Will Darren McFadden Return As The Starter?

[KJJ]

True but then the salary cap was not implemented until 2004

Had it been implemented in 93 he might have let Emmitt walk but Jimmy would have probably stopped him. I'm sure Jerry would have argued any back could run behind his great wall. You don't let the player that made your team what it was walk you find a way to keep them. We should have never let Ware or Murray leave. It was over paying Miles Austin for one good season and not waiting on Lee to prove he could stay healthy before resigning him that helped cost us those players.

 

[Doomsday101]

Had it been implemented in 93 he might have let Emmitt walk but Jimmy would have probably stopped him. I'm sure Jerry would have argued any back could run behind his great wall. You don't let the player that made your team what it was walk you find a way to keep them. We should have never let Ware or Murray leave.

I would have loved to kept both but not at any cost. Jimmy had the luxury of not really having to deal with the cap, when he did in Miami things did not work out as well.

 

[KJJ]

I would have loved to kept both but not at any cost. Jimmy had the luxury of not really having to deal with the cap, when he did in Miami things did not work out as well.

It comes down to managing the cap and when it costs you 2 of your best players you're not managing it correctly. A bad cap situation he inherited in Miami and an aging Dan Marino did Jimmy in.

 

[Doomsday101]

It comes down to managing the cap and when you lose 2 of your best players you're not managing it correctly.

You had Ware with constant injuries eating up a lot of cap space Cowboys could have risked it, if Jerry was wrong people would have blasted him for that saying Jerry is too loyal to players at the expense of the team and I have heard people here make those claims or how he holds on too long. As for Murray at 8 mill a year no I would not have paid that, now I think had Dallas proposed a better offer early on that Murray very well may have signed but once he hit the open market and Philly was waiting to put 8 mill on the line I felt Dallas did right. We also know that move played a big part in Chip Kelly being fired.

Meantime when Dallas did go 12-4 I don't recall a lot of people giving him any credit no that was Stephen and scouts jerry played no part. Same with Garrett, last year none of his critics said Garrett had anything to do with it he was just standing and clapping and it was Linehan now it Garrett and his offense and his play calling. This place really has become a joke. People alter what they say to fit their own agenda to the point it is fricken funny.

 

[KJJ]

You had Ware with constant injuries eating up a lot of cap space Cowboys could have risked it, if Jerry was wrong people would have blasted him for that saying Jerry is too loyal to players at the expense of the team and I have heard people here make those claims or how he holds on too long. As for Murray at 8 mill a year no I would not have paid that, now I think had Dallas proposed a better offer early on that Murray very well may have signed but once he hit the open market and Philly was waiting to put 8 mill on the line I felt Dallas did right. We also know that move played a big part in Chip Kelly being fired.

Ware had injuries issues his last 2 seasons in Dallas but was still on the field playing through them unlike Lee who was missing a lot of games. Had Jerry signed Dez a few years ago which I suggested and waited on Lee to prove he could stay healthy before resigning him he could have gotten Dez much cheaper and would have gotten Lee cheaper because he proceeded to miss the final 5 games of the 2013 season after he resigned.

The decision to move on from Ware and Murray and the decision to stay with Weeden as the backup QB entering the 2015 season all led to where we are today at 4-12. As for Chip Kelly being fired he made a lot of bad decisions moving on from Shady and bringing in players that didn't fit his system is what got him fired. He was trying to shove square pegs into round holes.

 

[kevm3]

Jerry made the right decision on not resigning Ware at his current price. Ware doesn't have Von Miller on the other side and the rest of the Denver defense to take the spotlight off of him here. He doesn't have to be 'the man' in Denver, whereas he has to be the man here.

 

[manster4ever]

Those who were satisfied with McFadden and want him back as the starter next year must love watching average football and are looking forward to seeing the Cowboys struggle again next season. McFadden's 1089 yards and 3 TD's was way below what an elite runner would have produced behind arguably the best OL in football that had 3 pro bowlers in 2015. Hell, in 2013 Murray produced 1121 yards and 9 TD's behind an OL that had yet to add Martin. McFadden only had 5 more rushing yards than Julius Jones produced in 2006 behind a much lesser OL and Jones had one more TD than McFadden. Despite not having Romo most of the season an elite back would have produced 1500+ and double digit TD's behind our OL. The Cowboys were the worst team in the league on 3rd and one this past season and McFadden contributed to that and we found out he's no faster than Murray nowadays.

