PFF ranks every team's 2024 RBs unit (1 - 32)

[Chasing6]

I can already see this as the #1 excuse for Dak failure come January. Kansas City came in at 18 - middle of the pack mediocre - but I guarantee they will be competing for a 3 peat because of who they have under center. KC doesn't make excuses, they just go out and win.

No. Number 1 excuse is and always will be GM Jethro.

 

[CowboyFrog]

I can already see this as the #1 excuse for Dak failure come January. Kansas City came in at 18 - middle of the pack mediocre - but I guarantee they will be competing for a 3 peat because of who they have under center. KC doesn't make excuses, they just go out and win.

you veiw this organization from FO down to HC the same as KC's...i think you will find KC beats us in many more ways than just the QB..which they clearly beat everyone...

 

[Hadenough]

1. San Francisco 49ers
2. Miami Dolphins
3. Detroit Lions
4. Baltimore Ravens
5. Atlanta Falcons
6. Green Bay Packers
7. Indianapolis Colts
8. Cleveland Browns
9. Philadelphia Eagles
10. New York Jets
....
....
32. Dallas Cowboys

32. DALLAS COWBOYS​

After letting Tony Pollard sign elsewhere in free agency, and missing out on the top backs in the 2023 NFL Draft, the Cowboys re-signed Ezekiel Elliott to be their lead rusher.

Elliott's glory days came with the Cowboys, but his yards per carry average has dipped below 4.0 over the past two seasons, resulting in a career-low 69.2 PFF rushing grade in 2023. Behind him are Rico Dowdle and Deuce Vaughn.

https://www.pff.com/news/nfl-2024-nfl-running-back-unit-rankings-49ers-dolphins

No surprise at all! Every one of the Cowboys opponents play to stop the run first. Gee I wonder why?

 

[CowboyFrog]

No surprise at all! Every one of the Cowboys opponents play to stop the run first. Gee I wonder why?

are there many teams that go into games that dont want to stop the run first? I need to actually hear a DC say "We are gonna let them run the ball all day long"..why do people say these silly things? 100% every defensive gameplan starts with "We gotta stop the run and put them in 3rd and long"..every single scheme...

 

[Chasing6]

are there many teams that go into games that dont want to stop the run first? I need to actually hear a DC say "We are gonna let them run the ball all day long"..why do people say these silly things? 100% every defensive gameplan starts with "We gotta stop the run and put them in 3rd and long"..every single scheme...

Well we have 6 DT's currently on our roster. I believe we have more RB's than that. So it is obviously not a priority.

 

[CowboyFrog]

Well we have 6 DT's currently on our roster. I believe we have more RB's than that. So it is obviously not a priority.

every team wants to stop the run...we obvisouly can not stop it ..lol

 

[Diehardblues]

Maybe this is Jethro’s plan to run down Daks value for this season ? Lol

 

[Diehardblues]

If we don’t have a running game , Daks going to get hurt with all the pressure on him. The season will be a wash.

We should let Dak go to a team more serious about winning. And we’ll probably go years before another franchise qb falls into our lap.

This FO is a disgrace. In other thread we have a fan saying the Cowboys are a top 5 talent team just needing a greater QB to go to SB.

This forum is really becoming questionable.

 

[CWR]

I mean I expected that. Will it be that bad? I don't think so. But this season definitely will depend on Dak's arm.

Yeah it all depends on the line, but at the very least we wasted an opportunity to rather easily upgrade the position. It feels like the time we went into the season with Allen Hurns as our wr1 or DMC/Alf as our rbs.

We can probably get by, but getting by shouldn't be the goal.

 

[Hadenough]

are there many teams that go into games that dont want to stop the run first? I need to actually hear a DC say "We are gonna let them run the ball all day long"..why do people say these silly things? 100% every defensive gameplan starts with "We gotta stop the run and put them in 3rd and long"..every single scheme...

That's exactly right and the game is decided on which QB can soften up the defense enough until they can no longer focus all their energy into stopping the run.

 

[CowboyFrog]

That's exactly right and the game is decided on which QB can soften up the defense enough until they can no longer focus all their energy into stopping the run.

not really it depends on IF you CAN stop the run..did you feel like Love was "Softening " our defense or taking advantage of huge holes in the coverage caused by a horrible run D? ALso on offense if you cant run the ball against a normal box what do you do? Throw into max coverage alot? thats a quick way to an interception... its passing league for sure but the run game usually dictates how a game will go against evenly matched teams. To me its been 28 years of this same conversation...how the hell can this FO not see what the problem is?

 

[DuncanIso]

Zeke replaced Tony.

 

[TheMarathonContinues]

Yeah it all depends on the line, but at the very least we wasted an opportunity to rather easily upgrade the position. It feels like the time we went into the season with Allen Hurns as our wr1 or DMC/Alf as our rbs.

We can probably get by, but getting by shouldn't be the goal.

Yep. Definitely seen this story play out. Probably will be trading for a back too.

 

[gimmesix]

I can't recall a worse RB room for any franchise to start a season. Walker by himself (before the trade) was better than this entire RB room by a long shot. The 60s teams had Perkins from the very beginning who was also better than this entire room. He missed 1960 due to injury so I can't even count that year as a worse room.

