The NFL’s trading deadline is moving ever closer, and for the Cowboys, this will represent one last major chance to bring in outside help to address the many roster issues that remained form the team’s underwhelming offseason. For this team, no hole is bigger than the one at running back, where Dallas let Tony Pollard walk in free agency this winter and did precious little to replace him.
The Cowboys did not draft a running back. And their only outside signing was Ezekiel Elliott, who remains a shell of his former self. In all, the Cowboys have racked up 463 rushing yards, which ranks last in the NFL.
The good news is that the Cowboys might be in great position to acquire a running back at the deadline. While wide receivers have been the focus of the pre-deadline deals thus far, the running back market could pick up steam in the coming days.
The bad news, though, is that the Cowboys are owned by Jerry Jones, who always has been decidedly reluctant to make in-season trades.
Cowboys Could Target Travis Etienne
But, if the need for an improvement in the running game becomes so apparent that even Jones gets on board, one potential target would be an ideal fit, according to ESPN, which wrote in an article this week titled, “Guide to every NFL team’s trade deadline: Candidates to be moved, targets who could fit and biggest needs,” that the Cowboys could target demoted Jaguars star Travis Etienne.
In his first two seasons with the Jaguars, Etienne burst on the scene with back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons, tallying 2,133 yards in those years. He also added 792 yards as a very good pass-catcher out of the backfield.
But Etienne has lost his spot on the depth chart this season, and is down to 230 yards rushing in six games this season. He has had just nine carries in the past two weeks. It’s a steep drop for Etienne, who was a first-round pick coming out of Clemson and had amassed 4,952 career rushing yards in college, breaking the ACC career rushing record.
A trade for Etienne makes an awful lot of sense, ESPN writes: “Jaguars running back Travis Etienne Jr. If we assume that a return to health on defense will also bring a return to form for the entire team, then the biggest need in Dallas is at running back, where the Cowboys are totally lacking juice. Etienne is far from a perfect runner and has arguably now lost his job to Tank Bigsby, but he still has big-play potential and can catch the ball out of the backfield. He’d bring more explosiveness to Rico Dowdle‘s role.”
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