The Dallas Cowboys are nowhere near coming anywhere close to finalizing their final roster, given that we are sitting in early July having not even come close to starting training camp.
Yet, 53-man roster projections are already in full swing, as the NFL remains in slow season ahead of the commencement of training camp in late July.
The Athletic’s Jon Machota, who covers the Cowboys for the publication, made an eye-raising prediction back in late June when he stated he believes that the team will take an almost unheard of total of five running backs on their initial roster directly out of training camp come the end of August.
Machota counts recent free agent acquisitions, Javonte Williams and Miles Sanders, alongside rookies Jaydon Blue and Phil Mafah, and former undrafted free agent, Hunter Luepke, amongst the projected roster-men for the unit.
He also projects that RB/WR tweener, KaVontae Turpin, makes the roster as part of the receiving corps – despite his multi-faceted ability in both the running and passing game.
Dallas Predicted To Go Quantity Over Quality At Running Back
“Javonte Williams and Miles Sanders are veterans, so it makes sense why they took all of the first-team reps during organized team activities and minicamp.” Machota stated as part of his reasoning, “Dallas used a fifth-round pick on Jaydon Blue. Those three seem pretty locked in. Fullback Hunter Luepke is also a good bet because of what he brings as a runner, blocker and potential pass catcher as an extra tight end. That leaves Phil Mafah and Deuce Vaughn competing for the final running back spot. The edge goes to the recent seventh-round pick. Wide receiver KaVontae Turpin could also see more backfield work this season.”
No running backs on the roster have managed much success over the past couple of years in the league, with two of them having exactly zero professional experience.
Holding onto a seventh round pick in Phil Mafah is a slightly unusual decision – particularly at running back – in lieu of sending them to the practice squad for their first season, but with the team’s dearth of proven recent ability at the position, it would not be shocking to see Mafah make some inroads into the offensive playing time at the position at some point during the regular season.
The Cowboys Have Unusual Hybrid RB Players
The exact number of running backs is not quite as simple as the “five” listed on the original projection.
Although Luepke does primarily play at fullback, he is not strictly a blocker. Last season, he carried the ball 12 times – only five times less than third choice RB, Deuce Vaughn. And at college, he was given significant duties as both a tailback and fullback, which included carrying the ball more than 80 times in each of his final three season at North Dakota State.
He is also listed as a running back on ESPN’s official website.
Meanwhile, Turpin has balanced receiving, rushing and returning duties over his three seasons with Dallas – but 2024 was the first year that his number of receptions overtook his carries.
Both Turpin and Luepke could be considered running backs in their own right, and one is indeed listed by Machota as such – so the number is really between four and six, however the team feels on the day.
Irregardless, it is still a substantial amount of space to dedicate to a position that is unlikely to be a position of strength for the hopeful NFC East contenders.
