The Dallas Cowboys Have a Major SECRET in the Running Back Room… Ep.2

The Dallas Cowboys Have a Major SECRET in the Running Back Room… Ep.2

Ladies and gentlemen, we are just 100 days away from the NFL season kicking off. We are getting so close and today I wanted to talk about one position in particular that really has me questioning what could happen and that is the running back room. Let’s get into it. [Music] like we did in our in our cornerback video. I really wanted to dissect these players, what their careers have been like up to this point, their play styles, what they bring to Dallas, and ultimately what their potential fit is in this Brian Shottenheimr offense. And as you’re going to see and we’ll talk about, I have a few questions about this room as a whole. So, let’s start with the first signing of the Cowboys off season in the running back room, and that’s Javvante Williams, who signed a one-year, $3 million deal. In his career, Williams has 606 carries for 2,394 yards, averaging four yards per carry with 11 touchdowns. In the receiving game, he has 158 catches for 966 yards and five touchdowns. His best year as a pro came in 2021 when he was a rookie where he had 203 carries for 93 yards, averaging 4.4 yards per carry with four touchdowns. And he led the NFL with 31 broken tackles. And I think that stat is the perfect way to describe Williams game. He’s not as much of a make you miss guy, break your ankles in space, get out and and take off. more of a run through you run through arm tackles a tough hard-nosed runner that’s gonna mix it up move the pile and as we’ll talk about with other guys I think that mixes really well that role as maybe having the body to be the running back one and then have a change of pace guy come in and give you some explosive play ability but Williams had a really good start to his NFL career like he was one of the better running backs in the league as a rookie but he just hasn’t quite been the same guy since that ACL injury. I think for a lot of people, including myself, he’s probably the running back one. If you had to go ahead and label these guys going into camp, I would imagine that he gets gets a bulk of the first team reps because of his experience in the NFL kind of being in that running back one role. I don’t nobody actually knows how that room’s going to going to play out with these guys getting first team reps because a one-year $3 million deal is anything but guaranteed. That is not guaranteeing you even a spot on this roster. So, as much as we say, you know, Williams is probably running back one and then everybody else will kind of file in behind that, not really sure that’s true because if there is a guy that Williams is competing with, it’s probably Miles Sanders. recently released by the Carolina Panthers after getting a pretty massive contract. I think he ended up getting $4 million per year more in Carolina than Tony Pard did in Tennessee. And in his career, he has 923 carries for 4,345 yards, averaging 4.7 yards per carry with 23 career touchdowns. When you go back and watch him in Philly, he was a completely different player compared to what we saw in Carolina. Of course, the offensive line was much better in Phil in Philly, but just the burst, the speed, his ability to to get get to the edge and beat guys with with his speed, with his agility. That stuff didn’t exist in Carolina. I mean, he’s never been a a speed demon take it the distance if he has just a little bit of a crease, but I went and went back and watched him in Carolina and compared it to what I saw in Philly and it was just rough. It just looks like he slowed down quite a bit. You kind of get that same feeling watching Sanders that you did with Ezekiel Elliott. Like you kind of remember what he he used to be and then you look at just the short area quickness and the burst and him trying to beat guys to the edge. It’s kind of got that same lumbering feel. And a lot of people are going to are going to jump on, well, Carolina’s terrible. Their offense was terrible. Play calling, offensive line, all of that. But then you can look at Chuba Hubard who got paid behind the exact same offensive line and the exact same offensive scheme, and he had great seasons in Carolina. So, for Sanders and his fit in Dallas, I got to say, I’m not really sure because I’m really wondering what player Dallas is going to be getting. Are we getting 2022 Philly Sanders? Are we getting 2024 Carolina Sanders? I guess we’re just going to have to wait and see. As for the next guy on this list, I think we all have really high opinions on the Cowboys fifthround pick, Jaden Blue. The speed and versatility that we saw at Texas stood out on the broadcast. that stood out on the film that I watched on him and Blue was easily one of the fastest, if not the fastest player on the field consistently. Now, not every fast guy is great in the NFL, but if you’re fast and a good player, that usually translates. I made a video on Blue already, I think, a film breakdown, but you guys, if you’re Texas fans, if you’re college football fans, you know the play style by this point. fast, smoothfooted athlete, plays with a great with great agility, has has top end speed, home run hitting ability. If he gets out in space, it’s over. In college, no one had an angle on him, they would catch. It’s not going to happen in the NFL either. So, when you think about his fit in Dallas, based on what I know or think, and we’ve talked about with the running back room, Javvante Williams is the running