Saturday night’s preseason opener will give Cowboys coaches their first gametime looks at a whole host of players. Everyone who takes the field against Jacksonville will be evaluated, from quarterbacks Cooper Rush and Will Grier as they vie for the QB2 spot to Brandon Aubrey, who tries to convince the front office that they can stop worrying about the kicker position.
But one of the most wide-open battle royales will be at running back. Tony Pollard’s slot as the lead ballcarrier is secure, but this weekend’s exhibition game will start to settle the matter of who will back him up once the regular season commences.
There are five men looking to climb the depth chart at RB. But one of them, Ronald Jones may be sitting out this first showcase opportunity. The veteran sustained a groin injury last weekend and has not practiced since.
Head coach Mike McCarthy said things didn’t look good for the all-important Thursday practice, either.
“I don’t see Ronald going today,” the coach said during the day’s press conference. “If he doesn’t go today, he won’t go Saturday.”
That leaves Rico Dowdle, Malik Davis, rookie Deuce Vaughn, and fullback UDFA Hunter Luepke to split the team’s rushing attack when the Jaguars pay their visit to AT&T Stadium.
McCarthy believes there will be plenty of carries to go around.
“I really don’t think it’s going to be a challenge at all, especially now that RoJo’s not going to be going Saturday, unless something changes big-time here in the next 24 to 36 hours,” McCarthy told reporters. “I think there’ll be plenty for all those guys.”
Which one of them breaks out of the pack remains to be seen. But McCarthy believes that the organization has done a great job of bringing in very versatile candidates who can truly do it all out of the backfield.
“Guys you have to scheme for and [who can] play in certain schemes obviously limits you. If you look at these young backs, all four have very instinctive run ability between the tackles,” the coach explained. “At the end of the day, you’ve got run at people, downhill. You’re only going to get outside so many times. This game, running the football and pass protection, it happens between the C-gaps.”
[affiliatewidget_smgtolocal]
Whether it’s the elusive 5-foot-6-incher- Vaughn- or a big 238-pound bruiser like Leupke or someone in between, McCarthy is clear on what he wants to see.
“You want them to be dynamic with the ball in their hands.”
Four young rushers will get their chances to do just that for the Cowboys on Saturday night.
[lawrence-auto-related count=3]
[mm-video type=video id=01h7ftany13ajj113nat playlist_id=01eqbwens7sctqdrqg player_id=none image=https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/video/thumbnail/mmplus/01h7ftany13ajj113nat/01h7ftany13ajj113nat-2c3f07bee16e219ef303a458d28015a7.jpg]
[lawrence-newsletter]