Breaking down the Dallas Cowboys running back depth chart

The All-Purpose Back: Tony Pollard

If there was any complaint about the running game last season, it was the problems behind Ezekiel Elliott. While he was a beast, there was hardly any production behind him at running back. In fact, even with Elliott finishing first in yards on the ground, Dallas barely finished in the top-10 as a team, finishing with 1,963 total rushing yards.

The majority of the yards not gained by Elliott came via quarterback Dak Prescott who ended the season with 305 yards and six touchdowns. Behind him was Rod Smith with just 127 yards and only one score. No one else was any better and only one other running back, Darius Jackson, even received any carries.

Understanding that was a problem, the Cowboys decided to get a back who was good with limited touches — since they still won’t be taking Zeke off the field much. This led to them using a fourth-round pick on Tony Pollard out of Memphis, who lined up all over the field.

Pollard was a receiver, running back, and return man at Memphis who was constantly able to make things happen even though he was never the feature back. Over the past three seasons, he averaged 6.8 yards per rush and had 941 yards on 139 carries. He added another 1,292 yards on 104 catches with a total of 18 touchdowns on offense.

As for his special teams work, Pollard added 2,616 yards on kick returns with seven touchdowns. He’s going to find his way to the field a lot as a rookie and will help the offense thanks to his versatility. He may not be a prototypical running back, but he’s a great change of pace option to pair with Elliott.