back one. Blue is probably going to be the change of pace guy, the the Tony Pard to Williams, Ezekiel Elliott to a much lesser extent. But I kind of get those those vibes. Hopefully it doesn’t turn into that with Blue being much better than Williams. You’re getting, you know, big plays. Tony Pard was better than Zeke and they just wouldn’t let Pard carry the ball more. I really hope it’s not that. With Brian Shottenheimimer, I think Blue is going to get every opportunity to get on the field because of the explosiveness, because of the playmaking ability, the home run hitting stuff. With Williams, you’re not getting any of that. With really any of these other running backs that we’re going to talk about, you aren’t getting that kind of big play ability. So, I do think Shotti is going to have to give the rookie every chance he can to get out there and help this offense. But, he’s going to have to earn it. He’s going to have to prove that he should be taking away these touches from the veterans, whether it’s it’s Sanders or Williams. And maybe that’s where the tough projection for me for me comes from. If Blue was a first or second rounder, if Dallas had taken a running back in the second round, I’d be saying that dude starts all day long. But with him being a fifth rounder, he’s going to probably have to prove a little bit more, have to clean up the fumbling stuff. It’s just hard for me to say, “Oh, yeah, Blue will be the starter or or he’ll get the bulk of the carries throughout the year. He’s ready to be an NFL running back day one.” For 2025, it’s hard to say. I think for the future, I’m really really high on on blue. I think he’s going to pop in his rookie year with the opportunities that he does get. And hopefully by the end of the year, he’s the clear-cut best running back on the team, creating those explosive runs, 20, 30, 40 yard runs that this offense so desperately needs. Blue is on this team. He’s already made the roster. He’s probably running back, too. But what about another rookie, maybe the forgotten running back pick of this class, and that is Phil Mafa from Clemson. Cowboys took him in the seventh round at pick 239. At Clemson, he carried the ball 561 times over his four years for 2,887 yards, averaging 5.1 yards per carry with 28 touchdowns. He did catch the ball 58 times out of the back field for 309 yards and 5.3 yards per reception. Now, we just got done talking about Blue’s play style. This is on the opposite side of that spectrum. Mafa plays with a more powerful running style. He’s not going to run around you. He’s going to really try to run through you. He’s 6’1, 229 pounds. And the reason Dallas was able to get him in the seventh round is because of the lack of big play ability that we talk about so much with with these running backs. For him, the long speed, the ability to make guys miss, create on his own just isn’t there in the way that it is with Jaden Blue. Mafa is probably going to fill that bruiser big body back that comes in on short yardage situations. There might be a world where where he improves enough to maybe one day become a more reliable option on early downs, but with with Javvante Williams and Sanders and more veteran options and then of of course a more explosive option in in blue, I find it hard to see him getting on the field a ton. I still think he’s a really nice player. had really good college production, has a lot of experience, 550 plus carries at Clemson. I think for 2025 and his fit in Dallas, it’s going to be a a rotational piece, depth piece. I would be very surprised. Something’s probably going to have to go really wrong in the running back room for him to get more than a handful of carries. But maybe there’s a way that he can find himself on this roster onto the 53, just not active on game days, and then he can kind of develop. And if you need him to dress for a game day, he’s there. He’s on the roster and just kind of that, you know, 52nd, 53rd player. And this is where I start getting a little clueless on the running back room that the kind of problem I have is that I don’t know who is competing with who. Is it Williams versus Mafa? Or is it Williams versus Sanders? Or is it Sanders versus Ma? I don’t know. You guys let me know down below in the comments because I have drove I have driven myself insane thinking about what’s going to happen when we get to camp. So, while you go down there and and make your comments, let’s move on to a guy that is probably the most polarizing of any of these names. If you ask people about Dvon, you could get 100 different answers. 100 different answers about what kind of player he is, about the Cowboys drafting him, what his role could be, what his role has been in two years with the Cowboys. Vaughn has 40 career carries for 110 yards, 2.8 yards per carry with zero touchdowns. As for catching the ball out of the back field, 10 catches for 58 yards, 5.8 yards per catch, and zero touchdowns. His best moment as a Cowboy or since being drafted was probably the rookie preeason. And I do feel like I cling on to those games because he really was electric. Like you could see the skill. You could see the wiggle to his game, the burst. It was there. It just hasn’t materialized into the regular season. And what kind of sucks now is he hasn’t shown enough in the regular season that he can be an NFL running back. Dallas eventually was like, we got to start throwing some bodies at the position. And now Deuce might be on the outside looking in. And just based on where I’m talking