Dallas Cowboys: How big of a slice will Darren McFadden get?

After one 1,100-yard season with the Oakland Raiders, Dallas Cowboys running back Darren McFadden has been one of the worst players at the position over the past three seasons. Nagging injuries, hesitancy at the line of scrimmage, below-average vision, and other factors have contributed to three seasons of 3.3, 3.3, and 3.4 yards per carry averages in the Bay Area. There’s hope that the Cowboys elite offensive line can invigorate the formerly explosive lead back, though McFadden won’t exactly be the lead guy in Dallas.

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Joseph Randle, he of the 6.7 yards per carry on 51 attempts in his sophomore season, is still safely entrenched as the No. 1 back in a Cowboys committee that will include change-of-pace guy Lance Dunbar, who looks locked in as a pass-catching specialist for Tony Romo. Randle received so few carries in 2014 behind DeMarco Murray that it’s hard to draw any conclusions on his performance, but he sure looked like a man capable of churning out yardage behind the likes of Tyron Smith, Travis Frederick, and rookie sensation Zack Martin.

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But McFadden quietly appears to be rising after re-entering the picture earlier this week. ESPN Dallas’s Todd Archer passed along a note that McFadden received the majority of first-team reps at one practice and looked “fast”, which is more than what we can say about how he looked last season behind a pretty solid Raiders offensive line.

McFadden’s positive practice report came just a few days after he was activated from the active/PUP with hamstring ailments in both legs, and soft-tissue issues are nothing new for a running back who missed 19 games from 2011-2013 before carrying the ball just 155 times in all 16 appearances last season.

It’s becoming clear that McFadden doesn’t have the make-up to carry the ball more than about 150 times given his playing style and injury history. But he did say that the Cowboys will split carries between Randle and him, and given how often the ‘Boys ran the football last season and how confident they seem to be in both players, it will be interesting to see just how many carries Darren McFadden earns in his first season in Dallas.

The injury put him behind the curve, so Randle has undisputedly put some distance between himself and Run DMC. That’s all for the better, since Randle has superior vision, more upside, and his body-type is more befitting of a larger role, particularly in between the tackles.

However, McFadden could feature in tomorrow’s game against the San Francisco 49ers now that he appears to be healed up, meaning that he finally has a real opportunity to state his case and build some serious momentum after putting himself back on the map at practice this week. McFadden hasn’t been remotely productive since averaging 87.7 yards per game in seven games in 2011 (a career-high 5.4 yards per carry, by the way), so this is a big chance for him to show the NFL world that he is a changed man as a member of the Dallas Cowboys organization.

Ever since he peaked with over 1,000 rushing yards in the 2010 season, McFadden’s yards per game averages have steadily declined, and it’s fair to wonder how much bounce-back upside he has left after suffering several nagging injuries, including the issue this offseason. Set to be 28 when the season opens up, McFadden theoretically still has something left in the tank, and Archer doesn’t note that people are “fast” for no reason.

McFadden, of course, will have to be more than just “fast” or “flash” for the Cowboys. If he wants to earn a serious role, he’ll have to be effective, which is, again, something he hasn’t come close to approaching ever since his injury-shortened 2011 campaign. Randle and Dunbar aren’t proven players, but they are ostensibly more explosive and bring more potential to the table; they aren’t lightweights that a guy who hasn’t averaged 3.5 yards per carry in four years can beat with ease.

Jun 16, 2015; Irving, TX, USA; Dallas Cowboys running back Darren McFadden (20) runs with the ball during minicamp at Dallas Cowboys Headquarters. Mandatory Credit: Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports

Tomorrow’s game against the 49ers could be a big opportunity for a player who wasn’t able to feature in the team’s first preseason outing, though Randle is also back after briefly missing practice time with an aggravated oblique injury. Every snap, every carry means something for McFadden, because Jerry Jones‘s positive rhetoric, as we all know, can mean very little.

McFadden isn’t sure he’ll be out there, especially since Levi Stadium’s field is horrible, but even if he doesn’t play, it’s still interesting to think about just how much of a role he can carve for himself. I mean, this is a guy who could have been cut if he didn’t return to the field in time from his hamstring injury, so if he doesn’t play against the 49ers, then that means the Cowboys are too worried about him aggravating his hamstring issue.

This would mean that they don’t care about seeing more from him. Which would mean that they value him. Which would mean that he’s getting a decent-sized slice of pie, even though Randle will almost certainly sit at the head of the table. Another 150 carries or so (and I’d “take the under” on that) seems like an appropriate guess for a player who is too injury-prone to garner a workload that is significantly higher than that.

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