The Dallas Cowboys have had the NFL’s best offense for two of the past three seasons. But this year, they rank 23rd in scoring and their lackluster rushing offense is a big reason why.
Dallas enters the Week 11 NFL schedule ranked second-to-last in rushing yards and fourth-to-last in yards per attempt. Recently, they named Rico Dowdle as the full-time starting running back, which makes sense considering he leads Dallas with a 4.5 YPC average.
While Dowdle already leads the team in carries, he’s expected to see an uptick in touches for the remainder of the season as the Cowboys evaluate whether he’s a long-term solution. Yet, the Cowboys thought they were going to add a star running back last year before another team interfered.
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Jahmyr Gibbs expected to be drafted by the Dallas Cowboys
The Dallas Cowboys don’t have much invested in their RB group this season. Ezekiel Elliott is the highest-paid running back in Dallas, yet he’s on a $2 million salary. New starter Rico Dowdle is on a $1.2M salary. Whereas Deuce Vaughn was a sixth-round pick in the 2023 NFL Draft.
However, the Cowboys reportedly planned to make a significant investment in their backfield during last year’s draft, yet the cards didn’t fall their way.
According to Detroit Lions RB Jahmyr Gibbs, he expected to be drafted by the Cowboys in 2023. But that was before the Lions surprisingly executed snatched him with the 12th pick instead.
“To Detroit, no I really didn’t [expect to go there]. I knew they liked me, but you know when you go on a visit, it seems like they all like you. It was crazy I knew for a fact Dallas was going to get me at 26 if I was still there, and a couple other places like Cincinnati was going to get me. I think they [the Bengals] were going to trade up to like 18 or something around that range. I didn’t think I was going to go 12th.”
Jahmyr Gibbs on his NFL expectations
Gibbs became a Pro Bowl running back as a rookie last season, and he now ranks sixth in the NFL with 727 rushing yards in 2024. The electric playmaker with 4.36 speed would have added another matchup nightmare in Dallas, yet they never got their chance.
With Gibbs off the board, the Cowboys stood pat at pick No. 26 and selected defensive tackle Mazi Smith, who has started 12 of 26 games but has just 34 tackles and one sack in his career. Smith enters Week 11 ranked dead-last among defensive tackles, with a pitiful Pro Football Focus grade of 30.1. Perhaps making a blockbuster trade to land Gibbs would have been a better outcome.
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