about him, I believe that to be true. But once again, myself thinking about this running back room, I also think that there’s going to be a few more people in the building on the coaching staff vouching for him than there were with the previous coaching staff, right? Like Mike McCarthy didn’t do Deuce Vaughn any favors. He was inactive a ton. If he did get carries, it was cuz Dallas was down 45 to nothing or they were up 45 to nothing. So his 2.8 yards per carry were literally all garbage time. But you look at the coaching staff now with Brian Shottenheimimer who might like Deuce more than we know about. And then Connor Riley, the Kansas State offensive line coach, offensive coordinator. He he had coached Deuce Vaughn Cooper BB and had an insane success with both of those guys. But Riley is someone that that understands what Deuce is good at and what he’s not good at. Maybe that’s not enough to to keep him on the team, but I do think it helps his case a little bit more. Maybe he could find his way onto the field in situations where he can actually be successful. Coaches that understand how to use a guy like Deuce and not just throw him in there and expect him to be able to do the same things that Javvante Williams can do or even Jaden Blue can do. But I I love Deuce, man. I I like the underdog story, the the preeason moves, just what he showed in his rookie season, the ability to make guys miss. I I don’t know. My biggest question is where does he really even fit with these guys with Williams and Blue and Mafa and Sanders Deuce and then another guy that we haven’t even talked about that I was saving for the very end Hunter Lipkkey. That’s the wild card in all of this because the question is there going to be a fullback deployed in Brian Shottenheimimer’s offense? I I don’t think we know quite yet, but Shotti did mention that they had Lipkkey lining up all over the place. He was at running back, he’s at fullback, he’s at tight end, really wherever they see fit, where he can be that kind of chess piece. But it starts getting interesting when you ask the question, are they moving Lipkkey around because they really have no plan for him, or are they moving him around because they really do believe that he can be that chess piece? Are they trying to find a way for Lipkkey to stay on the team if they’re not going to carry a fullback? Or do they see him as an actual weapon? If he does make the roster, he probably comes in and takes that fourth running back spot. Unless Dallas is planning on keeping four tight ends or a hybrid tight end running back player, it’s going to get it’s going to get wild. I cannot wait to see these 53man roster predictions for how Dallas plans to stack out these running backs. So, that’s the entire running back breakdown. I feel like I got nowhere explaining this because we just have no idea where any of these guys are at this current moment. what the coaching staff is thinking where Javvante Williams is removed from his ACL. Is he going to be a better player? My Sanders, was he terrible because he was in Carolina or is he just starting to get older and washed up? Your other two running backs, one’s a fifth round pick, one’s a seventh round pick. When I try to think about what position group has the most amount of of variables, things that could happen, situations of how it could play out, Dallas goes and gets another running back, that room is up there. And then you add in that that Shotty might not play the the this guy’s a veteran, this guy is a is a rookie, he needs to sit and learn game that we’ve seen so much in Dallas over the years. It makes for an awesome awesome camp. But for now, I guess we’re going to have to wait and see. You guys leave all of your comments, your thoughts down below. Make sure you like the video. Tells YouTube that you enjoyed it. Subscribe to the channel if you aren’t. We’re on our we’re on our way to 50,000 subscribers. Can we please hit it before the season rolls around? Thank you guys so much for watching. I love you all and I’ll see you with another breakdown very, very soon. Bye.

The #DallasCowboys have SUCH a confusing RB room right now, and im beyond confused.

Watch more Dallas Cowboys Videos Here:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHyl_chtiZSSZWbCEoLfMHg

This is a Dallas Cowboys News channel where we discuss EVERYTHING, including Dallas Cowboys News, Dallas Cowboys News Today, Dallas Cowboys Highlights, Dallas Cowboys Updates, and Dallas Cowboys games…

📱 Connect with Me!
Instagram: https://instagram.com/zaclee__?igshid…
Twitter: https://x.com/ZacLeeNFL

Don’t forget to hit that subscribe button and turn on notifications to never miss an update from DoubleMove Media, where sports videos take the perfect route.

Fair Use Notice

This video and the content it features are for educational and informational purposes only. The content may contain copyrighted material owned by a third party, the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Notwithstanding a copyright owner’s rights under the Copyright Act, Section 107 of the Copyright Act allows limited use of copywriter material without required permission from the rights holders, for purposes such as education, criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. These so-called fair uses are permitted even if the use of the work would otherwise be infringing. If you believe that any content on this video violates your intellectual property or other rights, please contact me via my email in the “about” page on my channel.