FRISCO, Texas – With the 2025 regular season now behind the Cowboys, it's time to look ahead to 2026, where they'll try to get back into the playoffs for the first time since 2023.
As they begin to do so, our "What's Next" series will examine each position on the roster and look at the past, present and future of the room and the players within it. We'll continue the series with the running backs:
Past: When anyone mentions the Dallas Cowboys, there are names that are instantly conjured and without equivocation. From what Calvin Hill did early in the franchise's existence to how Tony Dorsett helped make the "America's Team" moniker stick in assistance to Roger Staubach and Drew Pearson, to Emmitt Smith joining Troy Aikman and Michael Irving to form The Triplets en route to three Super Bowl victories and Smith becoming the league's all-time leading rusher — a throne that continues to stand decades later.
The greatness at the position continued despite the Super Bowl drought that followed Smith's rein at the position. Seeing the late Marion "The Barbarian" Barber bulldoze through teams, and DeMarco Murray eat the league for lunch in 2014, set the stage for Ezekiel Elliott, who took the league by storm after getting the nod as the fourth-overall pick in the 2016 NFL Draft, but the post-Zeke era has been anything but kind.
Present: Javonte Williams effectively saved the day at running back in Dallas last season because, as stated, the position was mostly a mess following the decision to release him in 2023 (before ultimately re-signing him in an experiment that didn't end well). Tony Pollard staved off the drought, mostly solo, for all of a year before departing in free agency, and there was not much to write home to mother about between then and now — evidenced by the 2024 group rushing for just six touchdowns through 17 games.
Williams was a dice roll in free agency that paid off magnificently, to the tune of William's first-ever 1,000-yard season (1,201) and 11 rushing touchdowns, taking ownership as the bellcow. Malik Davis' story was something else to salute in 2025, earning his way to the RB2 role, and keeping promising rookie Jaydon Blue on the inactives list in the process. The running back position finally felt as if it were figured out again in Dallas.
Future: The problem now is that both Williams and Davis are set to hit free agency, unless a new deal is agreed to before the league year opens in mid-March, because neither will be a franchise tag candidate. Williams will have multiple suitors after his resurgent season, and the Cowboys are also hoping to find out if Blue has truly learned from the lumps taken in his rookie season, and if fellow 2025 draftmate Phil Mafah can compete for a key role after what amounted to a redshirt season.
Blue put on a show in the regular season finale against the Giants, so this summer should be a fun and competitive one for him, and if Williams decides to leave, the former Longhorn will have much more thrust onto his plate. Also in development is Israel Abanikanda, signed to a futures deal after a few weeks on the practice squad, a former fifth-round pick that earned All-ACC and All-American honors at Pitt in the early 2020s. There's a ton of young talent in Dallas at running back, but the two most-experienced guys need a new contract.
