Cowboys VP: Current group of running backs could change

Jiggyfly

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Cowboys VP: Current group of running backs could change

Jon Machota Email jmachota@dallasnews.com
Published: May 3, 2015 12:51 pm

IRVING – Despite most believing the Dallas Cowboys would address the running back position early in this year’s draft, they didn’t select one with their eight picks.


As of now, the running back depth chart consists of Darren McFadden, Joseph Randle, Lance Dunbar and Ryan Williams. After the draft, the Cowboys also added rookie free agent Synjyn Days.

“We would have liked to have drafted a running back,” Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones said. “But at the same token, we didn’t think at any given time that we should pass at the player that was there, even with the running backs [available].”

When last year’s rushing champ DeMarco Murray signed with the Eagles in March, most thought the Cowboys were on track to snag a player like Georgia’s Todd Gurley or Wisconsin’s Melvin Gordon in the first round. But both were gone by the time Dallas was drafting at 27.

What about the second round?

Well, even though quality options like Indiana’s Tevin Coleman and Miami’s Duke Johnson were still available at 60, the Cowboys decided to go with Randy Gregory, a pass rusher who many believed was one of the top 10 players in this class.

A later possibility was Boise State’s Jay Ajayi, a player who attended the Cowboys’ Dallas Day event for local prospects. But Dallas passed on him in the third and fourth round before he went to Miami in the fifth.

“Just because this is our current group of running backs doesn’t mean it will stay that way,” Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones said. “We are always looking to improve our football team, we will continue to look to improve it, obviously, here with minicamps and OTAs and rookie minicamps and things of that nature.

“We’re going to get to see these guys a lot and at the same time we’ll keep our eyes wide open and look if there are opportunities to improve, not just at running back but other positions, and we’ll improve the team.”

And then there is Adrian Peterson.

After all of the speculation leading up to the draft about the Cowboys being a potential trade partner for the All-Pro back, Peterson remains in Minnesota, a team that did not draft a running back to possibly replace him.

Is Peterson still an option for the Cowboys?

“I don’t talk about players not on our team,” Stephen Jones said.

But he didn’t close the door on adding another veteran to the mix, mentioning on two occasions how the Patriots acquired LeGarrette Blount late in the season last year.

“Short of it being a unique situation,” Stephen Jones said, “then we’re comfortable where we are.”

Not drafting a running back also leaves the impression that the offensive line is so good that an elite runner isn’t needed.

Jerry Jones said that’s not the message they were trying to send. Instead, they were saying more about the addition of Darren McFadden, the former top 5 pick who signed with the Cowboys after Murray’s departure.

“We didn’t know that McFadden was going to be available when we initially started to think about this year and in our decisions regarding that,” Jerry Jones said. “It might have been a little different story had we not had McFadden on our roster in this draft.”

But in seven seasons with the Raiders, McFadden has appeared in 16 games only once and he has topped the 1,000-yard rushing mark on only one occasion.

“The issue is never resolved,” Cowboys coach Jason Garrett said. “We feel very good about the guys we have on our roster. We feel good about Darren McFadden. We feel good about Joseph Randle, Lance Dunbar, Ryan Williams. But we’re always trying to create competition. Competition with those four guys themselves but also competition where we can get running backs from other places.

“This is an ongoing process. There will be some teams who have drafted players at certain positions where the guys who are there will all of a sudden become available. I am not suggesting specifically at running back. But we’re going to look at that over the next few days, about what other people do and what the talent landscape looks like and make our best decisions for our team.”
 

boozeman

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“We didn’t know that McFadden was going to be available when we initially started to think about this year and in our decisions regarding that,” Jerry Jones said. “It might have been a little different story had we not had McFadden on our roster in this draft.”
:lol

Yeah, like there was doubt that Oakland would not allow McFadden and his bust ass to leave.
 

ravidubey

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The Cowboys hosted a who's-who of premium college RB's in their pre-draft visits, so you know they were intent on a back.

Truth is they were beaten to the punch in each of the the 3rd, 4th, and 5th rounds at shots for starting-caliber RBs.

