Williams sits to give Blue and Mafah more work

The Cowboys drew up a lot of carries for Williams early in this one. The 26-year-old back totaled seven carries for 45 yards on his team’s first two possessions, and punched in a two-yard score late in the fourth quarter to put the Cowboys up 10-0. Williams would mostly be bottled up by the Ravens after his score, but he did break free for a 22-yard run in the third quarter that helped set up a Brandon Aubrey field goal — which was blocked. This is undoubtedly the best game of the season for Williams, who hadn’t gone for more than 41 yards in either of his first two games. That said, he still struggled at times to get going on the ground, as seven of his carries went for two or fewer yards. His volume remains reliable enough to keep him in the RB2 conversation for next week’s game against the Texans.

The Cowboys dominated through the air on Sunday, but the same can’t be said of their efforts on the ground. Washington bottled up Williams all afternoon, with his biggest play coming on a nine-yard run on the Cowboys’ final drive. Williams has just 71 rushing yards on 24 attempts (3.0 YPC), but has also seen nine targets in his first two games. He remains the unquestioned leader of the Cowboys’ backfield and will be a volume-based RB2 in next week’s game against the Ravens.

Williams understandably operated as a clear workhorse for a Cowboys team with little depth at the position following Malik Davis’ season-ending injury earlier in the week. His two second half scores and five receptions masked poor rushing efficiency on a night the Cowboys ran only 52 offensive plays, although a robust 32.7 percent total opportunity share foreshadows the potential for continued elite counting stats for the remainder of the regular season. Fantasy managers can continue to start Williams as a volume-driven RB1 as the team prepares to host the Commanders in Week 2.

Regarding Davis’ injury, Fowler’s source said simply, “it’s bad.” The Cowboys’ No. 2 running back is undergoing further testing, but we expect them to place him on injured reserve before long. The Cowboys waived RB Jaydon Blue and RB Phil Mafah last month. Blue has since signed with the Eagles’ practice squad. The Cowboys have RB Emari Demercado on the active roster behind RB Javonte Williams. Currently, only RB Israel Abanikanda is on the practice squad in Dallas.

Blue was waived by the Cowboys and went unclaimed, and the 2025 fifth-round pick will remain in the NFC East. He’ll begin the campaign behind Tank Bigsby and Will Shipley as backups to Saquon Barkley, but some strong performances in practice could give the 22-year-old a chance to receive touches in 2026.

Blue now becomes a free agent and can be signed by any running back-needy team, including the ability to sign onto the Dallas practice squad. It has been quite the fall from grace for Blue over the previous 24 hours, seemingly going from the favorite for backup duties for the Cowboys to without a home. It is also noteworthy that only one running back was claimed during the waiver period, veteran Emari Demercado, by this same Cowboys team. Blue appears to have lost all fantasy value and faces an uphill battle for a meaningful role in his sophomore campaign.

Well this one is going to leave a mark. 2025 fifth-rounder Blue was a summer ’25 fantasy creation the Cowboys never seemed to get behind, confirming as much when they made him a Week 1 healthy scratch. That set the tone for a bitterly disappointing rookie year that featured just 39 touches. This offseason seemed to be different, however, with head coach Brian Schottenheimer spending the spring dishing out over-the-top positive quotes on his second-year back. The praise again died down during training camp, but Blue showed well in his preseason action. Just apparently nowhere close to well enough to beat out survivor veteran Malik Davis for No. 2 status behind Javonte Williams. Blue is still only 22 years old, but his back-to-back failures to earn pass-catching duties in a backfield that could really use such a player is an ominous sign for his NFL future. He’s now a tenuous hold in dynasty leagues despite his youth and past high expectations. All of that being said, it is possible once the cut-down dust settles that either Blue or fellow waived sophomore Phil Mafah end up back on the Cowboys’ 53-man roster.

Mafah became the odd man out of the backfield rotation behind starter Javonte Williams Sunday, and Jaydon Blue also being waived leaves Malik Davis as the primary backup in Dallas at the start of the season.

Davis appears to have secured a roster spot, but we won’t know for sure until Sunday. The broadcast initially referred to him as the starter, but it was instead RB Phil Mafah who took the field. Mafah dominated backfield touches throughout the first half, repeatedly running into Saints defenders on runs up the middle. He was spelled by RB Israel Abanikanda. Cowboys RB Jaydon Blue does not seem to be playing this evening. Last Sunday, The Athletic’s Jon Machota predicted Blue would seize the No. 2 running back job from Davis in-season.

Davis got the start in Saturday’s preseason game against the Cardinals, rushing five times for 29 yards while adding one catch for eight yards and a touchdown. The 27-year-old back has gained steam in recent weeks as the favorite to win the Cowboys’ RB2 job out of camp, but Machota also said he believes “Jaydon Blue takes (the RB2 job) during the season.” Blue rushed 15 times for a team-high 75 yards in Saturday’s win over the Cardinals, ripping off multiple chunk gains on the day. While we still have one preseason game left to go, Ultimately if Javonte Williams goes down this will likely be a committee, but Davis could have some stash value in deeper leagues.