kickoffs for 434 yards, averaging 27.1 a return and had the one for a touchdown, putting him on pace for one of the best kickoff return yardage seasons for a rookie in club history.
And just in case you have forgotten, he also was confounding defenses when motioning wide out of the backfield, causing matchup problems inside on Jason Witten.
So no wonder as big a smile came over the face of executive vice president Stephen Jones when asked about Felix Jones' return this season and the impact he could make, this Jones calling that Jones possibly the most impactful single player the Cowboys have had "since I don't know when."
Tony Dorsett?
Stephen Jones also agrees of all the injuries the Cowboys suffered last year, and that included Romo's fractured finger, McBriar's fractured foot, Kyle Kosier's fractured foot and Roy Williams' twice broken arm, the loss of Felix was the most devastating to the entire team.
"Without question," Stephen Jones said.
That impactful.
Which means you will be very relieved to hear Felix Jones say he's running again these days. Running hard, too, doing everything he needs to be doing to be ready for the 2009 training camp - now just approaching six months since his season-ending surgery. Says the foot is good, the hamstring is good.
Says he'll be ready to go for the start of next week's organized team activity workouts, beginning May 19, three days a week for four consecutive weeks followed by the lone mandatory team minicamp set for June 15-17, all at nearby Standridge Stadium in Carrollton. The coaching staff might limit him some that first week, but only for precautionary reasons.
Here's more good news. Felix looks bigger - sort of thicker in the chest, as if he's had nothing else to do these past six months but work on strength and conditioning, and I'm told they about have to kick him out of the weight room he's been in there so much.
Now he wasn't exactly rail thin as a rookie, listed at 6-0, 212. And maybe he's only like 215 or so, but just giving him, as owner Jerry Jones is known to say, "the eye-ball test," it appears to be a better 215, if you know what I mean.
Many have asked how the Cowboys have gotten better this off-season, worried about the rookie and free-agent additions of the Eagles, Giants and Redskins. In fact, one guy today in the Mailbag asked what would be the most exciting thing going into this season.
You want excitement?
Let me present you a smiling, healthy Felix Jones.
