IRVING, Texas– In the middle of his eighth NFL season, Darren McFadden has seen some odd things. Chalk up Tuesday's sudden release of Joseph Randle as one of those.
As an experienced veteran, McFadden also had about as good a response as one could expect in that situation.
"Being around the league for a long time, I've seen a little bit of everything," McFadden said. "I know it's a business, and decisions have to be made in this business. That's one decision that was made."
McFadden had already taken over the starting running back job, carrying the ball 49 times for 216 yards in the last two weeks – so the outlook for the position doesn't change a whole lot. The veteran looks likely to remain the Cowboys' featured back until further notice.
"I feel like people have seen that these last couple weeks – they'll see me going out there and getting 20-plus carries," he said. "I have to give credit to the offensive line, you know, those guys do a great job out there. They're going to continue to get better each week and build on it."
That doesn't make the loss of Randle any stranger, and McFadden said he wished his former teammate well. He added that he had reached out to Randle in the time since he left the team's facility last week.
"I don't want to be in his personal business or anything, so I just reached out to tell him to keep his head up and keep doing what he's doing and just try to stay focused," he said.
One silver lining is that the Cowboys have made do without Randle in two consecutive weeks. He exited the Week 7 loss to New York after just two carries, and he was inactive during last weekend's loss to Seattle.
In his absence, McFadden carried the vast majority of the load, though Christine Michael carried a total of 10 times for 38 yards in the two games. Newcomer Rod Smith featured in the Seattle game, though he didn't receive any touches.
"I feel like what we've been doing the last couple weeks has been working good for us, so we're just going to continue to do that," McFadden said.