In 2015, we had Darren McFadden, who was coming off three seasons with the Raiders where he had averaged 3.4 or less per carry. He also had a bit of an injury history. Backing him up was Joseph Randle and Lance Dunbar and competing for a roster spot were Gus Johnson and Lache Seastrunk. Like this year, we chose not to take a running back in that year's draft, but it was considered a stronger RB draft.

To his credit, McFadden actually outperformed expectations, averaging 4.6 per carry in 2015. Hopefully, Elliott will have that kind of revival. Randle was essentially Dowdle and Dunbar maybe Vaughn (although Dunbar was better than Vaughn at this point but worse than Freeman).

 

[CWR]

In 2015, we had Darren McFadden, who was coming off three seasons with the Raiders where he had averaged 3.4 or less per carry. He also had a bit of an injury history. Backing him up was Joseph Randle and Lance Dunbar and competing for a roster spot were Gus Johnson and Lache Seastrunk. Like this year, we chose not to take a running back in that year's draft, but it was considered a stronger RB draft.

To his credit, McFadden actually outperformed expectations, averaging 4.6 per carry in 2015. Hopefully, Elliott will have that kind of revival. Randle was essentially Dowdle and Dunbar maybe Vaughn (although Dunbar was better than Vaughn at this point but worse than Freeman).

DMC was actually pretty decent for us, but the difference the following year when we took Zeke was obvious. This just feels like a repeat of that. We will most likely have a big talent upgrade next season. That said Dowdle could be the x factor if he can stay healthy. I don't have high expectations, but Dowdle has looked good at times. If anyone on this roster can truly separate its him or an unknown.

Dunbar was a good little back, he just couldn't stay healthy. He was electric when he has opportunities though. Freeman isn't really the same type of back to make a comparison imo.

 

[Chasing6]

In 2015, we had Darren McFadden, who was coming off three seasons with the Raiders where he had averaged 3.4 or less per carry. He also had a bit of an injury history. Backing him up was Joseph Randle and Lance Dunbar and competing for a roster spot were Gus Johnson and Lache Seastrunk. Like this year, we chose not to take a running back in that year's draft, but it was considered a stronger RB draft.

To his credit, McFadden actually outperformed expectations, averaging 4.6 per carry in 2015. Hopefully, Elliott will have that kind of revival. Randle was essentially Dowdle and Dunbar maybe Vaughn (although Dunbar was better than Vaughn at this point but worse than Freeman).

If Elliot is the short yardage back he will have no such revival. If Hunter is the short yardage back, then I could see Zeke at 4+ yards a carry.

 

[gimmesix]

If Elliot is the short yardage back he will have no such revival. If Hunter is the short yardage back, then I could see Zeke at 4+ yards a carry.

I just don't see us taking the one back we have who has shown he can start in the league and making him the short-yardage back. Freeman washed out as a starter long before Elliott did. Dowdle has proven to be OK as a No. 2, but that doesn't mean he can be a No. 1. Vaughn hasn't even proven he belongs on an NFL roster.

It will be interesting to see what we do in short-yardage, though. We know Elliott can be successful in those situations. Freeman is an even bigger back, but doesn't have a high number of TDs. Hunter could be an option but we haven't seen enough to know.

I see a committee with Elliott as the leader. We'll limit his touches to 12-15 per game and divide the rest between Dowdle/Freeman/Vaughn/Luepke, depending on who we keep.

 

[gimmesix]

DMC was actually pretty decent for us, but the difference the following year when we took Zeke was obvious. This just feels like a repeat of that. We will most likely have a big talent upgrade next season. That said Dowdle could be the x factor if he can stay healthy. I don't have high expectations, but Dowdle has looked good at times. If anyone on this roster can truly separate its him or an unknown.

Dunbar was a good little back, he just couldn't stay healthy. He was electric when he has opportunities though. Freeman isn't really the same type of back to make a comparison imo.

I think Dunbar is more like Vaughn. Wasn't really comparing their styles, but their effectiveness. Vaughn has been less effective than Dunbar, but Freeman has been more effective, so it's a wash.

I agree that it feels like a repeat. We didn't learn our lesson in 2015, perhaps because McFadden was pretty decent for us, but you would have thought we'd have learned it in 2018 when we tried receiver by committee and it failed miserably. We've essentially done the same thing this year that we did then: Sign a washed-up vet (Hurns/Elliott), sign a never-was vet (Deonte Thompson/Freeman) and ask younger players to step up into bigger roles (Beasley & Gallup/Dowdle & Vaughn). The only difference is we did also trade for Tavon Austin and still had Terrence Williams before he got hurt, but you need more receivers than backs.

 

[cald0d30s0]

We like our guys.

 

[Roland]

I don't have a lot of confidence in our run game for 2 reasons - Players and scheme. Didn't upgrade our running back room and are relying on an older Zeke and some unproven youngsters. MAYBE we get some improvement out of our run game because of the change up on the OL (I liked trying to upgrade the center spot as I felt like that was our weak area). Same coordinator so I doubt the blocking scheme will change much. Same scheme with equal to less RB with equal to more OL = roughly same results. Now if we can change up/improve our blocking scheme and improve/strengthen the interior blocking (center), then maybe, just maybe we can get by with our RBBC approach. Between this and not adding more beef to DT, we will underperform in the 2 most vital areas when it counts the most.