Dallas Cowboys Are Strangely ‘Comfortable’ With Backfield

The Dallas Cowboys did very little to pad the running back position. After losing DeMarco Murray, who led the league in rushing with 1,845 yards and 13 touchdowns, to free agency, they filled out their backfield with the injury prone Darren McFadden and the unproven backups Lance Dunbar and Joseph Randle.

Yet, with such an uncertain backfield, the Cowboys are strangely “comfortable” with what many analysts see as a big question mark entering the 2015 season.

Dallas Cowboys Are Strangely ‘Comfortable’

“We’re very comfortable,” Jerry Jones told USA Today. “We want to continue to balance the right amount of work for McFadden, Randle, Dunbar, we want to get them the right amount of work, but we don’t want to be foolish as to what we do as we get on into the physical part of training camp. Those are guys we’re planning to go against New York with.”

Obviously, everyone is wondering whether Murray was a product of the fantastic offensive line or will Jones’ refusal to sign him to a big deal be a big mistake? More importantly, could these three running backs, who are likely to share snaps with McFadden leading the way, really take on the load of the team? The veteran Tony Romo, who is entering his first training camp reasonably healthy in quite some time, needs a balanced offense to work with when he is pressured into putting the team on his back, then he usually forces throws and puts his body in grave danger.

So again, should the Cowboys be “comfortable” with these backs? Of course, it is something that Jones’ is going to say regardless of how he feels. But the organization did little during the draft and free agency to sure up the position, which reflects great faith in what the team already has there. And this is something that has left plenty of people scratching their heads because all three have not really proven themselves.

McFadden, the seven-year veteran, only played in one full season, which was 2014 — he did not even start all sixteen games and posted atrocious numbers. In fact, injuries have fully impacted McFadden’s career, as he only reached the 1,000-yard milestone once  and was available for only 73 of a possible 112 games.

On top of this, both Dunbar and Randle are young backs with less than 200 combined carries: the former was not even drafted. They have obviously seen snaps over the last few seasons, but not enough to be comfortable with them backing up the likely to be hurt McFadden.

But perhaps the Cowboys see something that we do not. Still, the word “comfortable” and its many variations should stay far away from any description of that backfield.