Are any top 5 free agent running backs a target in Dallas?

The Cowboys have made moves to address a shockingly empty running back room this month.

With Rico Dowdle packing his bags for Carolina, Dallas was left with Deuce Vaughn, Hunter Luepke, and Malik Davis at running back. That was not optimal.

In the two weeks of free agency, the Cowboys have signed a pair of backs, Javonte Williams and Mile Sanders.

Neither player has put up massive numbers over the past two seasons though. Sanders had a nice 1,269-yard, 11-touchdown season in 2022 with the Eagles.

However, after going to Carolina in 2023 and 2024, he has a combined 637 yards and three touchdowns in 27 games over those two seasons.

Williams had a strong rookie year in 2021, gaining 903 yards for Denver with four touchdowns. But an injury in 2022 limited him to just four games.

He had 204 yards that season, adding 774 in 2023 and 513 last year. Over his last 33 games, he has scored just seven touchdowns.

The Cowboys could be looking at a running back by committee approach in 2025 with Williams and Sanders.

But should they be looking elsewhere?

Last year, they passed on both Saquon Barkley and Derrick Henry. All they did in 2024 was finish 1-2 in the league in rushing yards with 2,005 and 1,921 respectively.

Dowdle was 15th at 1,079 yards last year.

The Top 5 Free Agents

Here are the top five running backs that remained unsigned so far:

J.K. Dobbins

Nick Chubb

Gus Edwards

Cam Akers

Jamaal Williams

Of these five, only Dobbins cracked the Top 25 last year in rushing in the league. In 13 games with the Chargers he had 905 yards and nine touchdowns.

Chubb had a great run from 2018-2022, averaging 1,269 yards a season with 9.5 touchdowns per year.

In the last two years he has only played in 10 games with 502 yards and three touchdowns.

Edwards has been a steady performer when on the field but has played a full schedule in three of his six seasons, and only one (2023) in the last three.

Akers has played for three teams in his five seasons and has not put up solid numbers since the 2022 season.

Williams had an incredible season in Detroit in 2022, rushing for 1,066 yards and 17 touchdowns. He went to New Orleans in 2023 and has 470 total yards and two touchdowns in 27 games over the last two seasons.

Of the five, Dobbins would make the most sense for Dallas to sign.

That’s assuming they will go with the RBBC approach. And that they won’t bring Ezekiel Elliott back for a third go-around.

It will depend on next month’s draft.

If the Cowboys land a solid running back, then they are done with free agency as far as this position goes.

If they don’t? Will Grier might not want to get too comfortable in that No. 15 jersey the Cowboys assigned him recently.

Final prediction: Draft or trade?

Trading for a running back seems like a stretch. Especially with the group they currently have.

Not to mention, there are still options in free agency if the draft doesn’t pan out.

Adding one running back in the draft does seem like the likeliest outcome here.

The big topic of discussion is in what round they will do so. That’s going to depend on how the teams ahead of them draft.

The best running back in the 2025 class is Ashton Jeanty of Boise State.

If, by some miracle, he falls to the Cowboys at the 12th pick, we had better see Jerry Jones personally dashing up to the podium in Green Bay to deliver the card.

Unfortunately, it probably isn’t going to happen. Either the Raiders will take Jeanty with the sixth pick, or someone will trade up long before Dallas goes on the clock and snags him.

There are other options at running back for Dallas if Jeanty is gone.

If he is, they can draft a wide receiver in the first and then draft their running back in the second or third rounds and successfully fill a need on the depth chart.