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

[DuncanIso]

Zeke contract was horrendous.

GM Jethro can not read the tea leaves.

Well, yes. the 2nd contract was for Zeke.

The 1st contract was for Jerry.

 

[TwentyOne]

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.

Thats why our running game will be very bad. Exeptional bad. Like his arm.

But well,he will be gone next year. So better times are around the corner. Just one more season to endure for All of us.

Go Cowboys!
Go (away) Prescott!

 

[TwentyOne]

Zeke contract was horrendous.

All of them

 

[gimmesix]

Fans that hated Zeke were happy when Tony took over.

They didnt care that his speed was gone because of the freak injury.

Fans on here were saying how you didn't need to draft RBs. that any scrub would work.

Of course it didn't work out. Tony was terrible.

Now that Zeke is back, fans want to draft a RB.

#ZekeHate

Well, to be fair, neither was the right answer. Measures should have been taken in case Pollard was slow coming off that injury and measures should be taken in case Elliott has hit the wall.

 

[gimmesix]

No one hated Zeke. They hated the dumb contract Jerry signed.

What is your definition of no one because I can think of at least three on here who hated him. The contract may have played a role in that, but they couldn't stand Elliott and made that abundantly clear.

 

[TheMarathonContinues]

Thats why our running game will be very bad. Exeptional bad. Like his arm.

But well,he will be gone next year. So better times are around the corner. Just one more season to endure for All of us.

Go Cowboys!
Go (away) Prescott!

Ok. We thank you for your analysis. Not sure what you want us to do with such a take lol.

 

[Chasing6]

Thats why our running game will be very bad. Exeptional bad. Like his arm.

But well,he will be gone next year. So better times are around the corner. Just one more season to endure for All of us.

Go Cowboys!
Go (away) Prescott!

 

[Jumbo075]

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

And last summer, PFF ranked the Houston Texans as the 31st best team in the NFL. They made the playoffs. Preseason ranking mean nothing.

Ranking Rico Dowdle and Zeke Elliott based on 2023 numbers, when both players were #2 on the depth chart, is meaningless. One or the other is going to be #1 on the depth chart in 2024, and their numbers will drastically change. It's the equivalent of ranking Tony Romo after the 2005 season. It's like ranking Randy White after the 1975 season, before he moved to DT from LB.

 

[Chasing6]

And last summer, PFF ranked the Houston Texans as the 31st best team in the NFL. They made the playoffs. Preseason ranking mean nothing.

Ranking Rico Dowdle and Zeke Elliott based on 2023 numbers, when both players were #2 on the depth chart, is meaningless. One or the other is going to be #1 on the depth chart in 2024, and their numbers will drastically change. It's the equivalent of ranking Tony Romo after the 2005 season. It's like ranking Randy White after the 1975 season, before he moved to DT from LB.

We will not have a number one. It will be a committee. Commiittee's don't have a number.

I think by the end of the year Hunter is going to be a surprise to some.

 

[Jumbo075]

No objective look at our how our FO handled the last 4 months could conclude that “this team is better” because of their off-season moves. And the lack of strong work on the RB position perhaps best exemplifies this front office’s weird off-season.

Could we be a better team in the long run? Maybe. But we won’t know that for quite a while. And the final judge of that IMO will be 1. Did we make the playoffs? 2. Did we win more than a WC game in the playoffs? Anything short of that is just another wasted season.

Nothing says your two front office leaders are on lifetime contracts like their actions this off-season. What’s the hurry to do better when you can play with your toy any way you want to? Why care about wasting more HOF careers or opportunities to do something more in the playoffs when you have zero accountability? What’s another decade of playoff futility when you’re printing money?

The Cowboys "objectively" allowed veterans to leave so that younger players buried on the depth chart will have a chance to perform. No one really knows how that is going to turn out for the team. The Cowboys got a lot younger - which is usually good in football in the long run, although in the short term it is challenging. The Cowboys play 7 playoff teams from 2023 in their first 10 games. If they emerge with a 5-5 or 6-4 record, they will be poised to make a run to end the season, if they don't lose heart, and if the young players start getting better.

But I predict a whole lot of weeping and gnashing of teeth in the games before Thanksgiving. Having said that, a 1-6 finish in 2023 by the Eagles may give the Cowboys a chance to keep pace to win the division, even if they take a step back in the season win/loss column. As so many have said, they want success in the playoffs. That will only come if the Cowboys allow the young players to play, AND if they young players get better as the season goes along. If they don't, what have the Cowboys lost? Sticking with the same veterans who keep losing playoff games wasn't really an option.

