HIDDEN GEMS: 3 Running Backs The Dallas Cowboys Could TARGET In The Middle Rounds of NFL Draft!

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The Dallas Cowboys could be in the running back market.

We'll tell you three day two or maybe day three options they could target next.

To our Lockdown Cowboys, your daily Dallas Cowboys podcast, part of the Lockdown Podcast

Network, your team every day.

Welcome back.

I am your host, Marcus Mosher.

He is Lannem McCool and on today's show, we are discussing some mid-round running

backs, I think it's probably the nice way to say it, that the Dallas Cowboys might target

in the 2026 NFL draft.

We know they don't have a pick after 20 until 92, but they've got a lot of day three

picks.

Maybe they want to add a running back to this committee behind Javance Williams, that

gives them something different than what they have in the roster, and I want to start

with Emmet Johnson, a running back from Nebraska, who was very productive over the last couple

of years.

What did you see from him on tape?

Yeah, this guy's really skilled.

We talk about different guys like being more physical and better athlete, and some guys

just are really good at their position, right?

This is one of those guys.

I think he's got very average size all around.

I'm first of all, let's start at the beginning.

He was only a three-star recruit out of Minnesota.

I think Nebraska was his only power five offer from what I read, even though he was Mr.

Football of Minnesota in 2021.

I think that's probably contributed to the fact that, like I said, he is sort of middling

as an athlete, size, generally healthy throughout his college career.

He had some minor soft tissue stuff at certain points, but he's been basically a workhorse

for Nebraska.

And like I said, he does that despite having very average size overall.

He's got very large hands, but he's not a very filled out player.

I mean, he's listed it was 5, 10, 202 pounds.

Usually when you have guys who are around 202 pounds, you would expect them to be more

top-end speed guys, right?

Because that's very undersized or an NFL running back.

That's not what this guy is, but what he doesn't have in long speed, he's got in short area

burst and a lot of skills and ability.

And I think he's very patient with a shifty style that relies on that vision in burst.

That's why he's good in short areas, specifically between the tackles, despite being a little

bit undersized, is that he can use his footwork and his vision to kind of navigate traffic.

But incidentally, he has that same trait as him at Smith, where he is really good at making

kind of subtle moves right before the defender hits them to kind of lessened direct shots

at him.

You see him very kind of deathly getting, not getting around defenders, but not also

taking on shots, like direct shots, because he's just slightly moving to the left or right

before contact and he's allowing him to kind of deflect off defenders a little bit better.

He's got good patient setting up his blockers, which can be a blessing and a curse without

elite athleticism, because there's times when he gets trapped behind the line of scrimmage

and he doesn't have the kind of elite burst to get around guys the way you would like.

So there are times when it kind of bites him in the butt a little bit, which is funny,

because I think I think he's really good at changing directions, but he doesn't have

elite speed, right?

And that's where it can be hard is like he kind of has to string together a lot of moves,

but he doesn't have the speed, the beat guys to the corner necessarily.

Yeah, but if he's got nowhere to go, he's got no, like he doesn't have the speed to get

out of the situation, right?

Like he can make the moves, if it's one guy in the hole, he can make the move to get

around that guy to get to get positive yard is, but if there's like multiple breaks and

he's corralled, he doesn't have that kind of ability to just use speed to bounce out

to get away, to run away from people.

He is kind of horizontally explosive, which is what we're kind of describing here.

Like he can bounce over a whole gap very quickly and then get up field quickly.

He's got the vision to press the hole and cut it all the way back side once the defense

has collapsed.

We thought you're using that horizontal explosion like we talked about good on a short

kind of in breaking like Texas routes where he can use his big hands to kind of snatch

the ball and run with it a little bit tends to bounce backwards or spin away from contact

instead of finishing through it at times.

And you really see it like in short yardage situations, like it's just not his strength

at all.

He's not running through guys like that, right?

He kind of skill set wise and this may be a real obscure call back for some folks, but

he kind of reminds me a little bit of Duane McBride.

Do you remember Duane McBride from a couple of years ago, where he looks great running

the football.

Like when he's carrying the football, he looks extremely natural, but he doesn't really

do anything else well.

He's not necessarily a great receiver.

Like I said, in the short stuff, he can catch the ball, but he's not like great at running

routes or getting open or creating separation against linebackers.

And again, he's only 200 pounds.

So you would expect him to be a little bit better at that because most of the guys that

are coming into the NFL at 200 pounds have the kind of athleticism to do that sort of

thing.

He doesn't necessarily have that.

He got 100.

So 92 perceptions over the last three seasons.

That is a lot for a college running back in 702 yards, 7.6 yards perception.

But you're right.

It's a lot as like a check down receiver versus like, hey, this is the guy that we can use

into slot and be a matchup player.

