Dallas Cowboys Running Back Depth Chart — 2026

A handcuff is the backup who inherits the starter's workload if the starter gets hurt — so the Cowboys handcuff is whoever sits directly behind Javonte Williams on the depth chart above. Rostering him is how you protect a starting back you have already spent a pick on. More on what a handcuff is.

There is no passing-down vacancy in Dallas yet. Javonte Williams played 65.7% of the offensive snaps and 66.2% of the pass snaps, drawing 51 targets, 3.19 a game. Jaydon Blue drew 1 target on 30 pass snaps, under the 100-snap reporting line.

Williams has played 70 of 85 team games across 5 seasons, 82.4% — 15 missed, which is a real rate rather than a theoretical one.

The job is close to a full one: 252 carries at +0.62 yards over expected, 17th of 49, plus 35 catches for 137 yards.

The rest of the room has a thin record. Malik Davis played 12.7% of the snaps, 76th among running backs. Jaydon Blue and Phil Mafah played without reaching a reporting floor. The reporting below describes a competition rather than a pecking order, which is the honest state of it.

Not much, on last season's evidence.

Williams accounted for 65.7% of the snaps by himself, 10th among running backs. Davis, the only other back in the room with a ranked snap share, took 12.7%.

Blue's whole professional file is 1 target in 5 games on 30 pass snaps; Phil Mafah's is 2 targets in 1 games on 3 pass snaps. Both sit under the 100-snap reporting line. Neither is a track record — they are a handful of appearances.

What has changed is the depth chart. Blue, Mafah, and Abanikanda have all moved off their prior depth slots, and the reporting below has the team deliberately capping Williams's camp workload to get these three on the field.

No, and that is the opening.

Williams played 66.2% of the pass snaps against 65.7% of snaps overall, a tilt of +0.5 — essentially flat, meaning he simply stays on the field. He drew 51 targets on 452 pass snaps, 9th among running backs.

Davis played 84 pass snaps, under the 100 needed to rank, and drew 5 targets. Blue played 30.

So the role does not exist in the record. The reporting below says the team wants it to, and names the back it wants in it — which is exactly the kind of claim that is worth a date on it.

Reporting from a previous season, kept because a role a player has already held is the best evidence available about the one he might hold next. It describes 2025, not now.

Blue was inactive by coach's decision in Weeks 16 and 17 of 2025 before leading the backfield in Week 18 because of injuries ahead of him. (RotoWire, 2026-05-29)

What the beat is reporting, last refreshed 2026-08-27. Nothing here is measured — it is reporting, attributed and dated.

Dallas plans to cut back Javonte Williams' training camp workload to give more snaps to Malik Davis, Jaydon Blue and Phil Mafah (NFL.com, 2026-06-30).

Dallas hopes second-year back Jaydon Blue develops into the pass-catching specialist role as a contrast to Williams' power style (NFL.com, 2026-06-30).

Head coach Brian Schottenheimer said the Cowboys held Williams out of team drills to give Jaydon Blue and Phil Mafah more work (NBC Sports, 2026-06-18).

Phil Mafah and Jaydon Blue took the first-team reps through the offseason program whenever Williams was not practicing, leaving the backup job contested entering camp (Sports Illustrated (Cowboys OnSI), 2026-06-25).

Schottenheimer said the difference in Jaydon Blue during the offseason program was night and day from where he was last year (NFL.com, 2026-07-05).

Blue brings speed and receiving ability but must show he can handle pass protection and a larger workload, while Malik Davis offers familiarity and reliability in pass protection and Mafah profiles as the short-yardage option (Athlon Sports, 2026-07-21).

Mafah, who missed most of last season with a shoulder injury, was deemed healthier entering the new season, and Dallas requires its backs to pass protect, an area where Blue was rarely used (USA TODAY / Cowboys Wire, 2026-05-18).