The Cowboys' refusal to join the running back wave to begin free agency puts this team in a predicament going forward.
It's more than losing Tony Pollard. Dallas hasn't made any serious efforts to acquire any of the other 11 backs to change the team since the soft open of free agency began late Monday morning. It will be difficult to find a no-question starter returning to the club's remaining free agents.
That means the Cowboys will need to turn their attention to the draft to regain the lead. The team has done it every year and been successful. But ask yourself: Why have so many veteran backs changed uniforms in free agency?
This is because it is not considered a particularly talented or deep class. There is no hope of advancing to the first round. Players at that position may not start coming off the board until late in the second round, or even in the third.
Dallas selects in the bottom third of every round they have a pick in, except for the seventh round, where they have two picks. The Cowboys sit 56th in the second round, 87th in the third, and won't improve again until the fifth round.
The only place you can start with confidence is #56 or #87. Other teams know it too.
A team interested in taking a back in the second or third round of the draft would assume they would need to jump ahead of the Cowboys to get the back they want. That's sure to create some anxious moments in the Star's draft room.
The only Bucks currently under contract are Deuce Vaughn, Hunter Luepke and several players entering their second seasons. They combined for 59 yards and one touchdown in his rookie season.
Rico Doodle is a free agent, but it's hard to imagine there's much of a market for him outside of Dallas. He rushed for 361 yards and added another 144 yards receiving while scoring four touchdowns for the Cowboys last season.
What about after those three? JK Dobbins, AJ Dillon, and Donta Foreman are arguably the best players on the market.
Dobbins rushed for 805 yards and nine touchdowns as a rookie, but a series of knee injuries limited him to eight games over the past three seasons with the Ravens.
Dillon is not the Green Bay back that Cowboys fans were hoping the team would sign after losing Pollard. That was Aaron Jones, who immediately signed with Minnesota. However, Dillon threw for 2,186 yards and 14 touchdowns over the past three seasons.
He will soon be 26 years old. That means Dillon is two years younger than Foreman, who will turn 28 on the eve of the draft.
Foreman has rushed for 1,861 yards and 12 touchdowns over the past three seasons, most recently with the Bears.
Unless the Cowboys are interested in Dalvin Cook, Ezekiel Elliott, or Take-Two, these seem to be the best options.
Side note: Only once in the last 100 regular season games — Stretching back to Christmas Eve 2017 —Either Elliott or Pollard hasn't started in Dallas' backfield. What was behind the scenes that caused the party to collapse…
Rod Smith. Elliott started in the final regular season game of the 2018 season because the Cowboys wanted Elliott to perform at his best in the playoffs.
Jonathan Brooks could be the first player taken in next month's draft. Brooks, who spent two years behind Bijan Robinson and Roshon Johnson, had a great season at the University of Texas before tearing his ACL in a game against TCU on Nov. 11.
Brooks has recently started running and said his rehabilitation is progressing ahead of schedule. He hopes to be ready by the start of training camp. His surgery was performed by Dr. Dan Cooper.
It's the same with Dan Cooper, the Cowboys' team physician.
Dallas has a long history of using second-round picks on promising players returning from injury. But then again, every other team in the league is aware of the Cowboys' tendencies here.
Michigan's Blake Collum, Wisconsin's Braylon Allen, Oregon's Bucky Irving and Tennessee's Jalen Wright are some of the other backs being closely studied by the Cowboys' scouting department.
The Cowboys made a conscious choice not to enter the running back market this far. This shows club officials feel better about their position than most outside observers.
Before the calendar year is out, we'll know if Dallas' assessment is correct or if he's off base like he was in 2018 when he moved from Dez Bryant to receiver.
Check out David Moore regularly during the offseason on The Ticket (KTCK-AM 1310 and 96.7 FM).
Twitter/X: @DavidMooreDMN
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