combination of a bell cow type of RB, along with a speed merchant RB like Blue. There should be admirable depth behind those two, as well. Mafah gives us the power runs, while Blue provides excitement. All in all, I'd say we're good to go!

We certainly hope it turns out that way, but reality is that about 20 percent of third-day picks become starter-quality players. Maybe RB will be different this year because it was such a deep position in the draft.

And yes, I understand that quality backs can be found in any round, but they are found among a lot of other trash backs. We have to hope that our scouts/coaches found the diamonds among trash.

 

[gimmesix]

I think we have a higher ceiling than we did last year. We added some speed for sure.

Mafah has the potential to be a short yardage and goaline hammer that has been missing for a while.

It’s not necessarily an impressive position group— but IMO it is in a better place than it was last year.

Hopefully the OL is improved with new coaches, scheme, and talent injection as well.

I won't disagree with higher ceiling. We knew what Zeke was last year when we brought him back. We knew what Cook was. We knew what Freeman had been. The only players we didn't know the full potential of was Dowdle and Deuce.

This year, we really should have a good idea of what Sanders and Williams is. Maybe they can revive their careers here, but that's just hope without evidence. The two rookies provide more of the unknown. We can know based on where they were drafted that they weren't considered the sure bets at the position in this draft, but there is potential there.

 

[gimmesix]

Zeke, Freeman, Cooks, Davis......just a bunch of wasted spots last year.

Williams is better than all of them. Not sure why Sanders is here. But the 2 RB's drafted a couple of weeks ago are better than all the scrubs last year. Overall the RB corp is better this year. Last year was Dowdle and nothing else. The Cowboys only had 5 rushing TD's last year and Dak was one of them. That should change this year.

Why is Williams better than all of them? He averaged 3.7 yards per carry last year. He rushed for just 500 yards. He did have 4 TDs rushing. I just think believing he is better is based more on hope than what the numbers say. Same with the drafted running backs. We hope they are better but there is a reason they were drafted in the fifth and seventh round.

I remember fans getting excited years back when Dallas drafted Bo Scarbrough in the seventh round. Some thought he was going to be the power back we needed. He didn't even make the team, although we did bring him back to the practice squad briefly.

 

[gimmesix]

I don't know about comparing them, but as far as talent if you ask me, Blue is better than anyone we picked up last year lol, or has the potential to be

I'll probably be the only person in here that says this, I like the signing of Sanders, Williams I get it because we need an aggressive runner, he may be the reason why Mafah gets stashed on the practice squad, can't see him taking his job

I think Sanders is done. Would love to be proven wrong, though. I think he's this year's Zeke, but we won't be as driven to prove that he can still be a lead back.

I like that Williams has less wear and tear on him, but I don't know how much of a toll the injury took on what he had.

Blue definitely has potential, but so much of that is based on how fast he is. Speed isn't everything because the NFL has a lot of fast players. The questions he has to answer is how good is his vision to see where he needs to go, how good is his contact balance, his elusiveness, his ability to squeeze through small holes.

 

[gimmesix]

I'm sleeping. He won't make the roster

I think it will be Williams, Blue and Mafah who get kept. Vaughn goes to the practice squad and Sanders is cut.

I think this coaching staff wants a power back as the lead with a speed element to mix in. Mafah will need to be good on special teams coverage because he'll only play if we are protecting a lead late and trying to run out the clock.

Now, I don't know how effective that group will be, but that's what I anticipate. I could see Vaughn winning the third spot over Mafah and Mafah going to the practice squad, but Vaughn doesn't really have a role now different than Blue's.

 

[gimmesix]

I wish we could have kept Dowdle over Sanders or Jevonte.

I admit that I was down on Dowdle going into last year because he had not shown he could take on a bigger role. But based on how he played, I agree. I would have preferred him over the two vets we picked up. And then I would have tried to draft someone to beat him out. But at least if they failed to do that, we would have had a back who had good success last year.

