I will be interested to see what kind of market Rico Dowdle generates. He entered the league as an undrafted free agent, but he was a decent low-level starter last year.
The Cowboys got a lot of grief last year for not pursuing Derrick Henry, but I don’t know that he would have helped them much at all. His talents were amplified by playing in Baltimore’s offense. He wouldn’t have had that kind of season in Dallas.
Dowdle is a lightly regarded back, but he held up fine last year. He ran for 1,079 yards, averaging 4.6 yards per attempt, and he also caught 39 passes. The Cowboys had much bigger needs last year than an upgrade at tailback.
But Dowdle is a free agent, and with the Cowboys possibly thinking about drafting Ashton Jeanty (who might be another LaDainian Tomlinson or Ezekiel Elliott), they might not be interested in offering Dowdle much.
Five high-level running backs switched teams last year: Saquon Barkley, Josh Jacobs, Derrick Henry, Aaron Jones and Joe Mixon. All five ended up outperforming general expectations.
The pickings are leaner this year. There’s Aaron Jones, but he’s 30. And there are four others who last year (in PPR league) put up top-30 numbers but ranked outside the top 20: Najee Harris, Dowdle, J.K. Dobbins and Javonte Williams.
It’s a good draft for running backs, so I expect teams will be reluctant to hand out big contracts, particularly before seeing what players might be available in the third or fourth round of the draft.
In chart below, free agents tagged with black dots.
TOP 60 RUNNING BACKS FROM 2024 | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Player | Run | Rec | Total | TD | PPR | Rk |
Jahmyr Gibbs, Det. | 1,412 | 517 | 1,929 | 20 | 364.9 | 1 |
Saquon Barkley, Phil. | 2,005 | 278 | 2,283 | 15 | 357.3 | 2 |
Bijan Robinson, Atl. | 1,456 | 431 | 1,887 | 15 | 341.7 | 3 |
Derrick Henry, Balt. | 1,921 | 193 | 2,114 | 18 | 338.4 | 4 |
DeVon Achane, Mia. | 907 | 592 | 1,499 | 12 | 299.9 | 5 |
Josh Jacobs, G.B. | 1,329 | 342 | 1,671 | 16 | 299.1 | 6 |
Kyren Williams, LAR | 1,299 | 182 | 1,481 | 16 | 278.1 | 7 |
James Cook, Buff. | 1,009 | 258 | 1,267 | 18 | 266.7 | 8 |
Alvin Kamara, N.O. | 950 | 543 | 1,493 | 8 | 265.3 | 9 |
Chase Brown, Cin. | 990 | 360 | 1,350 | 11 | 257.0 | 10 |
James Conner, Ari. | 1,094 | 414 | 1,508 | 9 | 255.8 | 11 |
• Aaron Jones, Min. | 1,138 | 408 | 1,546 | 7 | 247.6 | 12 |
Chuba Hubbard, Car. | 1,195 | 171 | 1,366 | 11 | 247.6 | 13 |
Jonathan Taylor, Ind. | 1,431 | 136 | 1,567 | 12 | 246.7 | 14 |
Bucky Irving, T.B. | 1,122 | 392 | 1,514 | 8 | 246.4 | 15 |