He's just not that kind of guy.

Like I don't want him necessarily running an option route against a good coverage linebacker

or safety.

You know, I just don't know that he's going to win that way, right?

He's not strong enough to consistently run through arm tackles below his waist.

I mean, he's just undersized in general.

So where does he win?

He's a very skilled runner of the football.

I think he would end up being a very interesting number two as part of a committee or a number

three potentially.

And I just where does unanswered questions, can he balance out his game to be more useful

well rounded back because right now I just see a guy that even though he caught a lot

of passes in college, I don't know that he's going to be able to do as much of that in

the NFL.

And I think, you know, his lack of size kind of limits his ability to kind of get on the

field consistently, even in special teams, I would think.

So where would you feel comfortable drafting this player?

I mean, it would probably be like a fourth or fifth round picked to me like, you know,

because I think he does, like he can get you with blocked really well.

And I wouldn't be shocked if he had like a Kenneth Gainwell kind of career, you know,

where I was one of my comps for him.

Yeah.

Well, I see it, right?

Like because I do think he's very specifically skilled at what he does.

I just don't know that he's going to be ever be more than that.

And so it's going to take certain teams that have room on their roster to roster a guy

who probably also isn't going to play a lot of special teams for you.

Can I give you another comp that's probably way too high, at least at college comp?

Yeah.

There's a little bit of Duke Johnson to his game.

If you remember Duke Johnson from Miami, where Duke Johnson was the same thing.

He was five foot ten, maybe two hundred pounds, wasn't a special athlete, but this was

really good at, I mean, he was elusive and he was really good at making guys miss in

the hole.

Now in the NFL, the problem is you could never have that guy be your lead back.

And I think he could be an effective third down back.

And I think that's maybe where he's going to have value.

The problem is I watched all this pass blocking reps the other day and it's pretty rough

as a pass blocker.

And that's the thing that kind of holds me back, it's, okay, so if you're not a great

pass blocker, you don't have a lot of speed.

Yes, you're really good at making guys miss and the jump cuts are unbelievable.

And I think he's very creative.

To me, he's a guy that needs to be part of a committee.

But I don't know if he's ever a guy that you want to give more than eight or nine touches

to a game.

I want one of the notes that I missed right here is more of a quote, pop you with a shoulder,

pop you with his shoulder tight blocker than someone who was going to consistently square

you up and deliver a proper blow.

And because of that and because the kind of lack of receiving prowess, I would say again,

I think a guy like Dwayne McBride, who I really, really like to know this tape of him running

the football.

But how do I figure out a way to get him on the field, he certainly isn't a running

back one.

And if he can't do the other things that are running back needs to do, including special

teams, how is he rosterable?

So like you must really like what he's what he's going to do as a runner.

And you have to have a roster spot for him.

So I think that kind of limits his ability to be drafted up, I'd spite a lot of production

at Nebraska.

A couple of things really quickly before we before we move on, only one fumble on nearly

300 touches in 2025.

So that part of it's really good.

He led the FPS with 826 yards on duo, an inside run, inside zone runs in 2025.

And that's probably a lot of what he would do here in Dallas.

So I do think that makes, I think he's a good fit that way.

The consensus ranking on him right now is 89th.

I'm with you.

I think 92 is too expensive.

I think once you get to like pick 112, that's where I think you could at least have the

conversation about where Johnson should land.

I spent a lot of time speaking very negatively of this guy, but that should just show you

that I agree I wouldn't take him night in the third, but I would take him in the fourth

and the reason is the tape of him running the football is extremely good.

And let me drive that home.

He understands how to run the football very well.

So I think he could come in and be a good runner of the football right away on the G.

All right.

Let's talk about Nichole Singleton, one of the most dynamic running backs in this year's

class.

Should the Cowboys take a chance on him on day three, we'll get to that next.

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All right, Lane, let's talk about Nicholas Singleton from Penn State, a super athlete at the

running back position.

What did you see on tape?

This is my guy, Marcus.

I really, really like Nicholas Singleton.

And look, I think there's a lot to question here.

There's a lot of circumstance surrounding him, but this guy is undeniably a freak of

nature.

And honestly, I think it's interesting to kind of compare the fact that the Penn State

team had two running backs and obviously we're going to talk about K-China on the third

segment.

Had two running backs that they were pairing up and it was very similar with Notre-Dame,

right?

There's one guy that's kind of the more dynamic guy and there's one that's more of the kind

of a carry guy, but love obviously got a much bigger lion's share of the carries.

And it's interesting because to me, I think that Nicholas Singleton is exactly the same

kind of athlete as Jeremiah Love is.

The difference is the skill set, the ability, right?

