The Cowboys essentially told us they weren't going to address running back in the first round of the 2015 NFL Draft. They weren't lying.
The draft's top backfield options came off the board on Thursday night in Chicago, with Todd Gurleygoing 10th overall to the Rams and Melvin Gordonjoining the Chargers five picks later. San Diego, obviously concerned about the possibility of Dallas or another RB-needy team making a move, traded up two spots to land Gordon.
The Cowboys have a need at the position after letting DeMarco Murray leave for the Eagles in free agency. Dallas opted to address its secondary with the 27th overall pick, selecting UConn cornerback Byron Jones.
Which took us back to Jerry Jones' comments on Tuesday.
"It's not urgent. It's not urgent in the draft," he said on the subject of drafting a Murray replacement. "We don't have that as a must to come out of here with a running back."
NFL Media Insider Ian Rapoport reported Tuesday that the Cowboys could wait until the third or even fourth round before selecting a running back. Remaining backs on the board include Tevin Coleman, Duke Johnson, T.J. Yeldon, Ameer Abdullah and Jay Ajayi.
Dallas picks 60th and 91st on Friday and stand a very good chance of coming out of the day with one of the above rushers. If not, the Cowboys will likely head into 2015 with their current group of Joseph Randle, Darren McFadden, Lance Dunbar and Ryan Williams.
Jones said this week he believes the Cowboys' in-house options are good enough to thrive behind a talented offensive line. We'll soon find out how much he actually believes that.
The latest Around The NFL Podcast recaps the first round of the NFL Draft. Find more Around The NFL content on NFL NOW.
