The Cowboys’ RB Battle Between the Rookie and the Veteran: Who Will Brian Choose?

One of the NFL's more high-profile positions will be up for grabs this preseason: the Dallas Cowboys' starting running back role. 

Pro Football Hall of Famer Tony Dorsett dominated the 1970s and 1980s (1977-1987) in Dallas before Emmitt Smith took the reins in 1990 and went on to be the NFL's all-time leader in rushing yards and rushing yards touchdowns by the time his Cowboys career ended in 2002. 

Three-time Pro Bowl running back Ezekiel Elliott burst onto the scene in the role in 2016, leading the NFL in rushing yards (1,631) and carries (322) to earn first-team All-Pro honors as a rookie. He led the league in those same two metrics in 2018 as well with 1,434 yards rushing on 304 carries a couple years later. 

After Pro Bowler Tony Pollard held down the starting job in 2023 once Dallas moved on from Elliott, Dallas' run game struggled to find its footing for much of the 2024 season after Pollard left to become a Tennessee Titan. Elliott's Cowboys homecoming didn't boost the Dallas run game, as the team averaged the second-fewest rushing yards per game (81.7) through the first 11 weeks of the season with its running back-by-committee approach. 

Once then-head coach Mike McCarthy put the undrafted Rico Dowdle in as the Cowboys' lead back, he thrived: his 677 yards rushing from Weeks 12-18 in 2024 were the fourth-most in the NFL, trailing only Saquon Barkley (868), Jonathan Taylor (758) and Derrick Henry (736) in that span. Dowdle finished the year with a career-high 1,079 yards rushing, which made him the first undrafted running back to break 1,000 yards in a season in Cowboys history. 

General manager Jerry Jones opted to let the 27-year-old Dowdle walk in free agency as he signed a one-year deal with the Carolina Panthers. Jones, for now, has filled the running back depth chart for new head coach Brian Schottenheimer's first season in charge with Javonte Williams (signed a one-year, $3 million deal after four seasons with the Denver Broncos), Miles Sanders (signed a one-year, $1.34 million contract after the worst year of his career with the Carolina Panthers in 2024), rookie Jaydon Blue (a 2025 fifth-round pick) and rookie Phil Mafah (a 2025 seventh-round pick). 

"The strange thing about the running back position is you really don't find out about them until you get out to Oxnard," Schottenheimer said on the third and final day of the 2025 NFL Draft. ... "Running around out there in shorts is a little bit different than running through a 330-pound defensive linemen who are keeping their arms out and linebackers filling holes and linebackers are blitzing through the A gap and things like that. But I will say this, we feel like through this offseason, we have built an incredibly strong running back room."

CBS Sports followed up with Schottenheimer and asked where things stand in Dallas' running back room on the last day of mandatory minicamp on June 12, so here's a look at the pecking order ahead of one of the Cowboys' biggest training camp battles this summer before players report on July 21. 

The first running back Schottenheimer mentioned was Williams, a 2021 second-round pick by the Broncos. 

He got off to a promising start as a rookie before getting sidetracked in 2022 by tearing his ACL and MCL. That sapped the explosiveness he was known for in college at North Carolina and as a rookie in Denver. Williams' 4.4 yards per touch across the last four seasons is the third-fewest in the NFL (minimum 750 touches) and ahead of only Elliott's 4.1 yards per touch and Najee Harris' 4.3 yards per touch in that span. 

He was the Broncos' leading rusher in 2024 with 513 yards and four rushing touchdowns on 139 carries (3.7 yards per carry), but it wasn't individually a noteworthy season for a Denver squad that reached the playoffs for the first time since winning Super Bowl 50 in the 2015 season. 

However, nearly three years removed from his knee injury, Williams has grabbed Schottenheimer's attention after a strong offseason program and enters training camp as the initial RB1. 

