The Dallas Cowboys were eliminated from playoff contention weeks ago, but that hasn't stopped Brian Schottenheimer from running his starters out there in what are inconsequential games.
While Dak Prescott is likely to get the start against the New York Giants on Sunday, the running back rotation will have a brand new look as both Javonte Williams and Malik Davis were placed on the IR on Saturday, effectively ending their 2025 campaigns.
With Williams and Davis out of the lineup, Dallas will lean on rookies Jaydon Blue and Phil Mafah in Week 18, which should serve as an audition for both players when it comes to their standing for the 2026 season.
What should not be up for debate, though, is the fact that Malik Davis has earned a spot in Dallas next season with his play. With the running back set to enter free agency this offseason, Jerry Jones and the Cowboys' front office cannot afford to make the same mistake with Davis that they did with Rico Dowdle, as the two appear to be on similar trajectories.
Cowboys Cannot Afford to Let Malik Davis Walk in Free Agency
Dowdle spent the first five years of his professional career in Dallas, one of which he missed due to an injury, before signing a free agent contract with the Carolina Panthers before the 2025 season. Cowboys fans will remember exactly how badly Dowdle gashed the Dallas defense during their matchup, in which Dowdle put up 239 all-purpose yards and a touchdown in a 30-27 win for Carolina.
Davis just wrapped up his fourth season in Dallas, also having missed an entire season due to injury, and his numbers are almost identical to what Dowdle had accomplished before making his major leap during his final season with the Cowboys in 2024. During that campaign, Dowdle established new career-highs with 235 carries for 1,079 rushing yards and five total touchdowns.
Carries | Yards | YPC | TD | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Rico Dowdle | 96 | 385 | 4.0 | 2 |
Malik Davis | 90 | 411 | 4.8 | 3 |
In no way does this guarantee that Davis will be a 1,000-yard rusher if he were to return to Dallas in 2026. Javonte Williams will be the No. 1 option for the Cowboys next season, assuming the two sides can agree on a new contract this offseason. Davis should be relatively cheap to retain, though, and the fact he is being pulled from the lineup for Week 18 shows that he has nowhere near as much to prove to the coaching staff or front office than Blue and Mafah.
It is hard not to see a parallel between what Davis has accomplished in Dallas and what Dowdle provided the team before, ultimately, moving on to the NFC South and helping keep the Panthers in the playoff conversation far longer than the Cowboys.
Entering Week 18, Dowdle needs just 7 scrimmage yards to reach 1,350 for the season and earn the $1 million performance incentive in his contract that comes with it. Should Dowdle find his way into the end zone on Saturday and reach 8 scores on the year, he will unlock another $250,000 in incentives that were included in his contract.
Considering Dowdle only signed a one-year deal with Carolina for $6.25 million this past offseason, and Panthers GM Dan Morgan is already talking about paying him on a long-term deal, the Cowboys made a mistake by letting Dowdle walk.
With the Miles Sanders experiment proving to be a dud during the 2025 season, and Blue looking more like a bust than an asset at this stage of his rookie season, bringing Davis back this offseason feels like a necessity that the front office cannot afford to overlook.