Rico Dowdle had quite the season for the Cowboys.
The Dallas Cowboys have a long list of unrestricted free agents who will officially hit the open market in a little over two months. Of those, six or seven were significant contributors in 2024, meaning the Cowboys have some difficult decisions ahead of them in the next two months.
Today, we take a look at a Dallas impending free agents coming off the best stretch of his career, running back Rico Dowdle.
Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images
2024 Regular Season Stats: 16G, 235 Rushing Attempts, 1,079 Rushing Yards, 4.6 Y/A, 2 Rushing Touchdowns, 53 1st Downs, 45 Missed Tackles Forced, 26 10+ Yard Runs
Year Review: 2024 was a tale of two halves for Cowboys’ running back Rico Dowdle. Coming into the regular season, many believed Dallas would lean on Dowdle as their primary running back right out of the gate. However, that ended up not being the case.
Through Dallas’ first six regular season games, Dowdle carried the ball more than 11 times in a single contest just once. In the game in which he achieved that feat, the 26-year-old running back had the best individual performance to that point of his NFL career, rushing for 87 yards and scoring one of Dallas’ two offensive touchdowns in a big road win over the Pittsburgh Steelers.
After that game, it was back to more of the same as Dowdle carried the ball, 5, 12, 12, and 10 times in Dallas’ four next contests. It seemed clear to everyone but the Cowboys that Dowdle was by far the best back on the roster, but Dallas stayed away from making him their clear lead running back, continuing to give carries to aging veterans.
Finally, all the way in Week 12 before a matchup against the Washington Commanders, Cowboys’ head coach Mike McCarthy came out and publicly stated Dowdle would be their clear number-one running back moving forward. This decision ended up being one of the best McCarthy would make all year, as Dowdle went on a tear in Dallas’ final seven games of the regular season.
Over this seven-game span, he was one of the most productive running backs in all of football. From Week 12 on, Dowdle led the NFL in yards after contact (344), was fourth in 10+ yard runs (13), fifth in rushing yards (479), and sixth in missed tackles forced (19).
Dowdle made it abundantly clear he was more than capable of being a lead back and made Dallas’ decision to have him split carries for the first half of the season look even more foolish.
Free Agency Outlook: Dowdle’s late-season run makes his potential free agent market much harder to project. Before that seven-game span, the former undrafted free agent looked like he’d be lucky to earn a $2-3M deal on the open market. Now, with seven games of stellar play under his belt, he may have a chance to nearly double that number if the Cowboys let him hit free agency.
Last offseason we saw a stunning 12 running backs earn multi-year contracts as free agents. Of those 12 who signed, eight secured deals with an AAV of $4M or higher. After the way he performed at the end, you’d have to imagine Dowdle and his camp will be aiming for a two- or three-year deal worth $4M or more annually in free agency.
Zack Moss (2 years, $8M) and Devin Singletary (3 years, $16M) who signed last spring may be good benchmarks for what Dowdle’s contract will end up looking like. Singletary had put together more consistently solid play throughout his then five-year career than Dowdle has entering free agency, so Moss’s contract may be a better projection for what he may earn.
Cowboys Verdict: Deciding what to do with Rico Dowdle may be one of the toughest questions for the Cowboys to answer this offseason. If they let him walk, they leave their running back room looking like one of the worst individual units in all of football. But, if they do go ahead and re-sign Dowdle, they may block themselves from taking a talented runner they really like, possibly Ashton Jeanty, in the first round of the draft.
With all the needs elsewhere on their roster, the smart thing to do would be to re-sign Dowdle to an affordable deal and draft a young running back in the third round to pair with him. However, knowing the way the Cowboys operate, the smart move isn’t always the decision they make.
Even after his dominant late-season run, Dowdle’s not going to break the bank with whatever contract he ends up signing. He’s not going to get as much as Tony Pollard did last year, and if Dallas were to offer him a two-year deal worth around $8-10M total he probably would be willing to come back.
Ultimately, as much as the Cowboys would love to attempt to find their next Zeke Elliott in the first round of the draft, they can’t leave themselves that bare at the running back spot. Re-signing Dowdle is the right move in this situation, and this time Dallas will make the right call.
Prediction: Rico Dowdle re-signs with Dallas Cowboys on a two-year, $9M deal.
