The Dallas Cowboys might have a void in the running back room - but it is at the same time a full one, with plenty of competition behind starter Tony Pollard. That void - in part due to the release of Ezekiel Elliott and the arguable need for a "power back'' is a hot topic of conversation ... as is who might win the jobs behind him.
Some conventional wisdom says the guy will be Malik Davis. Cowboys sources have suggested to CowboysSI.com that rookie Deuce Vaughn will "100-percent not be cut.'' So who wins? Who loses? Who gets squeezed?
A prediction from our Blogging the Boys pal Tom Ryle has Pollard and Vaughn essentially in ... and a scramble after that that could see Davis get cut.
Premature? Not in the sense that BtB is simply doing some guesswork on a 53-man roster projection. Is the idea that Vaughn is "above Davis,'' predicting the Kansas State product to get more playing time in Dallas than the vets? Not really, and allow us to clear this up: Vaughn "100-percent not getting cut'' doesn't mean he's the No. 2 back behind Pollard. It can mean he's the third guy, with Davis, Ronald Jones and Rico Dowdle dueling for the No. 2 job. It could also mean, football being football, that Vaughn "doesn't get cut'' because he's shifted to IR or to the practice squad.
"I'm the hardest-working guy that you'll ever meet,'' the diminutive Deuce recently told us, and we believe him. ... but that alone doesn't get a guy NFL carries.
We should toss UDFA fullback Hunter Luepke onto this pile of guys who all have a shot at "not getting cut,'' too. ... but probably not part of the group who'll get a shot at the full-time No. 2 job.
We continue to be told that the Cowboys will shy away from an Ezekiel Elliott re-sign and we have reported all along that a "star'' like Dalvin Cook is not in the plans. Maybe Dallas will end up adding another guy to fill a "void.'' But what we know is that Dallas wants to see all of these guys in pads at training camp in Oxnard before pulling any triggers. Competition for the No. 2 job? Malik Davis - still our best bet to win it - isn't out of it because it hasn't even started yet.
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