Offensively, even without CeeDee Lamb for a week and a half and counting, the Dallas Cowboys are back. Dak Prescott trails only Mac Jones, Matthew Stafford, and Brock Purdy in passing yards per game, and Javonte Williams has been one of the league’s best running backs after being one of its worst last season. Backup Miles Sanders has been solid as well, turning his 20 carries into 117 yards and a touchdown.
But Sanders suffered an ankle injury in the second quarter in the Week 4 tie against the Green Bay Packers. He did not return to that contest and has not practiced this week, which puts his status for Sunday’s 1 p.m. ET clash against the New York Jets in question. Cowboys owner Jerry Jones suggested that fifth-round draft pick Jaydon Blue would make his NFL debut on Sunday, although Blue sustained blisters on his feet in practice on Thursday while wearing blue Louis Vuitton cleats.
Blue could capably fill Sanders’ role in the offense. He showed some flashes in the preseason, taking nine carries for 25 yards and a touchdown in his lone action, and he demonstrated his wheels by running a 4.25-second 40-yard dash at Texas’ Pro Day. He’s still a project, having never been the regular starter with the Longhorns, but he averaged more than five yards per carry in both his sophomore and junior seasons and also contributed 368 rushing yards in his junior year. That’s where he has the potential to shine: not since his rookie year has Sanders averaged more than 2.5 catches per game, and Prescott has historically gotten his running backs fairly involved in the passing game.
It may take him a while to become fantasy-relevant, though, even if Sanders misses multiple weeks, because he’d have to eat away at Williams’ touches. Williams has been excellent — Pro Football Focus has graded him as the ninth-best running back this season — and because he excels in pass protection in a way that Blue didn’t in college and that Sanders hasn’t so far this season, there’s not much of a pathway for him to get snaps in a pass-friendly offense. He had fumble issues in college and doesn’t have impressive size at five-foot-nine, 196 pounds, so he’ll have to be an elusive downhill rusher in order to craft a role for himself. Rookie running backs can be slow to make an impact: even Ashton Jeanty and Omarion Hampton had a rough first few weeks before each broke out in Week 4, and each is his team’s lead back.
Plus, with Lamb set to return at some point in the next couple of weeks, I just don’t see a place for multiple running backs in Dallas’ offense. The Cowboys have already operated the league’s second-most pass-friendly scheme this season, and that’s with Williams exceeding all expectations. Dallas’ defense is so awful — it’s allowed the most total yards, most touchdowns, and second-most yards per play in the league while forcing the second-fewest turnovers and committing the second-costliest penalties — that Prescott will have to keep throwing. I’d almost be surprised if Williams stays fantasy-valuable, and I wouldn’t even consider Blue.
