With Darren McFadden banged up (heard this one before) and Lance Dunbar finding himself on the injury report following a foot injury, the Dallas Cowboys find themselves unusually thin at running back.
Joseph Randle continues to impress the team, but there's not much more after that following the off-season loss of DeMarco Murray to the Philadelphia Eagles. This leaves Lache Seastruck and Gus Johnson as the only other real options behind Randle. That's a less-than-ideal scenario for the defending NFC East champs.
While the Cowboys don't think Dunbar's injury is serious, they are still going to have to go out there and bring in a veteran running back before the start of the regular season.
Cowboys Vice President Stephen Jones even addressed the issue following reports of the team's frustration over McFadden's injury issues:
The good news here is that Dallas still has options on the free-agent market. Pierre Thomas visited with the Houston Texans earlier this week, but he left without signing a contract. Both Chris Johnson and Steven Jackson have also indicated a willingness to suit up for the Cowboys. Other potential free-agent targets include: Ahmad Bradshaw and Knowshon Moreno.
As Jones indicated in the comments above, Dallas missed out on drafting a running back in what was one of the deepest drafts at that position in recent history. It could have nabbed Jeremy Langford, Mike Davis, David Cobb or Karlos Williams in the mid-to-late rounds. Instead, Dallas decided to address other positions of perceived need.
Fantasy Slant
While none of this is good news for the Cowboys team as a whole, it now appears that Joseph Randle is the clear cut No. 1 running back. Considering he's going to likely tally 15-20 touches per game behind one of the league's best offensive lines, this is also good news for those of you looking for solid production from him. Coming off a 2014 campaign that saw him average 6.7 yards per rush, he's a good bet to put up solid RB2 numbers in 2015. The Cowboys current situation at running back only magnifies this further.