The Dallas Cowboys (3-2) maintain a tenuous grasp on their season after eking out a win over the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday Night Football in Week 5, but the team must improve its run game if it hopes to truly contend for, and in, January.
Dallas has the second-worst rushing offense in the NFL through five weeks with just 420 yards gained as a team. The Cowboys are also second-to-last at 3.5 yards per carry and tied for 31st in the league with only 2 rushing touchdowns, according to NFL.com.
Long gone appear the dominant days of the Dak Prescott and Ezekiel Elliott QB/RB combo that made Dallas one of the most potent offenses in the league and forced defenses to pick their proverbial poison of either a hammering run game or a high-octane passing attack.
Dallas Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott.
Barry Reeger-Imagn Images
But the Cowboys can change that, or at least try, by making a move ahead of the league’s November 5 trade deadline. Cody Benjamin of CBS Sports on Tuesday, October 8, authored a trade pitch that would see Dallas deal for running back Miles Sanders of the Carolina Panthers.
“[Cowboys owner] Jerry Jones didn’t want to pay for Derrick Henry, so he might require Carolina to eat some of Sanders’ deal,” Benjamin wrote. “But the former [Philadelphia] Eagles standout would at least give Dak Prescott more proven run support.”
Sanders, 27 years old, is playing in the second season of a four-year contract worth $25.4 million in total. He earned Pro Bowl honors with the Eagles in 2022 after posting 1,269 rushing yards and 11 TDs on the ground as well as 20 catches for 78 receiving yards, per Pro Football Reference.
Running back Miles Sanders of the Carolina Panthers.
Morgan Tencza-USA TODAY Sports
Chuba Hubbard has a firm grip on the starting running back spot in Carolina, which means the Panthers (1-4) are probably eager to get off Sanders’ deal and may be willing to retain some salary to do so if trading him to a team like the Cowboys brings back a meaningful asset — probably a Day 3 pick between the fifth and seventh rounds of the 2025 draft.
Elliott, who led the league in rushing in two of his first three years in the NFL, has carried the football just 30 times for 98 yards and 1 score this season.
Rico Dowdle is the Cowboys’ leading rusher with 221 yards on 54 carries. He has not scored a rushing TD this year.
