ARLINGTON, Texas – It's been two years since Jaydon Blue has made a tackle.
It didn't take long for the rookie fifth-round pick to get his first NFL tackle on special teams, as he brought down Jashaun Corbin on the opening kickoff.
In his first game after missing the last two with an ankle injury, Blue hopes those kinds of plays on special teams and what he showed on offense can convince the Cowboys' staff that he deserves a spot on the 53-man roster.
"Just the versatility I bring, man," Blue said when asked why the Cowboys should bet on him. "I could do multiple things, whether it's special teams running the ball out of the backfield, catching passes, and just having that explosion of that can break at any moment."
Speaking of the ankle injury, Blue was ruled out of the rest of the game in the fourth quarter after getting the same ankle rolled up on but doesn't seem to be too concerned about it.
"It was the same ankle just got rolled up a little bit, but I don't think it's nothing serious," Blue said. "I've had ankle rolls plenty of times, but I feel good right now."
In his NFL debut, Blue finished with nine carries for 25 yards and a touchdown. While those numbers aren't mind boggling, it's what Blue did on those carries as well as the plays that didn't show up in the box score that stood out.
From picking up the blitz in pass protection to running up the middle through contact, Blue is out to prove that he's more than just a speed back that can be used on the outside.
"I'm just not runner that can run a ball outside," Blue said. "I can also run between the tackles, I can break tackles, run through contact and things like that. So that just showed that I'm not just that scat back or speed back, I can also run a ball in tight spaces…"
"I always believed that I wouldn't just be that speed back. I always thought that I can do plenty of things, whether that's catching ball in the backfield, running between the tackles and I know this is the NFL, In order to be that running back, if you want to be, you have to be able to do it all inside and off the tackle, so it felt good being able to showcase that."
It wasn't a perfect debut, but Brian Schottenheimer still came away with positive things to take away from his rookie running back's first action against another team in a game setting.
"(He was) up and down. He had some good runs. They were doing a nice job with some of the things that we got," Schottenheimer said. "We had a screen that was, you know, might've had a chance for some more. But you see the talent. You see the acceleration. I wish we could have got him a little bit more, but you're obviously going to be cautious in a situation like this, in the last preseason game."
Regardless of whether or not Schottenheimer and the Cowboys decide to use him situationally or every down, Blue is focused on making the most of whatever role he's given.
"For me as a rookie, I just wanted to come in and just do whatever to help the team," Blue said. "Whether that's me being just a third down guy or a three down back. So whatever it takes to help the team get to that championship."
