One of the Cowboys’ biggest needs going into the NFL draft was at running back.
They first addressed it in the fifth round by selecting Texas RB Jaydon Blue. But the Cowboys weren’t done adding to the RB room, as they selected Clemson’s Phil Mafah in the seventh round with the 239th pick in the draft.
Mafah is a big, physical back who could be a nice complement to Blue.
Here are five things to know about the Cowboys’ rookie RB.
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1. The basics
Name: Phil-Ceasar Mafah
Position: Running back
Height: 6-0 Weight: 234
College: Clemson
Hometown: Loganville, Ga.
High school: Grayson High School
2. An all-time Clemson Tiger
Mafah is one of the best running backs to ever play for Clemson. In his four years, he racked up 2,887 yards on 561 carries with 28 touchdowns.
He capped his four-year career with his best campaign yet, tallying 1,115 rushing yards and eight touchdowns on 216 carries. Mafah ranks ninth in Clemson history in career rushing yards and 10th in career rushing touchdowns.
Mafah was also very respected by his teammates, who voted him as a permanent captain in 2024. He’ll now look to bring his physical running style to the NFL.
3. “Mo Mafah, Mo Better”
During the 2024 season, Clemson coach Dabo Swinney coined a phrase to describe his running back that Cowboys fans may be saying in the future.
Mafah was a workhorse for Clemson and had just tallied 176 snaps in the Tigers’ previous two games. When asked about the snap count, Swinney didn’t seem concerned.
“Mo Mafah, mo better. That’s what I like. I ain’t worried about anything else,” Swinney said during his weekly news conference.
“A little Mafah’s good, mo is better. This is the championship phase, man. We have all the confidence in the world in our other guys. But why would you not want to give the ball to Mafah more? We only got him for a few more weeks. He’s going to be gone, and he’s a horse, man.”
Clemson running back Phil Mafah (7) runs against Wake Forest during the first half of an NCAA football game in Greensboro, N.C., Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024.(Chuck Burton / AP)4. Former lineman
Clemson assistant coach Mickey Conn knew Mafah from a young age, having coached his little league football team. Conn is also a former head coach at Grayson High School, where Mafah played his high school football.
By the time Mafah got to Grayson, Conn had become a coach at Clemson, but still kept an eye on Mafah.
According to a story from The Post and Courier, Conn intervened when he got word that Mafah’s ninth-grade coaches were putting him at defensive end.
“Hey, y’all got a running back over there that might be one of the best ones in the whole county,” he told the coaches at Grayson.
“Once they figured it out, that was the end of it.”
After that was sorted, Mafah turned into a four-star recruit and one of the best RBs in the country.
Related:After NFL draft, it appears Dallas Cowboys have an RB committee with no chairman5. Honoring his late mother
Mafah, a son of immigrants from the Ivory Coast, spent his senior season with a burden.
Suzanne Mafah, Phil’s mother, endured a battle with cancer throughout Phil’s senior season and passed away on January 18, 2025.
She attended all of Phil’s games at Clemson until the 2024 season due to her diagnosis, but didn’t want anyone to worry about her.
“I just knew she’d want me to be playing football, wanting me to go hard for my teammates in my last year, finish well,” Mafah said in a story on The Post and Courier. “So that’s what I did.”
Ahead of the NFL draft, Mafah’s family was thinking about how she was supposed to be there to see him reach his dream. But Phil was thinking about how she wouldn’t have wanted him to dwell on the past.
“She’s always prayed for me and imagined me and pictured me making it to the NFL,” Mafah said. “It’s just awesome to finally be at that doorstep.”
Read more about how Mafah pushed through both loss and injury during his senior season here.
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