FRISCO, Texas — Dallas Cowboys 26-year-old, undrafted running back Rico Dowdle had just 96 career carries through his first four NFL seasons.
Fast forward to today, and Dowdle is just 97 rushing yards away from his first 1,000-yard season, something he thinks about all the time as a running back searching to make a name for himself. He sat for years behind multiple Pro Bowlers in Ezekiel Elliott and Tony Pollard, but in Week 11 this season, Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy ditched his “running back by committee” approach and anointed Dowdle as the Cowboys’ “lead back.”
Only 2024 NFL rushing yards leader Saquon Barkley (632 rushing yards since Week 11), Baltimore Ravens’ Derrick Henry (663) and Los Angeles Rams’ Kyren Williams (579) have more yards on the ground than Dowdle’s 529 since he became the face of the Cowboys’ ground game in Week 11. His 107 carries are far and away the most on the team in this stretch, followed by fill-in starting quarterback Cooper Rush’s 20 and then Elliott’s 17.
Dowdle also set a new single-game, career-high in rushing yards in three successive weeks against the New York Giants (112 yards rushing on 22 carries in Week 13), against the Cincinnati Bengals (131 yards rushing on 18 carries in Week 14) and the Carolina Panthers (149 yards rushing on 25 carries).
“Oh yeah, for sure. I definitely think about it all the time,” Dowdle said Thursday when asked about hitting 1,000 rushing yards. “Got two weeks to do it, so definitely want to hit that mark for sure. … It would mean a lot. … It would definitely mean a lot to be a 1,000-yard rusher in the NFL, especially with my first season getting to kind of carry the load. So definitely a landmark I think I can reach, and I think I can do it.”
With the 26-year-old back battling through a broken hip in 2021 and a season-ending ankle injury in 2022, Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy sees more room to grow in Dowdle’s game after what he’s shown in his first go-around as a featured running back.
“I think Rico is a great story,” McCarthy said on a conference call Friday. … “He fought through the injury situations that he was in for the next couple of years, and finally got a real opportunity last year behind Tony, thought he was very productive. I think clearly winning the one spot, he’s done a really good job on first and second down. Just love his run style. What I like about Rico is, he’s still young. There’s still room for improvement. He’s starting to try to establish himself as a third down back too, so it’s exciting to think there’s a lot more in front of him. So, I’m proud of him. I love the way he goes about it.”
Dowdle prides himself on being a downhill, violent runner, and that style has lent itself to him having one of the most efficient rushing seasons in the entire league in 2024. A successful run is analytically defined by gaining at least 40% of the yards required on first down (4 yards on a first and 10 for example), 60% of the yards required on second down and moving the chains for a first down on either a third- or fourth-down carry.
The metric of rushing success rate is the amount of those successful runs divided by the overall number of rushing attempts a player has. Among 27 players who have at least 155 carries this season, Dowdle’s 55.3% rushing success rate on his 190 carries for 903 rushing yards is the fourth-best in the entire league. That’s ahead of Detroit Lions Pro Bowler Jahmyr Gibbs (54.5%) and Barkley (52.9%). Dowdle trails only Henry (59%), Atlanta Falcons’ Bijan Robinson (56.4%) and Kansas City Chiefs’ Kareem Hunt (55.5%) this season. He’ll get to square off against Barkley on Sunday, something he’s looking forward to after admiring players like Barkley and Henry for a long time.
“Oh yeah, for sure. … Those guys have been doing it for a long time, and I feel good doing it,” Dowdle said of two of the NFL’s premier backs that the Cowboys have faced this season. “I think I’m able to handle the load pretty well, carrying it that many times, but those guys, like you said, have been doing it for a long time, so definitely appreciate them.”
One of the things he admires about Barkley’s game is his ability to create space, whether or not the blocking in front of him is set up to do so.
“Everything, he’s an all-around player,” Dowdle said of Barkley. “Explosive. He makes plays, and he can create on his own. He’s been able to do that, and he’s having a great year.”
However, Dowdle won’t be on the field at the same time as Barkley. He’ll instead directly face off against the Eagles’ “stout” defensive line, headlined by defensive tackle Jalen Carter, defensive tackle Jordan Davis and edge rusher Josh Sweat.
“They’re pretty stout,” Dowdle said. “They’ve got Jalen Carter, Georgia guy. They got Jordan Davis … and then they got [Josh] Sweat, so they’re pretty good up front. They built a nice defense, front seven. Fifty-three at linebacker [Zack Baun], so looking forward to the challenge Sunday.”
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