Throughout the 2024 NFL season, the Dallas Cowboys have been one of the worst rushing teams in the league.
Instead of opting to pony up the dough during free agency to bring in a high-caliber back like Derrick Henry or J.K. Dobbins, Jerry Jones instead chose to bring back Ezekiel Elliott, giving America's Team a non-threatening 1-2 punch of Zeke and Rico Dowdle to open the season.
Elliott, of course, has been a massive disappointment all season long. But even when Dowdle took over as the true RB1, there wasn't much improvement.
In recent weeks, however, things have changed as Dowdle has stepped up his game significantly.
In the Cowboys' Thanksgiving Day win over the New York Giants, the North Carolina native notched the first 100-yard game of his career, rushing for 112 yards on 22 carries while also scoring his first touchdown of the season.
Last Monday night against the Cincinnati Bengals, Dowdle was at it again, setting a career-high for the second straight week with 131 yards on 18 carries.
And during the Cowboys' 30-14 victory over the Carolina Panthers on Sunday afternoon, No. 23 had his best game yet. Not only did he set yet another new career-best with 149 yards on 25 carries, but he also achieved a feat not seen in the NFL in more than a decade.
Rico Dowdle is the first undrafted player with three straight 100-yard rushing games since 2014
The @DallasCowboys may have something special in RB Rico Dowdle 👀 pic.twitter.com/QZWm6lDIAS
— FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) December 15, 2024
With his 149-yard performance against Carolina, Dowdle became the first undrafted player to record three consecutive 100-yard rushing games since 2014.
The last to achieve this feat was four-time Pro Bowler Arian Foster, who hit the century mark in four straight games for the Houston Texans in Weeks 5-8 of the 2014 campaign.
Unselected in 2020 out of South Carolina, Dowdle has always done just enough to remain on the roster over the past five years.
He was typically the third-string option behind Elliott and Tony Pollard in the early years of his career. But with Zeke out of the mix a season ago, Dowdle was bumped up to RB2 behind Pollard and performed admirably enough, amassing 361 yards on 89 carries with a pair of touchdowns, which earned him a one-year, $1.255 million deal in the offseason.
Now with 880 yards on the year with three weeks remaining in the regular season, Dowdle is in a great position to reach 1,000 yards for the first time, which will undoubtedly give Jones and the Cowboys' front office something to think about when free agency begins.