Outside of the contract situations from CeeDee Lamb, Micah Parsons, and Dak Prescott, I think another topic for conversation this off-season for Dallas is the running back situation.
They lost Tony Pollard to Tennessee this offseason, but resigned Ezekiel Elliott, added Royce Freeman and still have Rico Dowdle.
This is the first time in a long time that the Cowboys do not have a clear-cut starter at the position.
Once training camp arrives in late July, we will see who gets the most snaps, but still, this is wide open.
2024 Outlook
The Cowboys ran the ball 468 times in 2023 which equates to 27.5 times per game. They won’t run that many times a game in 2024, but let’s say they run the ball 22 times a game.
Do 10 of those carries go to Zeke and the other 12 to Rico? Or do they ride the hot hand, sprinkle in Freeman, or try and get Vaughn a touch or two? Maybe even Malik Davis, hard to tell right now.
What we probably do know is that Zeke and Dowdle will be the two featured guys, at least they should be.
So who will have the better year? The return of Zeke, or will Rico shine in his first real chance to take a lot of carries in a season?
Rico Dowdle
Let’s start with Dowdle. If the season started tomorrow, I think he would get the first chance to start.
The undrafted free agent from South Carolina has been held back due to various injuries throughout his college and professional career, but he’s coming off one of his longest stretches of health and with the weak running back room has his chance.
I hate trying to predict a stat line for a player this early, but last season played in all 16 games and carried the ball 89 times for 361 yards.
He will eclipse that number in 2024, but by how much?
If this turns out to be a complete 50/50 workload, I would guess that Rico carries the ball over 200 times and runs for close to 750 yards. That is just over three yards a carry.
Ezekiel Elliott
Now we turn to the return of Zeke. Let’s just get right to the point. From what it sounds like thus far, he is going to do whatever is needed to help this team win. If that means taking a backseat, so be it.
Elliott projects best as a third-down, short-yardage back, for the love of everything, just score touchdowns. This team struggled to punch the ball in from short yardage last season.
His ability to pass protect, receive the ball with his big catch radius, and convert short yardage situations stands out amongst his peers.
In 2022 he ran the ball 231 times for 876 yards and 12 touchdowns. During his one-year stint with the New England Patriots, he had 184 attempts for 642 and only three touchdowns.
Do I honestly think Elliott can still play a high level? Maybe. Depending on how his work load goes, I think he could pace for over 800 yards.
If I had to pick right now who will have a better 2024 between Zeke and Dowdle, I will say this. In terms of value, picking up first downs, scoring touchdowns, etc. it’ll be Elliott. Rico will probably have a better year in terms of carries and yards, but value, give me Zeke.
End of the day, this team will need them both to be good! Neither of them are a bell cow, so hopefully they can feed off one another and do what they need to do to help this team win football games. That is all I care about & please win a game in January.