Many FANS said McFadden would give us longer runs than Murray because most couldn't take their eyes off his highlight reels from 7+ years ago but the longest run McFadden had from scrimmage this past season was 50 yards due to being chased down while Murray had a 54 yard TD run for Philly. I don't know about some of you but my standard for a starting RB is a lot higher than Darren McFadden. I grew up watching Tony Dorsett dazzling us with sprints to the endzone and Emmitt Smith slithering threw tackles and bouncing off defenders for longer runs and more TD's than McFadden has ever been capable of or ever will be.

The one thing the Cowboys have going is a great OL and I want to see them take advantage of it by putting an elite runner behind it because the back matters! If the Cowboys aren't able to get back to running the ball at least similar to what they did in 2014 especially in short yardage situations Romo will be back attempting 40 plus passes like he did in the opener having to carry the offense which will increase his chances of being injured again and another injury plagued season may force him to retire. I'm fine with McFadden as part of a rotation but he's not near consistent enough to be a starter he averaged under 4.0


Great post. So accurate in so many ways. DMC is a GREAT backup IMO...but that's IT. If we dont' draft a QB and RB in the first 3 rounds it will be pathetic and typical of JJ. This is our chance. NOT saying to reach for a QB at 4 but we could get one in the 2nd round. Same with the RB. Need a big, physical, pounding RB. Think Zeke Elliott of OSU. He'd be dynamite behind our line.

 

[Bocephus]

Bring in a RB on a one year contract then draft one next year

 

[KJJ]

Jerry made the right decision on not resigning Ware at his current price.

Many here have said the same thing and many have also said Jerry made the right decision by allowing Murray to walk. Now here we are 2 years after those decisions coming off a 4-12 season. Someone will come in and say that's because we lost Romo and Dez but we lost both players during the 2010 season and didn't end up 4-12 that included 7 straight losses.

The Cowboys just suffered through their worst season in 26 years allow that to sink in. We won 5 games in 2010 with 2 backup QBs while only managing one win in 12 games with 3 backup QBs this season. The 2010 team was completely dismantled and 5 years later we're even worse off than we were then.

 

[Doomsday101]

Many here have said the same thing and many have also said Jerry made the right decision by allowing Murray to walk. Now here we are 2 years after those decisions coming off a 4-12 season. Someone will come in and say that's because we lost Romo and Dez but we lost both players during the 2010 season and didn't end up 4-12 that included 7 straight losses.

The Cowboys just suffered through their worst season in 26 years allow that to sink in. We won 5 games in 2010 with 2 backup QBs while only managing one win in 12 games with 3 backup QBs this season. The 2010 team was completely dismantled and 5 years later we're even worse off than we were then.

You are right we finished 6-10 in 2010, just think we could have both hugh contracts and end up with 2 more wins on the season

 

[KJJ]

You are right we finished 6-10 in 2010, just think we could have both hugh contracts and end up with 2 more wins on the season

The 2010 team was looked at as being so bad we completely dismantled it and it still won 2 more games than we did this season despite the losses of Romo and Dez both years. We only have 5 players left from that team having completely rebuilt it and we appear worse off now. Romo is aging and is battling injuries every season and there's no guarantees Dez will return form after foot and ankle surgery.

We'll be lucky to get 2 more good years out of Romo and if we don't find another solid QB soon who can replace him we may be picking in the top 10 or near it the next several years. When you look at Romo and his injuries and all the holes we have on defense coupled with our coaching situation the future doesn't look very promising. The only thing the team has going for it is a solid OL and many here want to go with an average, injury prone back starting behind it.

 

[KJJ]

Oh by the way the Cowboys never lost more than 8 games with Ware or Murray on the team.

 

[KJJ]

We've built a team that's totally dependent on Tony Romo playing and if he goes down our season goes down with him. Other teams can lose their starting QB and stay afloat like Denver did this season but not the Cowboys they're not built for it. No way would Jerry ever ask Romo to take a pay cut due to injuries. The Cowboys likely would've ended up 1-15 without Romo the entire season they certainly wouldn't have won the opener without him.

