It was a tad surprising to see the Dallas Cowboys wait until Round 5 to select their first running back, but they were patient and landed Jaydon Blue from Texas at pick No. 149. But Blue wasn’t the only running back the Cowboys selected during the 2025 NFL Draft.
The Cowboys had three seventh-round picks, and they used one on Phil Mafah, a standout running back from Clemson. Mafah was just a one-year starter for the Tigers after playing behind Will Shipley, a Day 3 pick by the Philadelphia Eagles during the 2024 NFL Draft.
Mafah struggled with injuries at the tail end of the 2024 season, but he was a very productive back for Clemson last year. He ran for 1,115 yards and eight touchdowns while averaging 5.16 yards per rush. But over the first nine games of the season, Mafah averaged a staggering 6.1 yards per carry on 161 rushing attempts. That is incredible production against a pretty good schedule to start off the year.
Phil Mafah may be a true diamond in the rough for the Cowboys
But Mafeah isn’t just a one-year wonder, either. While it’s true he had to wait his turn behind Shipley to be the starter, he racked up over 1,000 yards from scrimmage as a junior with 13 rushing touchdowns in a part-time role. For his career, he averaged 5.1 yards per rush on 561 attempts, which is very hard to do at a school like Clemson.
Mafah isn’t the most athletic running back, and he didn’t run at the NFL Combine as he was still nursing a shoulder injury from the previous season. But the expectation was that he would run around a 4.56 40-yard dash at 234 pounds. He has some straight-line speed, but there isn’t a ton of lateral movement to his game. Mafeh is a downhill runner who plays with power and knows his role as a battering ram.
The expectation is that Blue will be the explosive-play back in the Cowboys’ offense, similar to what they had with Tony Pollard from 2020 to 2022. But Dallas also needs a lead back who can do the dirty work between the tackles.
Mafah has the size, power and resume to be that player at the next level. Only Javonte Williams and Miles Sanders stand in his way, and as long as he can stay healthy, it’s not hard to think he could surpass them on the depth chart sooner rather than later.
Mafah’s game is similar to Audric Estime, a Day 3 pick by the Denver Broncos during the 2024 NFL Draft. But Mafeh has better long speed and does a better job of making one-cut and getting downhill. We knew that the running back talent in the 2025 NFL Draft was deep, and this is a perfect example, as Mafeh could have been a fourth or fifth-round pick in last year’s class.
Don’t be surprised if he has a bigger role than you might expect as a rookie because Mafeh has a ton of talent, and he’s exactly what Brian Schottenheimer is looking for in a lead back. He's someone to keep an eye on during camp and the preseason, especially considering how quickly he could and should rise up the depth chart.