The Dallas Cowboys running backs have been generating storylines for years now. Whether it be the Ezekiel Elliott era, the transition to Tony Pollard, or the struggle to find a franchise back since his departure, there is no shortage of coverage for this position group.
In 2025, the unit faces an uphill climb to exceed some low expectations. Where last season’s depth chart had familiarity, this one has, quite literally, none of that.
Dallas is carrying five running backs with a chance of making the roster, and Deuce Vaughn is the only one who has prior experience with the team. Outside of him, it’s two free agent signings and two rookies.
Dallas Cowboys RB room:
Javonte Williams
Miles Sanders
Deuce Vaughn
Jaydon Blue
Phil Mafah
Hunter Luepke
Malik Davis— Jon Machota (@jonmachota) April 26, 2025
This means we don’t know what to expect, especially since the new guys are not coming in with high hopes or great track records.
Here, we’ll look at three Cowboys running backs and what their realistic expectations should be heading into 2025.
Phil Mafah: Waived, Brought Back On Practice Squad
This may be underwhelming to the fans, but if we’re being realistic, this is the most likely outcome for seventh-rounder Phil Mafah.
Coming out of Clemson, Mafah was expected to be a late-round or undrafted talent; that stayed true when Dallas selected him with the 239th pick. His limited range of skills dropped him there, and it’s what will keep him off the 53-man roster this fall.
Mafah has been labeled a one-trick pony in some circles, as his bruising running style, power, and size far outweigh any other aspects of his game.
Dallas does need a running back who can score on the goal line, but the odds of them choosing Mafah to do that over a guy like Javonte Williams or Miles Sanders are quite slim. Those two can make an impact in other ways.
This isn’t to say he doesn’t have a future with the Cowboys, but as many seventh-round running backs start out, it will likely begin on the practice squad.
Jaydon Blue: Limited Opportunities, Big Plays
Speaking of rookies, Jaydon Blue will certainly get a larger workload than Mafah, but it still won’t be at a starter level. Dallas has something special in his skill set. Now it’s about fine-tuning it while also allowing him to make the big plays.
Blue’s game-breaking speed and explosiveness will show up on the field this season, but he is still a fifth-round pick with two experienced veterans ahead of him.
The last thing this Cowboys offense needs is fumbles, and that is Blue’s biggest weakness.
https://twitter.com/noah_gross27/status/1742047068091261035
He fumbled the ball at a ridiculously high rate throughout his collegiate career, and even put it on the ground during the College Football Playoff. As much as I think he gets past that during his career, it is unlikely to happen in his very first season.
Expect Blue to be the guy they turn to at random moments for a big gain, not to be the guy getting 20 carries in a critical game.
Javonte Williams: De Facto RB1 With Low Expectations
I do not think the Cowboys expect free-agent signee Javonte Williams to dominate. I also think they fully expect him to be the starting running back in 2025.
Williams, a Wallace, NC native and former Tar Heel, is only 25 years old, but the tread on his tires is very real. He had nearly 400 career carries in college, he has over 600 in the NFL, and he tore his ACL in 2022.
What was once a promising career has been dimmed by that injury and an overall decrease in electricity from Williams.
Broncos’ RB Javonte Williams tore his ACL, per source.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) October 3, 2022
Unlike Sanders, who remains his strongest competition for the starting job, he still has youth on his side and untapped potential from that. This is what will give him the leg-up, but the other problems will keep expectations low.
If Dallas can get 4.0 or higher yards per carry from Williams, it will be a success, but they have to be prepared for another down year from this veteran.
One thing I have to disagree with is Phil Mafah being projected as a late round to undrafted pick…. I’ve seen experts mock drafts that had Mafah going all the way up in the 3rd round!! And I think the only reason he fell to the 7th round is because of how stacked it was at that position in the draft!! If there wasn’t so many good RBs in this draft, I think Mafah would’ve been drafted a lot higher than the 7th round!! And I think he’s gonna be a lot better than what most people expect him to be!!
And as far as Javonte Williams goes, he was expected to be a top tier RB after his rookie year, but then he had that brutal leg injury and that caused him to go down hill, but with a leg injury that was as bad as his was, no RB will come back from something like that and play elite football right away…. It takes time to come back from an injury like that, most of the time it takes 2 or 3 years to get back to normal from that kind of injury!! And this is his 3rd year after recovering from that injury, so he should be back to his old self this year, and if he is, I expect him to be close to, if not over a thousand yard RB!! The only thing that I think will stop him from getting a thousand yards this season is if the coaches don’t see he’s better this year than the last couple years and they decide to really do the RB by committee thing and end up taking snaps away from him!! But if they let him be the true RB1, I believe he’ll hit the thousand yard mark!!
And also, Deuce Vaughn ain’t the only RB that’s familiar with this offense…. Hunter Luepke is also familiar with the offense!!
But as far as who makes the team, it’s gonna be a hard decision to make!! But I think they’ll keep Javonte Williams, Jaydon Blue, Phil Mafah and either Miles Sanders or Hunter Luepke!! And if Sanders turns out to be as good as they’ve been saying he’s looked then I think Luepke will be out!!
So I think this will be the RB room this year
RB1. Javonte Williams
RB2. Miles Sanders
RB3. Jaydon Blue
RB4. Phil Mafah
But if Sanders isn’t as good as he’s been showing in camp, and the coaches decide to keep a FB, then I think the room will be
RB1. Javonte Williams
RB2. Jaydon Blue
RB3. Phil Mafah
FB. Hunter Luepke
Or you could be right about Mafah and the room will be
RB1. Javonte Williams
RB2. Miles Sanders
RB3. Jaydon Blue
FB. Hunter Luepke
But if I had to choose between these 3 lineups, I think I would have to go with the first one!! I would hate to lose Luepke cause he can play so many different positions, but with this many RBs in the room, and a few good TEs ahead of him, I don’t think he would get any playing time anyways, so it would be better to try to get Luepke on the practice squad and keep Mafah on the team since we drafted him and we don’t have to take the chance on losing him to another team!! But that’s just my opinion!!