The Top 5 Unaddressed Positions of Need in the NFC

Dallas Cowboys, Running Back

DeMarco Murray nearly hit the two-millennia mark, and drove Big D to a ninth-place finish in Adjusted Rushing Net Expected Points (NEP) last season. (Read more about NEP in our glossary.)

We were begging for the Cowboys to select someone with major upside in the draft to fill their vacant tailback position, from a reach late in Round 1 to capitalizing on Boise State runner Jay Ajayi’s fall to the fifth. The Cowboys had a great draft class, all in all, but this position was completely ignored. Owner Jerry Jones and head coach Jason Garrett seem to believe that anyone with a pulse can put up 2,000 yards behind their (admittedly stacked) offensive line.

That theory will be put to the test this season. Dallas’s current stable of runners has interesting potential, from injury-prone former early-round picks like Darren McFadden and Ryan Williams, to unheralded role players like Lance Dunbar and Joseph Randle. None of these veterans seem to be the answer, however.

Best Solution So Far: Synjyn Days, undrafted free agent