Cowboys beat writer Bob Sturm broke down RB Darren McFadden:
Hundreds of Oakland carries to consider, yet, anybody-but-McFadden averaged over 5.5 yards per carry or 2.2 more than each and every single run from McFadden? Basically, he had 60% the productivity of each of his backup’s runs – over 3 straight years.
In answer to the question of whether “anyone would have problems in Oakland”, it appears that 5.5 yards per carry over 370 attempts might not fully agree with that assessment.
I don’t see his burst or his decisiveness at this point to put him in the same class as what the Cowboys need. So, what do the Cowboys think he can do?
I believe the Cowboys think he is their 3rd down back. I don’t think they want him running on 1st and 2nd down in their offense. I think that will be Randle to start. (3rd down back can mean 30 snaps in a game.)
The soon-to-be 28-year-old McFadden hasn't cracked 3.5 YPC since the 2011 season, when he ran for 614 yards on 113 carries (5.4 YPC) in seven games. That's the rub with McFadden -- fantasy owners haven't been able to count on his durability. He has missed roughly a quarter of his team's games since entering the league. We also believe he’ll serve as a change-of-pace/3rd-down back behind Joseph Randle, but he'll have to beat out Lance Dunbar for that role.
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