Breece Hall, NYJ | 876 | 483 | 1,359 | 8 | 244.9 | 16 |
Joe Mixon, Hou. | 1,016 | 309 | 1,325 | 12 | 240.5 | 17 |
David Montgomery, Det. | 775 | 341 | 1,116 | 12 | 223.8 | 18 |
D'Andre Swift, Chi. | 959 | 386 | 1,345 | 6 | 214.5 | 19 |
Rachaad White, T.B. | 613 | 393 | 1,006 | 9 | 205.6 | 20 |
Tony Pollard, Ten. | 1,079 | 238 | 1,317 | 5 | 204.7 | 21 |
• Najee Harris, Pitt. | 1,043 | 283 | 1,326 | 6 | 204.6 | 22 |
• Rico Dowdle, Dall. | 1,079 | 249 | 1,328 | 5 | 201.8 | 23 |
• J.K. Dobbins, LAC | 905 | 153 | 1,058 | 9 | 191.8 | 24 |
Zach Charbonnet, Sea. | 569 | 340 | 909 | 9 | 186.9 | 25 |
Tyrone Tracy, NYG | 839 | 284 | 1,123 | 6 | 186.3 | 26 |
Rhamondre Stevenson, N.E. | 801 | 168 | 969 | 8 | 181.9 | 27 |
Kenneth Walker, Sea. | 573 | 299 | 872 | 8 | 181.2 | 28 |
Brian Robinson, Was. | 799 | 159 | 958 | 8 | 163.8 | 29 |
• Javonte Williams, Den. | 513 | 346 | 859 | 4 | 161.9 | 30 |
• Kareem Hunt, K.C. | 728 | 176 | 904 | 7 | 155.4 | 31 |
• Alexander Mattison, L.V. | 420 | 294 | 714 | 5 | 139.4 | 32 |
Jerome Ford, Cle. | 565 | 225 | 790 | 3 | 134.0 | 33 |
Austin Ekeler, Was. | 367 | 366 | 733 | 4 | 132.3 | 34 |
Travis Etienne, Jac. | 558 | 254 | 812 | 2 | 132.2 | 35 |
Tank Bigsby, Jac. | 766 | 54 | 820 | 7 | 131.0 | 36 |
• Ameer Abdullah, L.V. | 311 | 261 | 572 | 5 | 127.2 | 37 |
Justice Hill, Balt. | 228 | 383 | 611 | 4 | 127.1 | 38 |
Jaylen Warren, Pitt. | 511 | 310 | 821 | 1 | 126.1 | 39 |
Jordan Mason, S.F. | 789 | 91 | 880 | 3 | 117.0 | 40 |
Ray Davis, Buff. | 442 | 189 | 631 | 6 | 116.1 | 41 |
Tyjae Spears, Ten. | 312 | 224 | 536 | 5 | 113.6 | 42 |
Tyler Allgeier, Atl. | 644 | 88 | 732 | 3 | 106.2 | 43 |
Antonio Gibson, N.E. | 538 | 206 | 744 | 1 | 103.4 | 44 |
Devin Singletary, NYG | 437 | 119 | 556 | 4 | 100.6 | 45 |
Jaleel McLaughlin, Den. | 496 | 76 | 572 | 3 | 99.2 | 46 |
Isaac Guerendo, S.F. | 420 | 152 | 572 | 4 | 96.2 | 47 |
Emanuel Wilson, G.B. | 502 | 48 | 550 | 5 | 96.0 | 48 |
• Cam Akers, 2TM | 444 | 68 | 512 | 5 | 95.2 | 49 |
• Ty Johnson, Buff. | 213 | 284 | 497 | 4 | 91.7 | 50 |
Braelon Allen, NYJ | 334 | 148 | 482 | 3 | 85.2 | 51 |
Zack Moss, Cin. | 242 | 187 | 429 | 3 | 83.9 | 52 |
• Samaje Perine, K.C. | 92 | 322 | 414 | 2 | 81.4 | 53 |
Roschon Johnson, Chi. | 150 | 104 | 254 | 6 | 77.4 | 54 |
Miles Sanders, Car. | 205 | 148 | 353 | 3 | 77.3 | 55 |
• Raheem Mostert, Mia. | 278 | 161 | 439 | 2 | 74.9 | 56 |
Sean Tucker, T.B. | 308 | 109 | 417 | 3 | 68.7 | 57 |
• Nick Chubb, Cle. | 332 | 31 | 363 | 4 | 65.3 | 58 |
Gus Edwards, LAC | 365 | 6 | 371 | 4 | 64.1 | 59 |
• Jeremy McNichols, Was. | 261 | 27 | 288 | 4 | 63.8 | 60 |
—Ian Allan