Emmitt did hold out in 94. He wanted to be the highest paid RB in the league. Cost us 2 loses the 1st 2 games of the 94 season which proved a HUGE point, not ANYONE could run behind that line. First team in NFL history to win the SB after starting 0-2!
His backup could not run as well behind that line but that does not mean another starter like Thurman Thomas, Barry Sanders, Marshall Faulk, Jerome Bettis or Ricky Watters or a handful of other RB's couldn't have been effective enough for that team to accomplish what they did. Only two of those RB's, Bettis and Watters, ran behind lines as good as the Cowboys.
The Cowboys need to take a page from the Shanahan playbook, build the OL and the RB's will come...…..one after another after another. He had Terrell Davis to lead the league but after that didn't need the leading rusher to lead the league in rushing.
Ya know what many here are guilty of? Blaming Booger for falling in love with his players and then doing the same thing. In this case, and every other one involving re-signing a player, I ask myself 'what would Belichick do'? No way in hell he pays a RB 15M a season, he pays his QB that. And he had a rookie RB last year in Michel at pick #31 and just took another in this draft at 87, Damien Harris. Keep'em young and coming, no reason to have any RB in his 2nd contract.
A 30M QB is going to be a necessity, regardless of who he is, and a 16M WR looks to be as well but a 15M RB is a luxury and a team killing one. A team could afford two starting quality RB's, one a pass catching fool, for that but should not be spending 15M on the whole RB corps.
