The Dallas Cowboys are in desperate need of a running back, and NFL Draft analysts already have their eyes on one player in particular.
University of Texas halfback Jonathon Brooks.
After ESPN’s Mina Kimes posted that Brooks is her favorite running back in this year’s draft class, fellow ESPN analyst Jordan Reid said that Brooks “makes too much sense” for the Cowboys at No. 56.
That would be Dallas’ second-round pick.
Brooks is coming off of a fantastic 2023 campaign in which he racked up 1,139 yards and 10 touchdowns while averaging a robust 6.1 yards per carry. He also caught 25 passes for 286 yards and a score.
Prior to last season, Brooks received only scarce playing time with the Longhorns, totaling 51 carries for 340 yards and six touchdowns on the ground over his first couple of years in college.
The Cowboys will almost certainly be addressing their backfield in the draft later this month.
Dallas lost Tony Pollard to free agency last month, and while many expected the Cowboys to pursue a big name like Derrick Henry or Saquon Barkley, they opted not to sign any running backs and currently lay claim to a rather unenviable backfield of Deuce Vaughn and Rico Dowdle.
It seems hard to imagine that Dallas will enter the 2024 season with Vaughn and Dowdle as its two primary backs, so taking a halfback in the draft is pretty much expected for the club.
The Cowboys have registered three straight 12-win campaigns, but they still have been unable to get over the hump in the playoffs. This past January, they fell to the Green Bay Packers in the Wild Card Round.
Dallas has not made it past the Divisional Round since January 1996.
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