The Dallas Cowboys made the not-so-surprising decision to not extend Tony Pollard before Monday's deadline for franchise-tagged players.
Perhaps the biggest surprise leading up to the deadline was when NFL Network's Jane Slater reported that the Cowboys and Pollard never had extensive talks on a new contract.
That either means one of two things: Dallas never had concrete interest in investing more money into Pollard beyond 2022, or Pollard is happy making $10.09 million guaranteed coming off a serious injury and believes he's fully healthy and will cash in next offseason.
Will that be with the Cowboys, though? The franchise tag opens the door for Pollard to leave as an unrestricted free agent next offseason.
With that in mind, let's take a look at some early possible replacements Dallas could sign in free agency next March.
3. Devin Singletary
As somewhat of an unknown commodity, Singletary won't move the needle for some fans, but he compiled a solid season with Buffalo in 2022. While Singletary has never cracked the 1,000-yard threshold in four years, he's always been efficient with his touches, averaging 4.7 yards per carry in his career.
Singletary totaled 870 and 819 rushing yards, respectively, over the last two seasons. That's impressive when you consider Josh Allen is used as the Bills top rusher. Last year, Singletary fended off promising rookie James Cook, whom many analysts predicted to supplant Singletary as the lead back.
At 5-foot-7 and 203 pounds, Singletary is undersized for the position, but he runs bigger than his size, which catches defenders off-guard.
In 2022, the 2019 third-round pick received a 83.0 rushing grade from Pro Football Focus, which ranked ninth in the NFL. He forced 33 missed tackles, logged 21 explosive runs and averaged 2.85 yards after contact per attempt.
The Cowboys would need a complimentary back behind Singletary, but he'd be a sneaky good (and affordable) option to replace Pollard.
2. D'Andre Swift
Stealing Swift from the Eagles makes him even more attractive option, but he profiles similar to Pollard in terms of explosiveness and ability to double as a pass-catcher and make defenders miss in the open field.
The only caveat with Swift is his durability, which is ultimately what prompted Detroit to ship him to Philly for a 2023 seventh-round pick and a fourth-round pick in 2025.
For context, Swift has played 40 of a possible 50 games over his first three years. He's missed at least three games in every season, which is a shame because he's been efficient when healthy, averaging 4.6 yards per carry in his career, including 5.5 YPC in 2022, which was ultimately slowed by a high-ankle sprain.
It'd be easy to label Swift a injury prone player, but the Lions did him zero favors with their injury management last season. The relationship seemingly soured by the end of the season, and he lands in a great spot in the Eagles' run-centric offense to ink a multi-year contract next offseason.
Swift was the No. 35 overall pick three years ago for a reason. He's an exciting young RB who'd look better with a star on his helmet than a set of wings.
1. Damien Harris
Look, you're just not going to find many free agents who've had a clean bill of health since they entered the NFL. Jonathan Taylor, Josh Jacobs, Joe Mixon and Austin Ekeler headline the 2024 class, and all four have stayed relatively healthy in their careers.
That said, each of them will have significant mileage on their tires for their age and will likely command top-of-the-market money.
Assuming the Cowboys have learned from their mistake of paying RBs big money, Harris could fit right into their budget. The former Patriots draft pick has long been underrated and he'll finally have a chance to shine in a high-level offense after he left New England for the rival Bills as a free agent this offseason.
Harris has yet to play a full season so 2023 will determine how much interest he'll gauge on the market and how much teams are willing to pay for his services.
If he gets through the year healthy, though, you're talking about a back who's tallied 4.7 YPC in his career and averaged over 3.0 yards after contact per attempt in his career to go with about 40 forced missed tackles and close to 20 explosive runs per season.
The Cowboys could do a lot worse than Harris is Pollard leaves.