A little over 10 months ago, Hunter Luepke’s football world was dark. His future, at least in Dallas, was looking grim.
The Cowboys were playing the Dolphins in Miami.
The opening series was proving to be the high point of Luepke’s rookie season.
The undrafted free agent from North Dakota State had two carries on third down plays for three yards on the drive. Both carries were for first downs.
Two plays later, he had an eight-yard catch on a second-and-10 pass from Dak Prescott.
Just four plays later, the Cowboys had a first and goal and the Dolphins’ one-yard line.
Prescott took the snap and appeared to hand the ball off to Luepke. Luepke surged into the endzone.
Touchdown, Cowboys!
Only one problem, the football was sitting on the turf on the two-yard line and Miami’s Brandon Jones fell on it.
Prescott was credited with the fumble, as he was the last player with possession. Replays showed Luepke’s arms pinned against his chest as the ball struck his elbow.
No one has ever asked if he thought it was supposed to go to him, or if he thought Prescott was keeping the ball. In the end, it doesn’t matter.
The Cowboys went away with zero points on the board in an eventual 22-20 loss to Miami.
In the end, the play didn’t cost Dallas the game. They had a 20-19 lead late in the fourth quarter.
But the damage to Luepke quickly became apparent.
He never touched the ball again in the final two regular season game. Nor did he do so in the playoff loss to Green Bay.
Would He Stay Or Go?
Fast-forward to training camp in Oxnard six months later.
The Cowboys brought in several new faces at running back, including the return of a familiar face in Ezekiel Elliott.
Which put a huge question mark over Luepke’s head as the final cuts neared. Would Luepke remain on the final 53-man roster?
When the final roster was released, Luepke was indeed still there.
In his second season, he’s showing the Cowboys coaching staff that they made the right call in keeping him.
Ahead Of 2023’s Pace
In his rookie year, prior to the Miami mishap, Luepke had six carries for 19 yards. Five of the carries resulted in a first down.
He scored his first career touchdown in a blowout over the Patriots.
Luepke also caught three passes, in four targets, for 18 yards with one catch netting a first down.
He’s already exceeded his numbers as a receiver this year over last year.
In five games, Luepke has seven catches on eight targets for 91 yards with five first downs resulting for his receiving efforts. He has four carries for 14 yards for three first downs.
He’s still looking for his second career touchdown.
Lueke’s also stepping up on special teams. He’s already matched his four total tackles from 2023 and there’s still 12 more games to go.
But his most important contribution comes as a blocking back.
Luepke is getting much better as a blocker. In fact, had Rico Dowdle followed Luepke he likely scores the game-winning touchdown.
Instead, Dowdle tried to leap and very nearly fumbled away the win against the Steelers on Sunday.
Expanding Luepke’s Role
Dowdle had his best game in his career on Sunday. But for the first four games, Dallas’ running attack was nearly non-existent.
If Dowdle’s game was a run-off, and Elliott apparently cannot be a workhorse back based on his output so far, Luepke could prove to be an option to turn to for Dallas.
Luepke was the RB1 for the Bison at North Dakota State. He could handle the load for Dallas if something happens to Dowdle, or if Dowdle’s production slips back.
Even if Luepke isn’t called on to carry that workload, he is clearly having a much better sophomore season in the NFL.
Coming off a second-team, All-Pro selection at fullback by Pro Football Focus, he could be looking at earning even more individual hardware at the end of this season.
That possibility was about as unlikely on that miserable afternoon in Miami as Troy Aikman coming back from the announcers’ booth to play quarterback for Dallas this year.
Today, the only uncertainty about Luepke is what will the fanbase come up with for a nickname for him.