{"id":30878,"date":"2025-03-06T02:51:38","date_gmt":"2025-03-06T02:51:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=30878"},"modified":"2025-03-06T02:51:38","modified_gmt":"2025-03-06T02:51:38","slug":"breaking-cowboys-want-to-re-sign-rb-rico-dowdle-pair-him-with-draft-pick","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=30878","title":{"rendered":"BREAKING: Cowboys Want To Re-Sign RB Rico Dowdle & Pair Him With Draft Pick.."},"content":{"rendered":"

Cowboys RB\u00a0Rico Dowdle<\/strong>\u00a0had a breakout season in 2024 after signing one-year deals with the team for the past two years.<\/p>\n

\"Rico<\/p>\n

After signing WR\u00a0CeeDee Lamb<\/strong>\u00a0and QB\u00a0Dak Prescott<\/strong>\u00a0to mega-extensions last offseason, the Cowboys only went after cost-effective options at running back which led to Dowdle\u2019s breakout. He\u2019s due for a raise this offseason which will require a philosophy change from Dallas to retain him.<\/p>\n

Jon Machota of The Athletic\u00a0said the Cowboys still have\u00a0\u201clegitimate interest in re-signing Rico Dowdle\u201d<\/em>\u00a0but the idea is to pair him with a draft pick.<\/p>\n

In terms of a draft pick, there has been plenty of buzz for Boise State RB\u00a0Ashton Jeanty<\/strong>\u00a0but Machota thinks\u00a0\u201ctargeting one in the second or third round seems like a better bet than Jeanty at No. 12.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Cowboys HC\u00a0Brian Schottenheimer<\/strong>\u00a0outlined what he\u2019s looking for in a running back, mentioning contact balance, receiving ability and explosiveness in the open field.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou want a guy that has contact balance. The fronts that we\u2019re seeing, the fronts that we\u2019re facing, require guys to be able to make hidden yards, whether there\u2019s a free safety in the hole or there\u2019s a linebacker or defensive lineman coming off of the point of attack, you\u2019ve got to have a guy that\u2019s willing to run through arm tackles.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cI do believe that you have to have the ability to catch the ball out of the backfield. Why do I say that? If a team wants to commit to stopping the run, there\u2019s ways that they can try to do that, and we don\u2019t want that to take an elite runner, or a position like that, out of the game. If a team is doing a nice job stopping the running game, you want to be able to get him involved throwing it to him. That doesn\u2019t mean they have to play like a receiver, but they have to be able to run routes coming out of the backfield, have the ability to separate, run after catches is important.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Dowdle, 26, went undrafted out of South Carolina in 2020 before catching on with the Cowboys and making the 53-man roster. He missed the entire 2021 season after being placed on injured reserve due to a hip injury.<\/p>\n

The Cowboys re-signed Dowdle to a one-year contract for the 2023 and 2024 seasons.<\/p>\n

In 2024, Dowdle appeared in 16 games for the Cowboys and rushed for 1,079 yards on 235 carries to go along with 39 receptions for 249 yards receiving and five touchdowns.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cowboys RB\u00a0Rico Dowdle\u00a0had a breakout season in 2024 after signing one-year deals with the team for the past two years. After signing WR\u00a0CeeDee Lamb\u00a0and QB\u00a0Dak Prescott\u00a0to mega-extensions… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":30879,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30878","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl"],"yoast_head":"\nBREAKING: Cowboys Want To Re-Sign RB Rico Dowdle & Pair Him With Draft Pick.. - 24\/7 News America<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=30878\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"BREAKING: Cowboys Want To Re-Sign RB Rico Dowdle & Pair Him With Draft Pick.. - 24\/7 News America\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Cowboys RB\u00a0Rico Dowdle\u00a0had a breakout season in 2024 after signing one-year deals with the team for the past two years. 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