 

[Jstopper]

The 2010 team was looked at as being so bad we completely dismantled it and it still won 2 more games than we did this season despite the losses of Romo and Dez both years. We only have 5 players left from that team having completely rebuilt it and we appear worse off now. Romo is aging and is battling injuries every season and there's no guarantees Dez will return form after foot and ankle surgery.

We'll be lucky to get 2 more good years out of Romo and if we don't find another solid QB soon who can replace him we may be picking in the top 10 or near it the next several years. When you look at Romo and his injuries and all the holes we have on defense coupled with our coaching situation the future doesn't look very promising. The only thing the team has going for it is a solid OL and many here want to go with an average, injury prone back starting behind it.

You have more agendas than a business man. Its sad watching your poorly put together cherry picked arguments trying to discredit what McFadden did. He proved you very wrong and you can't stand it. That's all there is to it.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

Oh by the way the Cowboys never lost more than 8 games with Ware or Murray on the team.

The 2010 team which went 6-10 had Ware on the roster.

 

[KJJ]

The 2010 team which went 6-10 had Ware on the roster.

My bad Ware was on the 2010 team and had it not been for his 15.5 sacks that team would have been lucky to win 2-3 games. The 2010 team was 1-4 with Romo. Several of his multiple sack games came in wins that season. He had 3 sacks vs Houston and Philly both wins.

 

[Spectre]

Forte, L. Miller and D. Martin are FAs. All are better than McFadden. Any of them would improve the team greatly, and immediately.

 

[KJJ]

You have more agendas than a business man. Its sad watching your poorly put together cherry picked arguments trying to discredit what McFadden did. He proved you very wrong and you can't stand it. That's all there is to it.

The only ones with agenda's are FANS like you who are acting like McFadden had a great year with under 1100 yards and 3 TD's which contributed to our 4-12 record while dogging Murray for having a franchise record 1845 yards and 13 TD's in 2014 which greatly contributed to a 12-4 season and a playoff win. Murray ran more consistently in Dallas than McFadden ever did this past season but gets ripped by his own FAN base for leaving yards on the field and some of you are acting like McFadden got every yard and then some from his career high in carries. LOL I got news for some of you he left plenty of yards on the field due to being stiff out in space and not having the speed to make it to the endzone with nothing but daylight in front of him. I argued with FANS who insisted he still had elite speed. The only thing McFadden proved me wrong on was staying healthy the entire season other than that I was spot on and feel free to comb through my posting history from last summer if you have doubts.

I said our running game wouldn't be as efficient especially in short yardage situations as it was in 2014 and again I was right! I didn't think the Cowboys would be as good a team in 2015 and I was right! Many predicted if McFadden starts and stays healthy he would have over 1200 yards and I disagreed. Many said we would get longer runs with McFadden than we did with Murray because of his speed and I disagreed because I knew he no longer had great speed after watching his final season in Oakland. Where were these 60, 70 and 80 yard TD runs FANS were predicting from McFadden this season? Murray had a longer run from scrimmage than McFadden did in 2015 and it led to a TD so much for the great insight on this board. LOL Murray even scored more TD's than McFadden despite fewer opportunities and playing in an offense that didn't fit him.

Less than 1100 yards and 3 TD's is AVERAGE behind arguably the best OL in football and if some of you will be content with the same production from him next season in a starting role then you must love watching average football. This team isn't going anywhere with an aging, injury prone Romo if we don't get a better more efficient running game that can move the chains on 3rd and short and refer to this post a year from now and see if I'm wrong. Romo is going to be laying on his back again missing games if we have to depend on his arm all season to move the chains and score TD's.

 

[Jstopper]

The only ones with agenda's are FANS like you who are acting like McFadden had a great year with under 1100 yards and 3 TD's which contributed to our 4-12 record while dogging Murray for having a franchise record 1845 yards and 13 TD's in 2014 which greatly contributed to a 12-4 season and a playoff win. Murray ran more consistently in Dallas than McFadden ever did this past season but gets ripped by his own FAN base for leaving yards on the field and some of you are acting like McFadden got every yard and then some from his career high in carries. LOL I got news for some of you he left plenty of yards on the field due to being stiff out in space and not having the speed to make it to the endzone with nothing but daylight in front of him. I argued with FANS who insisted he still had elite speed. The only thing McFadden proved me wrong on was staying healthy the entire season other than that I was spot on and feel free to comb through my posting history from last summer if you have doubts.

