Jaydon Blue Camp Update — August 23: Fifteen Carries for 75 in Glendale

Jaydon Blue carried 15 times for 75 yards in Saturday's 34 to 13 preseason win in Arizona, per the Associated Press — five yards a carry, the heaviest live workload of his young career, and the first game evidence behind a camp full of practice-field praise. It came with a comeback attached: Blue had missed consecutive practices with a shoulder issue, sitting out Tuesday's joint practice against the Saints with his status for Arizona in doubt as late as midweek, per Adam Schultz at Roundtable — Grant Afseth at Dallas Sports Journal traced the injury to the Seattle opener. He answered the doubt by playing the biggest running back role in the game.

The honest frame: most starters on both sides sat, this was backup work against Arizona's reserves, and the backfield around him had its own moments — Malik Davis started and caught a touchdown, Phil Mafah returned from his chest contusion to score, per Kurt Daniels at the team's website. And on ball security, the question that has followed Blue since Texas and cost him a month of his rookie year, the accounts we accessed simply do not say — no fumble was reported, but 15 clean-looking carries in a recap is not a passed test, just a test that produced no bad headlines.

Back in June we wrote Blue's value as opportunity multiplied by trust, with the change-of-pace lane behind Javonte Williams open and the trust the missing part. A staff that did not trust him would not hand him 15 carries in his first game back from an injury week.

The checkable things: whether the passing-down reps start showing up with or near the first team once the season's roster takes shape, and how Dallas sorts the backfield behind Williams when rosters cut to 53 on Sunday, August 30. We'll check after cut day.

_Data via nflverse._