The Dallas Cowboys are in the market for a starting running back and the 2025 NFL draft is absolutely loaded with them. By most estimations the two realities are on a collision course later this month as the Cowboys seek to fill their need at RB1 with one of the many available options in the draft.
Whoever they select will be expected to play a significant role on the 2025 Cowboys as new head coach Brian Schottenheimer has expressed his desire to run the ball. It’s partially out of his own personal philosophy and partially out of necessity. The expectation is that the runner will do more good than harm, requiring a certain level of confidence-inspiring ball-carrying ability.
Whoever gets the job will have to be safe and reliable, capable of carrying an offense without falling victim to typical rookie mistakes.
Fortunately, the RB position is one of the most plug-and-play positions in the NFL. Rookie prospects can routinely hit the ground running if they have the right tools in place. Prospects with the wrong tools are a different story because they need to be trained up to play at the next level. Pass protection, patience, and technique are some of the issues that carry over both good and bad. They can prove difficult obstacles to overcome and as such, something the Cowboys' scouting department is looking into quite thoroughly.
Ball security issues in particular are red flags for teams like the Cowboys, because oftentimes they can be the difference between winning and losing. Based on a Wollen study, winning the turnover differential by just a single turnover can result in 66.5 percent chance of winning.
For as many tantalizing prospects there are in this draft there are also frightening prospects. In regard to ball security, those two types of prospects aren’t always mutually exclusive. Some of the best RBs in this draft have ball security issues, making it a complicated issue heading into the draft.
Fumble rates for the 31 RB's at the 2025 NFL Scouting Combine.
— Shawn Spencer (@Spencer_NFL) February 14, 2025
-Kyle Monangai has more career touches than any other Combine invite w/o a fumble since at least 2016. Jordan James is 3rd behind Monangai and Hassan Haskins.
-609 average touches up significantly from 2024 (538) pic.twitter.com/3RzN6akljK
Jaydon Blue, Bhayshul Tuten, R.J. Harvey, Ashton Jeanty, Cam Skattebo and Dylan Sampson are a handful of the most exciting RBs in this draft class. They also have ball security concerns. Of the prospects likely to be drafted, they represent the bottom tier in fumble rate. It doesn’t mean they’ll be busts or even predict their fumble issues will continue, but it’s definitely a cause for concern and something these players need to address when they join the NFL.
Players on the other side of the spectrum like