For anyone paying attention, the Cowboys have been backfilling the roster in the last few drafts. Only Zack Martin remains from the old Oline. The WR corps has been entirely made over, as had the TE room. The QB has played at a high level, and the RB room is questionable. On special teams, there are two new kickers that have both performed at a high level, a new return man who made a Pro Bowl, and a new snapper. The Dline has turned over everyone except DeMarcus Lawrence. The Secondary has two All-Pro players at CB, and a strong Safety group. The linebackers are a work in progress, but the Cowboys have drafted 3 LB's in the last 3 drafts, not including Parsons.

I'm not predicting success. But I am saying that you cannot keep spending draft picks, and not allowing players like Tolbert, Mazi, Sam Williams, Fehoko, Guyton, Beebe, Bass, Overshown, Clark, etc. to play. Players get better by playing. If you're short sighted, you'll pass judgment early in the season - and you might be right. But you also might be wrong, and the players might improve by getting time on the field.

I remain cautiously optimistic.

 

[DuncanIso]

All of them

Why?

You don’t like rushing titles and TDs?

Zeke got most of the glory when he was young and on a rookie contract.

He deserved to get paid.

 

[DuncanIso]

And last summer, PFF ranked the Houston Texans as the 31st best team in the NFL. They made the playoffs. Preseason ranking mean nothing.

Ranking Rico Dowdle and Zeke Elliott based on 2023 numbers, when both players were #2 on the depth chart, is meaningless. One or the other is going to be #1 on the depth chart in 2024, and their numbers will drastically change. It's the equivalent of ranking Tony Romo after the 2005 season. It's like ranking Randy White after the 1975 season, before he moved to DT from LB.

Zeke is RB1.

The rest of our RBs are scrubs.

Just like last season.

 

[LACowboysFan1]

The running game depends just as much on the line as the backs. Put Dowdle behind The Great Wall and the Cowboys wouldn't be SB champs but they definitely wouldn't be dead last in the running game.

Now not saying Gutyon, Smtih, Beebe, Martin and Steele will be another Great Wall, but we don't know (if that's the starting five) how good the line will be.

Like most any pre-season rating, it could be way off, or not, won't know for a while...

 

[MyFairLady]

Objectively speaking the RB situation is horrendous.

 

[CowboysFaninHouston]

On top of that we can find undrafted TE's with talent all day long.

wait what!? we drafted one in the second round last year

 

[CowboysFaninHouston]

Zeke contract was horrendous.

GM Jethro can not read the tea leaves.

Jerry had a few more Zeke jersey's in the inventory he had to sell, so he resigned him

 

[CowboysFaninHouston]

Thats why our running game will be very bad. Exeptional bad. Like his arm.

But well,he will be gone next year. So better times are around the corner. Just one more season to endure for All of us.

Go Cowboys!
Go (away) Prescott!

how is his arm bad? I swear, people jus throw stuff out there.

his decision making, yes. very questionable at times.

the RBs suck. we have an old zeke, who can barely be a FB, and a bunch of undrafted FAs....its the worst situation and RB in the league by far.

and no, I am not a Dak supporter.

 

[CowboysFaninHouston]

And last summer, PFF ranked the Houston Texans as the 31st best team in the NFL. They made the playoffs. Preseason ranking mean nothing.

Ranking Rico Dowdle and Zeke Elliott based on 2023 numbers, when both players were #2 on the depth chart, is meaningless. One or the other is going to be #1 on the depth chart in 2024, and their numbers will drastically change. It's the equivalent of ranking Tony Romo after the 2005 season. It's like ranking Randy White after the 1975 season, before he moved to DT from LB.

they were #2 for a reason. and speaking for the cowboys, our #1 wasn't that great to speak of, so it says a lot about #2.

so now you take an average #2 and promote him to #1 and you are saying, hey, its an unknown!!! so there maybe a chance!!...perhaps a 0.05% chance.

 

[CowboysFaninHouston]

Zeke is RB1.

The rest of our RBs are scrubs.

Just like last season.

Zeke is a scrub too

 

[Blue&Silver]

Who needs a running back when we have Dak!