Commentary

Cowboys facing questions at running back

When an ESPN The Magazine article last summer first began to connect the dots between Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and all-pro running back Adrian Peterson, there was an absence of logic about the situation.

For one thing, it was based on a late-night phone call to Jones, attending the George Strait farewell concert at AT&T Stadium, from Peterson through his agent. So it wasn't surprising they both said nice things to and about each other.

Beyond that, the idea of Peterson joining the Cowboys to fulfill a Super Bowl dream seemed specious at best, given Dallas' streak of 8-8 seasons, not to mention its constant struggle to remain below the salary cap.

Oddly enough, the logic of Peterson in a Cowboys uniform is at least starting to make sense despite the fact that DeMarco Murray, who almost certainly will be cheaper, outrushed Peterson by 1,770 yards in 2014.

Peterson's future remains uncertain but his hopes of changing teams received a considerable boost Thursday when U.S. District Judge David Doty ruled in his and the NFLPA's favor. Commissioner Roger Goodell had suspended him into mid-April but the courts ruled that he overstepped his authority.

Peterson has not been immediately reinstated, but Doty's ruling could lead to that sooner than the April 15 date Goodell had set for application.

But what lies ahead for Peterson remains a mystery because of what transpired in 2014. In fact, it's hard to choose whether Peterson or Murray had the most shocking season.

Peterson, always among the league's rushing leaders and the 2012 NFL MVP, played one game before charges of child abuse surfaced. He eventually pled to a misdemeanor assault, but the league managed to make him disappear after Week One.

As for Murray, all he did was outrush the entire league by more than a quarter of a mile.

And yet his future with the Cowboys is as much in doubt as Peterson's is in Minnesota, although for drastically different reasons.

As a third-round pick out of Oklahoma, Murray played at a bargain rate for four years. As the NFL's Offensive Player of the Year, he and his agent rightfully intend to change that once free agency begins March 10.

The Cowboys have made it clear they want Murray to remain a Cowboy. But the team has other free agents as well (notably wide receiver Dez Bryant), and there is a reluctance to commit long-term dollars at the running back position where players have such short shelf-lives.

Beyond that, the Cowboys overworked Murray last season. There is a history of backs watching their stats suffer after leading the league in carries. Since 2001, the only back with more regular-season carries than Murray's 392 was Kansas City's Larry Johnson with 416 in 2006.

And he's one of those guys whose career was never the same.

Regardless, Stephen Jones said at the combine the team is looking at everything. And Jerry Jones said 2015 will be different even if Murray returns.

"We won't change as far as our emphasis on the running game," Jones said. "But I don't think we would go into a season now with Murray thinking he was gonna have the load he had last year. I don't believe we would."

If that's a roundabout way of saying the Cowboys are willing to let Murray test the free-agency waters before ponying up with the big bucks, then we shall see how that risk plays out. Does it mean this team could have Peterson in mind or at least on the back-burner in case Murray departs?

It's something the Cowboys have to consider although there are significant hurdles. The Vikings owe Peterson more than $44 million over the next three years.

Still, even if Peterson and the Vikings part ways, is he going to play for, say, half of what he was set to make in Minnesota? Murray would probably take that ($22 million over three years) in a heartbeat.

I would say it's a good problem for the Cowboys to have, choosing between Murray and one of the all-time greats, except for the fact that it's possible the club will move forward with neither and be forced to draft Murray's replacement on April 30.

And, for a team that finally emerged from irrelevance in 2014, that would only change everything.

Sports on 03/01/2015

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