This won’t come as a surprise to those reading this website, but the Dallas Cowboys have a hole to fill at the running back position. The Cowboys chose not to resign
In the play above, there’s a well-blocked hole from the offensive line, but the blocking of his fullback fails him. plays like this.
Then take plays like below, when he easily gains 13 yards on a wide open hole. This is from Week 7 against the Giants.
There are also some times when Dunbar could make a slightly better read given what the offensive line has given. This play is from Week 15 against the Philadelphia Eagles. Instead of making the cut to a wider portion of the field, Dunbar bounced off his blocker and was tackled by
Dunbar did not fare well by NEP, totaling -0.20 Rushing NEP per attempt last season, though his Success Rate -- the percentage of plays that contribute positively to NEP -- was higher than that of Randle’s last season. However, neither Randle’s 35.29 percent or Dunbar’s 39.29 percent Success Rates are anything to be proud of. With more carries, Dunbar could be just as close to his 2013 production as 2014. He’ll be likely to get at least a few more this upcoming season.
Darren McFadden and the Rest
We mentioned Jerry Jones going into the season with unproven players at running back to be very un-Jones-like. Signing Darren McFadden during the offseason was a perfect Jerry Jones move, just a decade late. Instead of getting McFadden in the 2008 Draft, Jones settled for teammate Felix Jones 18 picks later.
McFadden was pegged as a dynamic runner coming out of Arkansas but never lived up to the hype in the NFL. Even Jones and the Cowboys only gave McFadden $3 million over two years as a free agent, only $200,00 of which is guaranteed. There is some reason for that. Last season, McFadden had a Rushing NEP per attempt of -0.15, better than only nine other running backs out of the 79 with at least 40 attempts. It’s unlikely at age-27 MacFadden will improve greatly, even after getting out from behind the black hole of an offensive line in Oakland.
Ryan Williams spent all of 2014 on the Cowboys practice squad after three years in Arizona. He also could be the odd man out for a roster spot in training camp, according to some reports, as he’s been experiencing some setbacks with a surgically repaired knee.
An interesting player could be Lache Seastrunk, who was signed by Dallas in June. The former Baylor Bear could be one of the most talented backs on the roster as a pure runner, but a mix of maturity and coachability concerns caused Seastrunk to spend his rookie season on three different practice squads in Washington, Carolina and Tennessee.
While there was so much hype surround Murray’s accomplishments last season, Dallas only finished ninth in Adjusted Rushing NEP per play. That’s still good, but not the best, and it’s realistically repeatable. None of these players may be the single answer, but a rotation of these backs could be just enough of an answer to make realistically repeatable certainly attainable.