The Dallas Cowboys need a running back, and they should be in a prime position to potentially select the best running back — Boise State’s Ashton Jeanty — in the 2025 NFL Draft if they would decide to go in that direction.
The good news for the Cowboys? Jeanty would absolutely welcome that opportunity, and said this week it would be “special” to play for his hometown team.
“It would be special,” said Jeanty this week. “Obviously, growing up in Frisco and spending a lot of time out there. I think it’d be cool having a star on my helmet again. Playing for Lone Star [High School], I had a star on my helmet as well. It would be a dope moment to have that happen.”
The biggest question is whether or not the Cowboys would want to use a first-round pick (No. 12 overall) on a running back.
The position has been greatly devalued over the past decade, to the point where running backs have rarely been selected in the first round or given big-money deals. But the success of Saquon Barkley with the Philadelphia Eagles and Derrick Henry with the Baltimore Ravens might make teams more willing to take a swing on an impact back.
The problem with that is players like Barkley and Henry were the final piece of the puzzle for those teams and not the primary focal points. They were already good teams that just needed one more piece to put them over the top.
The Cowboys might not quite be in a position where they are simply one running back away.
But that has also never stopped Cowboys owner Jerry Jones from making that type of bold-splash move in the draft, and Jeanty could definitely be the type of player he would love to have.
Jeanty has led the NCAA in rushing in each of the past two seasons, rushing for 2,601 yards this past season for Boise State. He narrowly missed out on Barry Sanders’ all-time single-season record.
