After being left on the inactives list for the team’s first three outings, Cowboys fifth-round draft pick Jaydon Blue is still waiting to make his NFL regular-season debut.
But despite earlier concerns about the rookie’s work habits and consistency in practice (and an ankle injury suffered in his only preseason action just 12 days before Week 1) head coach Brian Schottenheimer says the talented running back’s gameday status has been about needs the Cowboys have had elsewhere on the field.
“In no way, shape, or form is Jaydon doing things that would not allow him to be activated,” Schottenheimer said Friday during his weekly radio call-in on 105.3 The Fan. “It’s been more of the fact that we’ve needed the numbers, with some of the injuries and stuff on defense and in the secondary and things like that.”
In Weeks 1 through 3, the Cowboys have dressed 24 defensive players for each game, as opposed to just 21 on offense.
“Unfortunately,” confirmed Schottenheimer, “we’ve been a little bit heavier on the defensive side when you look at the roster construction on gameday.”
While personnel numbers have left the ex-Longhorns home-run threat in street clothes thus far, it could be the performance from starting running back Javonte Williams that makes it hard to convince Dallas coaches to buck the trend.
The fifth-year veteran has seen a perhaps surprising resurgence since joining the Cowboys in March. Of all NFL players who have played just three games, only six currently have more rushing yards than Williams’s 227, and his yards-per-carry average of 5.3 ranks 11th out of all running backs.
Change-of-pace back Miles Sanders has fewer than half of Williams’s rushing attempts, and his 109-yard total through three games is artificially buoyed by the 49-yard run he ripped off in the season opener.
However the workload is being divided, the Cowboys’ rushing attack is currently second-best in the league in yards-per-carry. So there simply hasn’t been a pressing need to rush Blue into the lineup.
This week’s opponent, the Green Bay Packers, happens to be among the league’s stingiest when it comes to stopping the run. Whether that’s enough to motivate Schottenheimer to unveil the fresh-legged home-run hitter against them on Sunday night remains to be seen.
But Schottenheimer insists that if Blue is kept under wraps again, it won’t be because of anything the rookie has or hasn’t done.
“Jaydon’s actually put together a couple really good weeks of practice. He has. We challenged him. We talked to him about consistency, working harder on the scout team, and things like that. Give him credit; he’s been terrific.”
All indications are Blue will be terrific once he gets in a game, too. Whenever that turns out to be.
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This article originally appeared on Cowboys Wire: Cowboys leaving electric rookie weapon on sidelines due to defensive issues
Reporting by Todd Brock, Cowboys Wire / Cowboys Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
