{"id":5244,"date":"2024-09-03T00:23:14","date_gmt":"2024-09-03T00:23:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/?p=5244"},"modified":"2024-09-03T00:23:14","modified_gmt":"2024-09-03T00:23:14","slug":"report-dallas-cowboys-will-have-a-surprise-no-1-running-back-for-the-2024-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/?p=5244","title":{"rendered":"REPORT: Dallas Cowboys Will Have A Surprise No. 1 Running Back For The 2024 Season"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The Dallas Cowboys have reportedly decided on who won the No. 1 running back competition between\u00a0<a class=\"mai-link-injected\" href=\"https:\/\/www.totalprosports.com\/tag\/ezekiel-elliott\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Ezekiel Elliott<\/a>,\u00a0<a class=\"mai-link-injected\" href=\"https:\/\/www.totalprosports.com\/tag\/dalvin-cook\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Dalvin Cook<\/a>\u00a0and Rico Dowdle.<\/p>\n<p>One of the top training camp battles of the 2024 offseason was the Cowboys\u2019 RB1 role between Rico Dowdle, Elliott and Cook. \u201cZeke\u201d was brought back on a one-year deal after spending last season with the New England Patriots, and Cook was signed to bolster the RB depth chart last week.<\/p>\n<p>The Cowboys lost their leading rusher of 2022 and 2023, Tony Pollard, to the Tennessee Titans in free agency. Pollard signed a three-year deal worth $21.75 million after logging back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons.<\/p>\n<p>According to a report from Todd Archer of The Athletic, it appears as though the 26-year-old Rico Dowdle\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/5738626\/2024\/09\/02\/dallas-cowboys-week-1-difference-makers\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">will be the No. 1 RB<\/a>\u00a0in Dallas. The South Carolina product is entering his fifth season with the Cowboys, having signed with them as an undrafted free agent in 2020:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>\u201cIn a room that includes Elliott and Dalvin Cook, Dowdle should be the favorite to lead the Cowboys in rushing attempts and rushing yards this season. Dowdle was asked last week about this being his best opportunity to get significant playing time.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<div id=\"incontent-ad-1\" class=\"pw-incontent\" data-label=\"Advertisement\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"pw-ad-scroll-container pw-clearfix pw-hide-in-content-out-of-view\" data-pw-in-article=\"true\">\n<div class=\"pw_report_ad_container\">Given Elliott\u2019s career body of work and familiarity in Dallas\u2019 offense (he spent seven seasons there from 2016 to 2022), many naturally assumed that head coach Mike McCarthy and owner\u00a0<a class=\"mai-link-injected\" href=\"https:\/\/www.totalprosports.com\/tag\/jerry-jones\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Jerry Jones<\/a>\u00a0would roll with the two-time rushing champion as the starting running back.<\/div>\n<div>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Mike McCarthy talking about RB Rico Dowdle:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe\u2019s a complete running back, plays all three downs. I think his pass protection from his rookie year to now has become one of his best assets.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; Dowdle the receiver \u2705<br \/>\n&#8211; Dowdle the runner \u2705<br \/>\n&#8211; Dowdle the blocker \u2705<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/DallasCowboys?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#DallasCowboys<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/AKCsD08gJ1\">pic.twitter.com\/AKCsD08gJ1<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Brandon Loree (@Brandoniswrite) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Brandoniswrite\/status\/1830684523270389778?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 2, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>But Elliott has been past his best-before date for a while now, with only 1,000-yard season in the past four years. He averaged 3.8 and 3.5 yards per carry in the 2022 and 2023 seasons, respectively.<\/p>\n<p>A four-time Pro Bowler and 1,000-yard rusher, Cook showed in his one-year stint with the New York Jets that he is no longer a No. 1 running back.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"h-rico-dowdle-gets-his-chance-to-shine\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Rico Dowdle Gets His Chance To Shine<\/h2>\n<p>After seeing limited snaps over his first three\u00a0<a class=\"mai-link-injected\" href=\"https:\/\/www.totalprosports.com\/nfl\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">NFL<\/a>\u00a0seasons, Rico Dowdle saw more playing time in 2023 and finished with 385 rushing yards and two touchdowns. He was also productive as a pass-catcher, with 17 receptions for 144 yards.<\/p>\n<p>The Cowboys\u2019 o-line has a long history of blocking for star running backs (DeMarco Murray, Zeke and Pollard), so Dowdle is in good hands to produce early and often as the lead RB in Dallas.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-sm-content-width\" data-content-name=\"mai-video-player\" data-track-content=\"\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<div class=\"mai-ad-video mai-connatix\" data-al=\"content\" data-unit=\"tpsplayer\" data-content-name=\"mai-ad-content-tpsplayer\" data-track-content=\"\">\n<div id=\"cnx-outside\">\n<div class=\"cnx-non-linear-ad-container cnx-full-height \"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; &nbsp; The Dallas Cowboys have reportedly decided on who won the No. 1 running back competition between\u00a0Ezekiel Elliott,\u00a0Dalvin Cook\u00a0and Rico Dowdle. One of the top training camp battles of &hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5245,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5244","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5244","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5244"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5244\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5246,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5244\/revisions\/5246"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5245"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}