Fantasy Football Player Notes

Tony Pollard will play for the Cowboys on the franchise tag in 2023. Dallas has all the incentives in the world to run him into the ground, in what should be a solid rushing attack in 2023. Ezekiel Elliott has been released after showing a major lack of juice as a rusher in 2022, averaging a career-low 3.7 yards per carry. Meanwhile, Pollard finished the season as the fantasy RB7 - despite ranking outside the top 25 in touches per game - as PFF's 3rd-highest graded running back. Pollard scored more fantasy points than any other running back (19.3 per game) from Weeks 7-16 when he was consistently playing 53% or more of the snaps as the team's featured back. The team added Ronald Jones in free agency and drafted Deuce Vaughn late on Day 3, but neither are threats to a healthy Pollard's touch volume. He's slated to be a locked-and-loaded fantasy RB1 pending any FA addition to the backfield.

Dallas addressed running back in Round 6 of this year's NFL Draft, adding Deuce Vaughn from Kansas State. It's hard to look past the sheer dominance Vaughn displayed in his three years at Kansas State. Vaughn totaled over 4,800 yards from scrimmage and 43 TDs en route to a class-leading 35% career college dominator rating

He's not a bruiser by any means but he could emerge as a nice breather-back for No. 1 rusher Tony Pollard. Vaughn is 5-foot-5, 179 pounds soaking wet.

Chris Vaughn - Deuce's father - is a veteran scout for the Dallas Cowboys. Probably helps his odds of making the roster.

Rico Dowdle has been listed as the No. 2 Cowboys RB on the 2023 preseason unofficial depth chart, ahead of Malik Davis, Ronald Jones and Deuce Vaughn. Dowdle was listed ahead of Davis during the 2022 preseason as well and made the roster back in 2020 as an undrafted free agent. He's been on Dallas for three straight seasons despite ending up on IR the last two seasons. Seems like Big D is more than happy to let Dowdle earn the No. 2 job over the rest of the roster, unless he suffers another injury. He offers decent size at 215 pounds, so it's easy to see him working alongside Tony Pollard.

As PFF's 4th-highest graded rookie running back last season (80.6), Malik Davis could see an expanded role as the No. 2 RB behind Tony Pollard. His main competition for backup duties includes NFL journeymen Ronald Jones and Rico Dowdle plus rookie Deuce Vaughn.