3 reasons why Tony Pollard has played his last game with the Cowboys

Do you think the Cowboys will bring back Tony Pollard?

For years fans of the Dallas Cowboys have been calling for more cowbell, excuse me, more of a bellcow role from Tony Pollard. And after the Cowboys released Ezekiel Elliott last offseason, that’s exactly what they got. Unfortunately, things did not go as planned. Despite an increased workload, Pollard’s production dropped from the previous year. After averaging over five yards a carry through his first four years in the league, he finished with a career-low 4.0 yards per attempt this past season. His efficiency was gone as so was his explosiveness. Pollard had 12 total touchdowns in 2022 during his Pro Bowl season, but last year, he only had six. His longest rush last year was for 31 yards.

The Cowboys franchise tagged him last season and paid $10 million for his services, but Pollard enters this offseason an unrestricted free agent. Will the Cowboys try to bring him back or have we seen the last of him in a Cowboys jersey? Here are three reasons why Pollard will not be back in Dallas in 2024.

It’s a luxury they cannot afford

The Cowboys have an expensive quarterback and that’s a powerful thing. I believe it was Socrates who said, “With great power comes great responsibility.” Okay, maybe that was Uncle Ben from Spiderman, but regardless, it still rings true. The Cowboys front office has to be responsible about how they allocate their financial resources with a high-priced quarterback taking up a huge chunk of their cap space. Additionally, the Cowboys have a handful of other players that have, or will soon have, expensive deals. Trevon Diggs (deal done), Micah Parsons (coming soon), and CeeDee Lamb (coming real soon) will all be one of the top-paid players at their respective positions.

With that, the Cowboys need to make sound fiscal decisions throughout other parts of the roster, and running back should be one of them. If they were the San Francisco 49ers and had a low-cost seventh-round quarterback throwing the ball, they could afford to spend a good chunk of change at running back, but they don’t. Thus, sacrifices have to be made. Gone are the days of throwing money at the position and after the underwhelming Ezekiel Elliott and even Tony Pollard experiments in recent years so let’s hope they’ve learned their lesson.

It’s not the years, honey, it’s the mileage

Sticking with action movie quotes, you can’t get much better than a tired Indiana Jones looking for sympathy as he continues his chase after the lost Ark of the Covenant. And his, “it’s not the years, it’s the mileage” quote is a perfect way to describe the running back position in the NFL. Young, sprightly backs enter the league with gusto and can produce immediate dividends as the running back position has one of the smallest learning curves when players make the leap into the NFL.

Sadly, teams exploit those young backs, and before too long, they become an undesirable asset. The depreciation on running backs is steep and it’s unfortunate for them that their most productive years are when they are on their cheap rookie deal. Once wear and tear catches up to them, their efficiency starts taking a hit. The members of the “running backs don’t matter” fan club have a strong leg to stand on because, over time, running backs don’t. The numbers don’t lie.

Here are the Cowboys’ starting running backs (in light blue) over the last 20 years and their yards per attempt for that season. Years where they averaged greater than four yards a carry are identified with a green checkmark.

As you can see, it doesn’t matter which back you choose, there’s a steady decline as the mileage builds up. Usually, around year four or five, you see a noticeable drop in production. You can almost set your watch to it.

Players like Felix Jones and Tony Pollard benefited from preservation due to having a workhorse back ahead of them on the depth chart for the first few years in the league, but even their impressive yards per attempt started dipping once they were asked to carry more of the load.

Low-cost options are available

The Cowboys can reset the running back position and not lose any sleep over it. As mentioned before, rookie running backs can hit the ground running and it seems like a foregone conclusion that Dallas will be buyers when it comes to going after a running back in April’s draft. When you look at the layout of the talent in this year’s draft class, there are no big names expected to be drafted early, but there are a lot of them in rounds three or later.

Here’s a fun fact: The leading rushing running backs on 10 of the 14 playoff teams this season (71%) were selected in rounds three or later. Six of them (43%) were selected in rounds five or later. In short, you can find quality running backs late in the draft.

A fresh new running back on a cheap, four-year rookie deal is definitely the way to go, but the Cowboys can’t put their running hopes in just one basket. It would also be wise to sift through the free agent bargain bin and see what type of deals they can find. Forget the Derrick Henrys or the Saquon Barkleys who will command a higher dollar, and instead focus on players like A.J. Dillon or D’Onta Foreman who they can get for around $3 million. Secure a veteran for insurance, but find your future starter in later rounds of the draft.