They came away with a swing tackle, backup LB, and UDFA quality DE. I don't know what they were thinking, that Ajayi and Allen would somehow, some way still be there no matter how cute they got nipping and tucking their roster?

#1 RB is a gaping hole in this roster, and they did nothing to address it the entire offseason.
 

VA Cowboy

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I'm 99% sure we could've taken a RB in the 3rd and still landed Chaz Green in the 4th. At the bare minimum, traded down a few spots to early 4th, picking up a late pick or two and landing a RB and Green.

If Green was the BPA then fine, but no way anyone convinces me he was anywhere close to that. If you ignore his entire college career and injuries you could maybe make a case he was a 3rd rounder. Interesting we took Murray's past injuries into major consideration but brush off all of Green's injury-riddled history.
 

boozeman

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I'm 99% sure we could've taken a RB in the 3rd and still landed Chaz Green in the 4th. At the bare minimum, traded down a few spots to early 4th, picking up a late pick or two and landing a RB and Green.

If Green was the BPA then fine, but no way anyone convinces me he was anywhere close to that. If you ignore his entire college career and injuries you could maybe make a case he was a 3rd rounder. Interesting we took Murray's past injuries into major consideration but brush off all of Green's injury-riddled history.
Nope, you can't rationalize that. The little run with Havenstein, Brown and Sambrailo spooked them into a "last of the Mohicans" kind of deal.

They wanted a jack of all trades type, someone who could be flexible. That probably made him more attractive to reach for.

There is no way he should have been ranked over T.J. Clemmings. Sorry.

If he was, there was something drastically wrong with our evaluation process.
 

Cowboysrock55

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I'm 99% sure we could've taken a RB in the 3rd and still landed Chaz Green in the 4th. At the bare minimum, traded down a few spots to early 4th, picking up a late pick or two and landing a RB and Green.

If Green was the BPA then fine, but no way anyone convinces me he was anywhere close to that. If you ignore his entire college career and injuries you could maybe make a case he was a 3rd rounder. Interesting we took Murray's past injuries into major consideration but brush off all of Green's injury-riddled history.
The problem is Coleman, Duke Johnson and David Johnson all went in the third round before our pick. So other then Ajayi (Who I'm convinced has a serious injury) who would you have taken at RB in the third round?

I wouldn't have wanted Buck Allen or Langford there (Or Matt Jones who the Redskins took :lol).
 

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The problem is Coleman, Duke Johnson and David Johnson all went in the third round before our pick. So other then Ajayi (Who I'm convinced has a serious injury) who would you have taken at RB in the third round?

I wouldn't have wanted Buck Allen or Langford there (Or Matt Jones who the Redskins took :lol).
I take Ajayi... knee be damned.
 

Cowboysrock55

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I take Ajayi... knee be damned.
Even if there is no cartilage left? I mean hell he was still there in the fourth. Dude didn't go until the fifth round. Wouldn't that make him a massive reach in the third?
 

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Even if there is no cartilage left? I mean hell he was still there in the fourth. Dude didn't go until the fifth round. Wouldn't that make him a massive reach in the third?
You don't know anything about his knee anymore than I do. Grady Jarrett went after our 4th round pick as well, but no one can explain why. You can't call someone a massive reach in an earlier round just because they slid.
 

Jiggyfly

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You don't know anything about his knee anymore than I do. Grady Jarrett went after our 4th round pick as well, but no one can explain why. You can't call someone a massive reach in an earlier round just because they slid.
Wait so its Ok to reach on Ajayi but you are all pissed because we reached on Green.

Do you even try to make sense.:lol
 

Cowboysrock55

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You don't know anything about his knee anymore than I do. Grady Jarrett went after our 4th round pick as well, but no one can explain why. You can't call someone a massive reach in an earlier round just because they slid.
Sure I can. It means that every professional scouting department saw something wrong with him in the third round. If you think it's just because everyone forgot about him you're crazy.
 

