Super Bowl LIX will warp up on Sunday, and when it does all eyes will officially turn to the upcoming NFL Draft in Green Bay. With the Dallas Cowboys holding the 12th overall pick we are all excited to see what direction they go in.
It feels fair to say that a large contingency of the fanbase wants to see Dallas draft Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty in the first round. You may be for or against that personally, but again it feels safe to assume that you know a lot of people are in favor of the idea.
One person who is not in favor of that idea, ironically, is Cowboys legendary running back Emmitt Smith. The NFL’s all-time leading rusher sat down with Maggie Gray and Andrew Perloff while on Radio Row in New Orleans and made an argument against Jeanty, although it really didn’t have anything to do with the Boise State product specifically.
“If he comes to the Cowboys right now... he’s going to get beat up. I don’t think we’re ready. We don’t have the right mindset. We don’t have the right commitments.”
“I think we’re drafting... we’re drafting exciting pieces... exciting pieces that get fans all... oh we got Ashton Jeanty... oh we are going to be able to run the ball.”
“You trying to tell me Ezekiel Elliott and Rico Dowdle could not carry the team? No. There was no commitment to run the football. And when there was a commitment, when Dak Prescott went down, Rico ran the ball well.”
“So don’t tell me we can’t run the football. Dak went down. They shifted from Cooper Rush... they brought his passes down... and created more runs for the running game.”
“And then you start having this level of balance. And start to show some kind of consistency. Need to do that the whole entire year. That’s the formula that I’m talking about.”
“And so quit trying to do what everyone else is doing in the National Football League. Your quarterback is not Patrick Mahomes, he’s not Josh Allen, he’s not Joe Burrow. He’s Dak Prescott.”
If you watch the clip you can see that Smith is a bit fired up while going on this rant of sorts. Again, his issue does not seem to be with the idea of Jeanty in and of itself, but rather with the overall offensive disposition that the Cowboys have held in recent seasons.
One of the most interesting parts of Smith’s comments is how he said the team is focused on drafting exciting pieces. There is no question that Jeanty would be exciting, but to his point, if the team is not going to fully and totally commit to running the ball then what is the point of it all?
Head coach Brian Schottenheimer and offensive coordinator Klayton Adams are moves that suggest the Cowboys will lean into that identity, the one created during Smith’s days, a bit more. That is conventional logic at least.
Who would have thought Emmitt Smith would be the one arguing against Jeanty?!