Jeremiah Love is an incredibly skilled running back as well, right?

We just talked about that with him and Johnson.

He has very middleing talent athletically, but he's so skilled that he makes him eligible

to be drafted in the NFL, right?

Jeremiah Love has a freak of nature athleticism and a similar skill set as what you see from

him and Johnson.

Singleton doesn't have that skill set.

He was a five star recruit.

He was the 2022 Gatorade national player of the year.

I mean, I honestly don't need to tell you.

You know better than probably me being so close and obviously being such a huge recruit

for Penn State.

What's interesting and we'll talk about this a little bit with Kachron Allen is that they

shared the backfield all four years of college, right?

So they haven't really known not sharing it, but what's really kind of intersected back

and forth is the efficiency in which Singleton has produced over those years.

This last year was by far his least productive or I would say on a per carry basis productive

a year.

And I wonder and he broke his foot in the senior bowl practices early on.

I wonder if he didn't have that issue throughout the season and it finally kind of broke at

the end of the year, right?

Because you just saw like a different type of athlete.

But anyways, here's where he is.

Here's what my notes are.

He's a physique thick lower half specifically.

I mean, he's just just as you would build it, Matt and Matt and build a player running back

right.

He's six foot, 220 pounds and he's insanely fast.

I mean, we didn't get a chance to get his his 40 time.

But I mean, again, you and I were talking about it before the show.

I think Jeremiah love right of four, three, seven, if that if that's does that sound right

to you?

Something around there.

Yeah, something like that.

Yeah.

I wouldn't be shocked if Singleton didn't it wasn't a little bit faster, honestly, like

maybe he's an incredible athlete, so I just like just putting it out there and look, the

coaching staff to their credit as much as I wanted to claw my eyes out watching that

Penn State offense, the coaching staff to their credit, try to scheme all kinds of alternative

touch opportunities for him, you know, you saw shift to jet sweep stuff, quick screens.

And the reason is is because he's exceptionally dangerous with the ball, he's he runs really

fast.

He lines up wide at a times just to draw a defensive attention and they'll end up just

carrying giving the ball to Kachron Allen up the middle.

He like I said, he shared backflip for four extremely productive seasons with Kachron

Allen vision between the tackles can be a little bit hit or miss at times.

This is where we run into the issue, right, is that he doesn't have great or least very

well developed natural instincts and eyes.

I think that means that he's probably going to be better in more gap and power scheme

stuff where it's very clear where the hole is and where the runway is.

And if you give it to him, he's going to explode through it.

He is specifically not elusive like he will run into his guys.

He'll run into your guys.

That's what I was going to say.

I feel bad for Tyler Booker and Tyler Smith that they draft this kid because their backs

are going to hurt like.

Yeah.

It's it's fair.

I'd say that for sure.

He doesn't anticipate the whole opening necessarily again.

That's why I feel like power is better for him right where he can see it.

But he is extremely powerful.

He's got power to drag tacklers around his waist.

He's extremely fast.

If he's got a runway, he can get he can break almost any any any touch to go all the way

to the end zone.

If he could avoid bodies to not hit them.

He's incredible at transitioning from receiver to runner.

And this is something this is why I like him so much.

He's dangerous in the quick passing game.

He's very dangerous in the quick passing game already because of this right.

I think there is major upside with him here because if he can clean up some of his footwork

in this too high world, he would be absolutely deadly as an underneath receiver.

You drop all your linebackage drop all your safeties deep.

You quickly get this guy the ball and ahead of steam.

He's going to pick up 10 15 yards before you even get a body on him and then when you

do get a body on him, it is going to hurt when he hits you with his with his speed.

Where does he win?

He's balanced athletic back who could shine in a role as a secondary weapon.

Here's the thing about him.

He has the skill.

Everything.

He's just isn't great at doing everything.

So he could easily be running back to in your offense right away.

Want to answer questions?

Can he improve his vision and footwork to be in the lead all around back in the NFL?

And honestly, I don't really disagree with anything you said.

He was insanely productive at Penn State and yet I don't know if he's good at football.

Like because I think he's that special of an athlete.

I have an official one.

It's not really official, but NFL scouts timed him at 436 last spring at Penn State.

You're talking about a freak athlete, somebody who's running a sub 444 at 220 pounds.

You just don't make very many of those running backs, right?

I remember being getting so burned on Christine Michael way back when on in our running back

that had all the physical traits, but just didn't have the vision or didn't have just

the natural instincts and I've always been careful not to do that again.

And I do think he's got some shades of that to his game, but you're right.

Like if you're just if you're just asking him to run like gap stuff and just getting downhill

and if the late the holes are big, like I don't see how he's not a successful player in

the NFL.