VA Cowboy

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The problem is Coleman, Duke Johnson and David Johnson all went in the third round before our pick. So other then Ajayi (Who I'm convinced has a serious injury) who would you have taken at RB in the third round?

I wouldn't have wanted Buck Allen or Langford there (Or Matt Jones who the Redskins took :lol).
Ideally a trade down and then either Langford, Allen or Davis. Looking at it there wasn't a good RB option w/ our pick in the 3rd. But even at our own pick in the 4th I'd have taken Cobb over Damien Wilson, although I'd have taken Grady Jarrett over both. But obviously our need of a backup LB / ST trumped everything else though.
 

Cotton

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Wait so its Ok to reach on Ajayi but you are all pissed because we reached on Green.

Do you even try to make sense.:lol
Let's use Jiggy's attempt at arguing...

When did I say Ajayi was a reach?
 

Cotton

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Sure I can. It means that every professional scouting department saw something wrong with him in the third round. If you think it's just because everyone forgot about him you're crazy.
Then explain Jerrett and Bennett. Sometimes good players slide for unknown reasons that can't be explained. In 3 years when Ajayi is killing the league you can reply to this post with your apology.
 

Cowboysrock55

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Then explain Jerrett and Bennett. Sometimes good players slide for unknown reasons that can't be explained. In 3 years when Ajayi is killing the league you can reply to this post with your apology.
And if he is out of the league in 2 years will you write me an apology letter?

I don't know why Jerrett and Bennett slipped. I wasn't a big Jerrett fan so I'd suspect he wasn't that talented. I think Bennett dropped in part because he doesn't fit every defense but there is probably something about him that we don't know that also hurt his stock.
 

Jiggyfly

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Let's use Jiggy's attempt at arguing...

When did I say Ajayi was a reach?
Excuse me but if you draft a guy in the 3rd that would have been available in the 5th is that not reaching?

Maybe it's not reaching but it's not getting good value which is your issue with Green right?
 

Cotton

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Excuse me but if you draft a guy in the 3rd that would have been available in the 5th is that not reaching?

Maybe it's not reaching but it's not getting good value which is your issue with Green right?
You can't know that Ajayi would have been available in the 5th. You can't use your "brilliant" hindsight to argue this point. But, I can almost bet that Green would have been available later. Can I know that, of course not, but every single projection on him was 5th-6th.
 

Cowboysrock55

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You can't know that Ajayi would have been available in the 5th. You can't use your "brilliant" hindsight to argue this point. But, I can almost bet that Green would have been available later. Can I know that, of course not, but every single projection on him was 5th-6th.
And every projection had Ajayi in the second. Guess that says something about these "projections". More like guessing.
 

Smitty

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Wait so its Ok to reach on Ajayi but you are all pissed because we reached on Green.

Do you even try to make sense.:lol
Yeah, I understand the angst about not adding a RB, but I don't think it makes any sense to be upset about passing on a SINGULAR running back in Ajayi when that player very clearly was not on their board for a medical issue. It's not like they forgot about him. Is there any doubt that he was simply put in the box because of the knee? And if so, why shouldn't I trust what the team's doctors said, especially when all the other teams let him slide as well?

I am not upset about passing on Ajayi. I might disagree and think it was worth a risk earlier than they would have, but I can't really say that's the reason to downgrade the draft.

And I am also not upset about them taking Randy Gregory over a RB in the 2nd. Gregory was an impact value player at a position that is pretty much just as big a need.

So yeah, it comes down to which third round RB was it worth to take over Chaz Green? I'm not thrilled with that pick but it's no reason to throw the draft away. I would have preferred Clemmings and I think their priority of position flex over talent is stupid, but I also think he's a much better player than Robert Brewster who was just a washout. If he becomes a starter, then that's a decent pick.

I am more upset with the selection of another flippin' corner in the first round, and the overall appearance of an underwhelming day 3 class, as opposed to being upset about RB.

If we had gotten Grady Jarrett in the 4th and other solid picks later, I wouldn't give two shits about not addressing RB. Easiest position in the league to find a competent player and plug in, and on top of that, our OL is dominant. We'll be ok there.
 
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