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Todd Archer, ESPN Staff Writer
FRISCO, Texas — The Dallas Cowboys’ past is littered with some of the best running backs in NFL history, or at least runners with historical seasons.
Emmitt Smith is the NFL’s all-time leading rusher and a Hall of Famer. Tony Dorsett is also a Hall of Famer. In 2014, DeMarco Murray set the franchise single-season record with 1,845 yards and was named the Offensive Player of the Year. Ezekiel Elliott won two NFL rushing titles (2016, 2018) in his first three seasons. Herschel Walker, after starting his career in the USFL, was the Cowboys’ best running back in 1988 before being traded to the Minnesota Vikings in a deal that helped deliver Dallas three Super Bowl wins in the 1990s. Four other backs, including Tony Pollard in 2022 and 2023, have had 1,000-yard seasons. They even had a running back make the Pro Bowl without a 1,000-yard season or starting a game (Marion Barber, 2007).
With a running-back-by-committee approach this season, the Cowboys’ ground game projects to look different than nearly any other since the 16-game season was introduced in 1978.
The Cowboys do not anticipate featuring one back in 2024, like they did with Smith, who had more than 300 carries in a season seven times during his tenure in Dallas, and Elliott, who had more than 300 carries in three of his first four seasons (and probably would have had a fourth if not for a suspension).
It might not even look like the Elliott-Pollard 1-2 combo in 2021 and 2022.
The last time the Cowboys had three running backs with more than 80 carries in a season was 1980 with Dorsett (278), Robert Newhouse (118) and Ron Springs (89). In 1978, three running backs had more than 70 carries: Dorsett (290), Newhouse (140) and Scott Laidlaw (75). Four times since 1978 they had three running backs with more than 60 carries in a season, with the most recent coming in 2010, with Felix Jones (185), Barber (113) and Tashard Choice (66).
This offseason they re-signed Elliott and added Royce Freeman to a group that included Rico Dowdle, Deuce Vaughn, Hunter Luepke, Malik Davis and Snoop Conner before the draft. They did not draft a running back, adding Nathaniel Peat as an undrafted free agent.
“Two or three [backs], whatever it takes,” coach Mike McCarthy said.
McCarthy referenced the toll a 17-game regular season can take on a runner.
“I think you have to pay attention,” he said. “Whether it’s two or whether it’s three, frankly, to be honest with you, the players will determine that.”
Elliott has the best credentials with 8,904 career rushing yards, but he will not be asked to do what he did in his first stint with the Cowboys, when he averaged 268.7 carries per season. In his lone campaign with the New England Patriots (2023), he split the work with Rhamondre Stevenson, taking over as the starter in the final five games. He finished with 642 yards and three touchdowns on 184 carries, all career lows.
“I think I still am a dominant guy,” Elliott said. “I’ve got to go out there and prove that. That’s a motivation. I think we all know how I feel about competing and leaving it all out there for my teammates.”
With Pollard gone, Dowdle is the leading rusher from last season who’s still with the Cowboys. After posting a career rushing total of 24 yards over three injury-plagued seasons, he eclipsed that total in five games in 2023, finishing the campaign with 89 carries for 361 yards and two touchdowns. His issue has been staying healthy, though he missed only a single game in 2023.
“Me and Zeke [Elliott], he’s obviously a bigger back than me, but we’re similar style runners, downhill,” Dowdle said. “I’m more of a downhill compared to guys like Deuce [Vaughn]. I mean, that’s just not his game, but Deuce, he’s a guy you get in space and can make anybody miss in the world. We all got our own attributes, but me, I just think I’m all-around.”
Freeman has not topped 500 yards since his 2018 rookie season with the Denver Broncos. He had 319 yards on 77 carries last season for the Los Angeles Rams behind the league’s third-leading rusher, Kyren Williams. McCarthy said he was surprised a little by Freeman’s size and has liked what he has seen so far in the offseason.
“A lot of people look at body size nowadays and depict what you can or won’t be able to do,” Freeman said. “But I know there’s a lot of people that excel in certain things and a lot of people are able to do more than you think. There’s some guys that have been in this offense and some guys that have experience elsewhere. It’s definitely a versatile group and we’re definitely able to push each other every day.”
Vaughn, a sixth-round pick last year, is something of a wild card. At 5-foot-5, 180 pounds, he is the smallest back. He had 23 carries for 40 yards last season. He said he added some weight this offseason and has spent time working at wide receiver as well, studying former Cowboys slot receiver Cole Beasley.
“You see teams and a lot of guys that have different skill sets, different ways of playing this game — and you put all of them together and make almost a three-headed monster,” Vaughn said. “The running back by committee, I feel like, is going to play to the strengths of the guys in the room and give us the chance to do a lot of things on offense.”
Offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer said the key with a committee approach is to make sure all of the backs can do all of the chores required. Without that, defenses can get a bead on what will come.
“It’s not cookie-cutter,” Schottenheimer said. “We have guys that can do different things that’s harder on the defense. We have to be better with that because we’ll have to offset tendencies.”
Schottenheimer ran three-headed committees with the New York Jets in 2006 and 2009 and with the Seattle Seahawks in 2018. McCarthy went with committee approaches with the Green Bay Packers at times because of injuries at the position, and in 2017, Jamaal Williams, Aaron Jones and Ty Montgomery II each had more than 70 carries.
“I wouldn’t say it’s a challenge,” Schottenheimer said. “I think it’s exciting. Part of our process now is figuring out what all these guys do well. It’s nothing that’s new to the league. We’ve got some new pieces, so the biggest thing is getting those guys the reps, getting those guys the work. … It’s such a physical grind. I mean, 17 games before the playoffs start. We’re very, very comfortable and confident that it’s going to work out very well for us.”