"I'll start with Javonte. I can't say enough great things about him: the way he practices, the way he approaches practice," Schottenheimer said on June 12. "You guys know I love the word 'the intentionality.' I think that's for a younger player. A couple years in, he's figured it out. I don't know, I never asked him, I should ask him 'who did you learn from?' because somebody taught him how to practice. He's awesome with that. ... You feel the veteran side of both of those guys [Williams and Sanders] like they're veterans. They know how to work, they know how to prepare." 

Williams' ability to pick up the nuances of Schottenheimer's offense quickly, especially in pass protection, has the first-year head coach especially fired up. 

"It's funny," Schottenheimer said June 12. "I was talking, I was calling a play to Dak, and I was telling [him] to remind Javonte (about something). I said, 'Hey remind Javonte,' and [Prescott] kind of looked at me and said, 'He's a valedictorian.' Javonte looked back and smiled."

Sanders was the second running back Schottenheimer mentioned. 

"Miles has been great as well," Schottenheimer said June 12.  

The 28-year-old broke out for career-highs in carries (259), yards rushing (1,269) and rushing touchdowns (11) during the Philadelphia Eagles' 2022 NFC championship-winning season, but it's been a struggle for Sanders since leaving Philadelphia. 

He signed a four-year, $25.4 million contract with the Panthers in 2023 but was released from the deal after struggling to catch on with former No. 1 pick Bryce Young going through growing pains in his transition to the NFL. Sanders produced just 637 yards rushing and four touchdowns on 104 carries in 27 games played the last two seasons. 

However, he stood out early in Dallas' offseason program, especially by making big plays in the passing game out of the backfield, hauling in multiple, deep contested catches down the right sideline in a few organized team activities (OTAs) and minicamp practices. 

"I don't know why anyone would be surprised by Miles' ability," Schottenheimer said practice on June 3. "Having been in the division and playing against Miles when he was in Philadelphia, you talk about a guy that's a home-run threat, a guy that's got incredible ability to hurt you running, catching out of the backfield, all that stuff. Very smart, very bright. All of the backs have been that way."

It's very clear Blue and Mafah will need to stand out in a big way in training camp in order to be a part of Schottenheimer's running back rotation in 2025. Throughout the offseason, he indicated there's a noticeable learning curve his rookie rushers have to overcome to get regular work with the first-team offense. 

"There's something to these veteran players (Williams and Sanders) that does help, and they've been great because they've been helping Jaydon and Phil," Schottenheimer said June 12. "Those two young guys have a lot to learn in a good way.

"They're used to, most college guys are, they get to the line of scrimmage really fast, and they look over and they look for what, signs. There are guys holding up boards and signs and signals and things like that. Now, they're in a huddle and doing things like that. So a lot of it is you got to learn how to break down these lengthy calls. Like 'OK, what matters to me and what doesn't?' I think those guys have been great." 

Blue is the more likely of the two to factor into the Cowboys' plans in 2025 despite his stature and the aforementioned adjustment to an NFL playbook. He's 5-foot-9 and weighs 196 pounds at the NFL Scouting Combine, slightly undersized for an NFL running back, but his speed is undeniable. 

Blue's 4.38-second 40-yard dash ranked as the second-fastest among running backs at the combine -- speed that helped him co-lead collegiate running backs with six receiving touchdowns in 2024. Upon being drafted, he compared himself to Detroit Lions Pro Bowl running back Jahmyr Gibbs. Jones described Cowboys vice president of player personnel Will McClay as "hollering" for Dallas to draft Blue to add more juice to the team's ground game.

"At the end of the day, the NFL, you're looking for explosive playmakers. He's an explosive playmaker," McClay said of Blue following the conclusion of the 2025 NFL Draft. "You put him in the backfield behind what we built in the line and the other guys, it gives you an opportunity to be explosive. I know Coach Schottenheimer has got some tricks up his sleeves to use the skillset that he has in the other guys, but [Blue is] an explosive player that can flip the field for you and can also win you some matchups in man-to-man coverage versus linebackers. ... It's just a different speed that he plays with."