 

[gimmesix]

I think our running game improves due to scheme and a new OL coach as much as anything else. I do think Blue and Vaughn fit the scheme really well, so I think you have to view the backs in that context.

I don't know if Blue and Vaughn fit the scheme really well. If we run the scheme that Arizona ran, it was more of a big-back scheme (James Conner-6-1, 233; Trey Benson 6-0, 216). Even in Seattle, No-Schott had bigger backs. I think that's why Williams was our top choice in free agency and why we drafted Mafah. Now, they want to have a speed element to offset the power, but I think the scheme is built around bully ball.

 

[gimmesix]

Not a fan of the idea of X vs. Y... for instance, why would we compare a RB like Blue to a RB like Freeman?

But that said... yes, the 2024 group featured two players who, conventional wisdom affirmed, would enter the season as the #1 and #2 RBs based on empirical evidence as well as what was understood from Joneses and McCarthy comments.

We have no empirical evidence that should affirm we even have a definitive #2 RB (or if you prefer "#1-b"), let alone a #1 RB (or if you prefer, "#1-a").

You've got, rather... (1) a FA signee who appears destined to be a 3rd down back, (2) a FA signee who appears to be on his last legs ahead of retirement, aka "camp body," (3) a 5th rounder who has turned heads and was even said to have been the 3rd RB on Will McClay's board, yet only carried the ball 15+ times exactly one time in 38 Longhorn games, (4) a 7th rounder who may eventually turn heads, but conventional wisdom says should only be expected to make the practice squad, and (5) Deuce, who never has been taken to be a serious threat by the Cowboys to play any significant role, and who should hope he can be released sooner than later so he can hook up with a team where he can get a genuine shot.

And. What's more, even having Rico and Zeke topping the depth chart this time last year, there were still... 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6... count-em 7... 7 RBs in Oxnard to start camp (... and no, that doesn't include Luepke, who technically could be counted as #8).

Anyone wanna place a bet on whether there will be another RB, if not two, added to the roster in the next 60 days?

Could be. I'm surprised we didn't have one or two among our UDFAs. However, one of the differences is that we knew Zeke wasn't going to play much in the preseason, and neither was Cook when we added him. I think we'll be playing all five of these throughout the preseason because we need to let the position sort out.

 

[plymkr]

I admit that I was down on Dowdle going into last year because he had not shown he could take on a bigger role. But based on how he played, I agree. I would have preferred him over the two vets we picked up. And then I would have tried to draft someone to beat him out. But at least if they failed to do that, we would have had a back who had good success last year.

Agree, I think my dream scenario would have been to keep Dowdle over Sanders and Javonte and then let Blue and Mafah work to unseat him. I mean I guess Blue and Mafah can unseat Miles or Javonte but Dowdle was a welcome glimmer of hope in a dismal season. I don’t get why we let him go.

Lol, I can laugh about this now but I was furious when playing the Eagles Dowdle took us down the field and then we gave it to Zeke and he fumbled it at the goal line. Man I was mad.

 

[JoeKing]

We won't know until we see what we see. But I'm pretty convinced the O-line is better so that alone should make the running game better.

 

[Ironicalicon]

Depends if Blue can establish himself early, and if he's given the chance

 

[gimmesix]

We won't know until we see what we see. But I'm pretty convinced the O-line is better so that alone should make the running game better.

I do think the middle of the line should be better, with another No. 1 pick added to the mix. I also do like the coaches we added on that side of the ball, former OL coach Klayton Adams and OL coach Conor Riley. I think based on what we know about them that they are a clear improvement over Mike Solari.

 

[gimmesix]

Replace Deuce with a FA DT. We don't need 4 ball carriers. A TE can take Luepke's role. And we need to stack up on at least mid-level veteran talent.

I prefer Luepke over a tight end. I think he brings more to the table. I'd like to see us use the fullback more instead of less.