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FRISCO, TX — Not only is it one of the most important positions on a football team, but the Dallas Cowboys also have neither a clear idea of who'll be running the ball for them in 2025, nor do they have enough bodies on the depth chart to choose from, and that's where free agency might come in.
Rico Dowdle is set to hit the market in a few days, barring a new deal being done before then, and Ezekiel Elliott was released in December after a failed reunion in Dallas. That leaves only Deuce Vaughn, Hunter Luepke (mostly a fullback) and Malik Davis (a practice squadder to this point) as contracted for next season.
Desperately in need of adding talent and firepower, an expectation being they'll also do so in the 2025 NFL Draft, the question of what the Cowboys will do in free agency at running back looms.
It feels as if they can't simply rely on the draft for this one.
[FYI: *Be sure to check out the entire ‘What’s Next?*' series as a primer to "Open Market".]
What's Here:
Rico Dowdle: Operating behind the tandem of peak Ezekiel Elliott and peak Tony Pollard is a tall ask for any running back, but Dowdle learned all he could and put it into play during his breakout season in 2025. With his injury history now presumably that — history — he's free to build upon his first-ever 1,000-year season that could've been more if not for the failed RB-by-committee approach in Dallas last year.
For the first time in his career, Dowdle will be an unrestricted free agent, and with a lot of leverage, so expect him to test the market before deciding where he plays ball going forward.
What's Out There:
Note: These players will be unrestricted on March 13, barring a newly-signed deal with their incumbent team prior to that date.
Nick Chubb: With a projected market value of only $3.3 million annually, per Spotrac, there is no way in heaven, hell or Earth in-between you're going to convince me Chubb isn't worth some tire kicking by the Cowboys. Yes, the four-time Pro Bowler is on the other side of a devastating knee injury, but it's one some didn't think he'd return from at all — still accounting for three rushing touchdowns in limited duty last season and, as a reminder, the Cowboys had six rushing touchdowns … as a team.
It feels as if whomever Chubb signs with could very well get an absolute steal, seeing as his grace period for returning from injury was mostly satisfied in the final games of his existing contract with the Browns, still on the right side of 30 years old and looking to prove something.
Aaron Jones: If you can't beat him, sign him — amirite? Jones has often been a demon the Cowboys have not been able to exorcise, and as recently as the humiliating loss to the Packers last January that ushered in an era of impotence at AT&T Stadium that must be done away with in 2025. Jones showed in his 2024 stay with the Vikings that he is still as potent as ever, racking up 1,546 yards from scrimmage and seven touchdowns; and his projected cost is only, roughly, two million dollars more than that of Chubb.
Najee Harris: Harris presents an intriguing option because he's got several years of space between him and the 30-year-old running backs' horizon, and especially considering he's produced more than 1,000 rushing yards for the Steelers in each of his four NFL seasons. The former second-round pick is off to a hot start to his career, though the projected cost of $9 million plus, annually, would force the Cowboys into deciding between adding him and simply going for a lower-cost option to combine with a premium draft pick in April. I think we all know which of those two options they'd prefer in Dallas.
J.K. Dobbins: Talk about bouncing back. Dobbins suffered a torn Achilles in 2023 but, in 2024, you couldn't tell at all. Having parted ways with the Ravens (they did well with his replacement, to say the least) to join the Chargers, Dobbins was a key piece of their offense en route to a career-best season that included 905 rushing yards and nine rushing touchdowns. And with a projected market value of $4 million annually, he'd be a great addition to the bully ball mantra Schottenheimer is trying to build this season that won't weigh much against the salary cap.
Honorable mention: Javonte Williams - A solid tandem option, given his productivity for the Broncos, Williams might have a difficult time reconciling his projected asking price of nearly $7 million with his lack of consistently explosive production to support it.
