{"id":219633,"date":"2025-02-27T10:15:10","date_gmt":"2025-02-27T15:15:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/?p=219633"},"modified":"2025-02-26T21:13:14","modified_gmt":"2025-02-27T02:13:14","slug":"rico-dowdle-free-agent-2024","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2025\/02\/27\/rico-dowdle-free-agent-2024\/","title":{"rendered":"Should the Cowboys Re-Sign Rico Dowdle?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rico Dowdle\u2019s season with the Cowboys was explosive. He started off slow, but a majority of that was due to the running back committee Mike McCarthy tried to install<\/a>. Once Ezekiel Elliott got benched, it was Dowdle\u2019s show – and he proved himself to be a very valuable player.<\/span><\/p>\n

Evaluating Whether the Cowboys Should Keep Rico Dowdle<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Now\u2019s the Best Time for Dowdle to Hit Free Agency<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Even if the Cowboys plan to keep Dowdle in-house, it\u2019s likely the running back will want to see what\u2019s out there. After averaging 4.6 yards per carry and cracking his first 1,000-yard season, he has every right to. Coming off of his best season makes him more valuable. The Cowboys could pay him nicely, or they could watch another team offer more.<\/span><\/p>\n

Several teams need a new running back or might want to offer Dowdle a wad of cash. However, a lot of those teams don\u2019t quite have the same potential as the Cowboys. Super Bowl aspirations haunt Dallas<\/a> and now they seem closer than ever. Dowdle leaving could risk him playing for a team that just can\u2019t go the distance. So he might have to decide between money now or ring later, similar to Dak Prescott<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Downfalls of Rico Dowdle<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The Cowboys are focused on having a running offense next season<\/a>. They\u2019ll want to develop more than one guy at a time. The benefit of doing this creates the kind of run power that the 49ers had, when they weren\u2019t plagued with injuries. Also, this is Dowdle’s first season of raw success. The Cowboys organization doesn\u2019t know if he\u2019ll be able to maintain such a high caliber. In previous seasons, Dowdle was plagued with injuries and sat behind other running backs like Tony Pollard<\/a> and Elliott. Whether he can go back-to-back seasons is yet to be seen.<\/span><\/p>\n

Also, the Cowboys didn\u2019t see Dowdle capitalize on many Red Zone opportunities. Some of that was because they would take Dowdle out in red zone situations. But it led to the running back only collecting two touchdowns for the entire season<\/a>. He also didn\u2019t have a run for over 30+ yards all year. So yes, he can collect yards and fall forward, but he isn\u2019t quite an explosive, twitchy guy.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Dallas Cowboys at Running Back<\/strong><\/h3>\n

If the Cowboys want a more breakout runner, then Deuce Vaughn is a likely candidate<\/a>. The Cowboys coaching staff is setting up to help him finally thrive. There\u2019s also the draft, where a few talented running backs are available. If the Cowboys get lucky there, Dowdle might not be as important to keep. It makes little sense to keep a player when other, cheaper options could be available. Especially with a team who already has so many other unrestricted free agents to decide on.<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s likely that, after the best season of his career, the Cowboys will let go of Rico Dowdle. It\u2019s tough. Letting go of Tony Pollard worked out. The Cowboys have a long history of exceptional running back talent. Although there hasn\u2019t been evidence of that recently, it\u2019s still in the blood. Brian Schottenheimer knows it and wants to channel that energy. But he isn\u2019t as likely to do it with Dowdle at the head of the running back room.<\/span><\/p>\n

Main Photo: Kevin Jairaj – Imagn Images<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rico Dowdle\u2019s season with the Cowboys was explosive. He started off slow, but a majority of that was due to the running back committee Mike McCarthy tried to install. Once Ezekiel Elliott got benched, it was Dowdle\u2019s show – and he proved himself to be a very valuable player. Evaluating Whether the Cowboys Should Keep […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5238,"featured_media":219687,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[19,54],"tags":[33071,7422,9768,32191],"class_list":["post-219633","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cowboys","category-editorials","tag-2025-nfl-free-agency","tag-dallas-cowboys-news","tag-deuce-vaughn","tag-rico-dowdle"],"modified_by":"David Latham, Managing Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219633","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5238"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=219633"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219633\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":219688,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219633\/revisions\/219688"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/219687"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=219633"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=219633"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=219633"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}