I said our running game wouldn't be as efficient especially in short yardage situations as it was in 2014 and again I was right! I didn't think the Cowboys would be as good a team in 2015 and I was right! Many predicted if McFadden starts and stays healthy he would have over 1200 yards and I disagreed. Many said we would get longer runs with McFadden than we did with Murray because of his speed and I disagreed because I knew he no longer had great speed after watching his final season in Oakland. Where were these 60, 70 and 80 yard TD runs FANS were predicting from McFadden this season? Murray had a longer run from scrimmage than McFadden did in 2015 and it led to a TD so much for the great insight on this board. LOL Murray even scored more TD's than McFadden despite fewer opportunities and playing in an offense that didn't fit him.

Less than 1100 yards and 3 TD's is AVERAGE behind arguably the best OL in football and if some of you will be content with the same production from him next season in a starting role then you must love watching average football. This team isn't going anywhere with an aging, injury prone Romo if we don't get a better more efficient running game that can move the chains on 3rd and short and refer to this post a year from now and see if I'm wrong. Romo is going to be laying on his back again missing games if we have to depend on his arm all season to move the chains and score TD's.

Again cherry picking stats as you have been doing this entire thread. You keep saying he had under 1100 yards this season as a starter not noting he didn't start until the 6th game. He did all that damage in just 10 games. Which speaks to the idiocy of our FO for starting randle over him in the first place. And he did this without Romo. His first game with Romo back he tore up the dolphins for 129 yards. You are so desperate to be right about McFadden that your head is in the sand. And yes I would take McFadden performance last year stretched over 16 games with Romo, which will make it even better. Meanwhile murray is being paid 8 million to split carries and be a bum in Philly. Lol this is too easy. McFadden 4th in rushing for 2 million over 700 yards 8 million murray

 

[KJJ]

Again cherry picking stats as you have been doing this entire thread. You keep saying he had under 1100 yards this season as a starter not noting he didn't start until the 6th game. He did all that damage in just 10 games. Which speaks to the idiocy of our FO for starting randle over him in the first place. And he did this without Romo. His first game with Romo back he tore up the dolphins for 129 yards. You are so desperate to be right about McFadden that your head is in the sand. And yes I would take McFadden performance last year stretched over 16 games with Romo, which will make it even better. Meanwhile murray is being paid 8 million to split carries and be a bum in Philly. Lol this is too easy. McFadden 4th in rushing for 2 million over 700 yards 8 million murray

I've noted everything in this thread pointing out that McFadden only became the starter due to Randle's injury and release. In the first 5 games McFadden averaged under 4.0 a carry. What damage did he do in 10 games? We were 2-8 in the games he started and in one of those wins he only averaged 3.8 a carry. He averaged under 4.0 a carry in 8 games this season that's not going to cut it when you have the OL we do. Not having Romo had nothing to do with the Cowboys being the worst team in the league on 3rd and one which McFadden contributed to. It certainly wasn't because we have a crappy OL that led to being that poor on 3rd and one. If you don't think I was right about McFadden go dig up some posts where I was wrong about him this past summer. The only thing I was wrong about was him staying healthy. If you're going to accuse me of being wrong about him prove it!

I had debates about him from the day we signed him last March and I didn't think he would make us a better team or give us an efficient running game. He was up and down a big game one week and a poor game the next. Neither he or Randle provided anything in the opener or in week 2 while Romo was in there. After McFadden's 129 yards vs Miami he did nothing the next 2 weeks. His 3 most consistently productive games were the final 3 games of the season when the Cowboys were just playing out the damn schedule. He averaged 6.3, 5.2 and 7.7 a carry in meaningless games that had no Romo. If we're going to excuse his lack of consistency on not having Romo out there we're going to be in deep trouble with him.

When you have the best OL in football that had 3 pro bowlers in 2015 there's NO EXCUSE for him not being more consistent and only scoring 3 rushing TD's. He had a Julius Jones type season from 2006 and he wasn't the answer either. We can't count on having Romo a full 16 games so we need an upgrade over McFadden to take some pressure off our QB situation whatever it may be and take advantage of the one good thing we have going a solid OL. We all know why Murray flopped in Philly and if you haven't figured that out by now you're just a waste of my time. The problem wasn't him it was Chip Kelly and his offense which is why he got fired.