Well, I'll even go so further again, we're drafting for specifically the cowboys.

If you draft him as you're running back to and he kind of starts to slowly take over

some of the Kovante turpin rule, right?

Like imagine running this guy on a jet sweep instead of Kovante turpin, you know, I mean

again, like I think he could do a lot of that stuff and carve out a role where he's just

a another guy that you can deploy in your offense that changes the angle.

It's it's almost like if you if you blended film off the and Jaden blue into one player,

you'd get Nick Lossick.

Right.

Which is literally what we talked about doing last year, right?

I remember we're like imagine if we could blend these two guys together.

So, yeah, I mean, again, I don't think he's for everybody and I definitely wouldn't

prescribe him as a guy for a team that's looking for a starting running back.

But for what the cowboys are specifically looking for in running back, that's what I think

I get that's where I get excited about the prospect of Nick Lossick.

On the consensus board right now, pick one 30, which means, you know, in fact, during

in the injury stuff, you're probably looking at like a late fourth round early fifth

round pick it.

I'm assuming that's where you would be more than comfortable drafting him.

Correct.

I would take him earlier and I would be okay with taking him earlier and here's the thing.

I think he had a disappointing season.

He finished a disappointing season by getting injured in the senior bowl.

Those two things may be related, like we just said, the cowboy, that's one of the reasons

that I really like it is because you're getting an extreme discount on a player who you

compared to Christine Michael.

But he is a much more talented and yes, and he plays, he's a better football player than

Christine Michael is right now.

Like he, I understand why you made that, well, exactly, I understand, I understand why

you made that comparison.

I would suggest that it's not as severe as Christine Michael.

Yes.

Totally agree.

Now, I want to talk about K-Tron Allen, his running mate in that Penn State Backfield because

he's a spoiler, I like him quite a bit.

We'll get to K-Tron Allen next.

Welcome back to the lockdown Cowboys podcast.

We are discussing day three running backs that could be of interest to the Dallas Cowboys.

And let's talk about Singleton's teammate, K-Tron Allen, who was really productive during

the 2025 season.

He was a third team, all American.

He was a first team, all big 10 selection, he had 1,300 rushing yards.

What did you think when you turned on the tape?

Yeah, a four-star recruit out of IMG, right?

The Academy in Florida, top 15 ranked nationally.

I had offered from Alabama and Georgia in Ohio State.

So another extremely highly ranked running back who came in in the same class, like we

said, as running mate.

So no major long-term injury here, he left a game in Nebraska this last year in 2025,

but it was a minor thing.

And I think he ended up, as if I'm not mistaken, Penn State's all-time leading rusher,

is that right?

I think he passed this year.

So, you know, solidly built a sturdy lower half, even more solid, they're very similarly

built, as far as the numbers wise, but the distribution of where the weight is is kind

of moved around a little bit.

It feels like you have a little bit narrower hips, it was singleton, and with Alan, you've

got more of a kind of thick and solid everywhere.

Physical runner, he tries to get north and south quickly, even on plays that are designed

to get horizontal.

He's looking to get downhill very quickly.

He's got a very good vision, especially as an inside runner.

He's very efficient in getting what is blocked for him, and I think that's really why you

saw him continue to get a lot of carries with singleton, is that he is going to give

you what is blocked.

Like he may give you more than that, too, but he definitely will at least give you what

is blocked, right?

Good short area of quickness to parallel sidestep to the next gaps over, he has no problem

adjusting on the fly if things get clogged up in the lane that he's working on.

He can pull away.

He doesn't have that kind of, I'm sorry, he can't pull away.

He doesn't have that final gear to kind of destroy angles for linebackers and DBs.

It can run for big gains when there's big holes, and I think, like I said, but I don't

think he's going to create a big play with a small creeps necessarily, that's not necessarily

a game.

He can be extremely hard to bring down.

There are times when you see him even lose momentum and he's just sort of standing there

and he's fighting with defenders until they sort of force him to the ground.

Where does he win?

He's just a very extremely efficient ball carrier who's hard to bring down.

Unanswered question, where does the upside come from with him?

Because to me, my issue is that I didn't see a ton as a receiver.

I think he's a willing blocker and he's bigger and stronger, but it's a little bit like

a Johnson in some degrees, except I feel like Johnson may be even though he's not as good

as an athlete.

I think Johnson's maybe a little bit more of a skilled runner than K-Tron alumnus.

I really like his game because it's just, he's not a hard projection, and maybe this

is me just liking players that I don't have to think too hard about, but like he is a

downhill physical runner, zero career fumbles.

He's averaged over five yards per carry in four consecutive seasons, and he just gets

north and south and gets what's blocked and he'll run a guy over, and that's it.

He reminded me, I was writing it down, Gus Johnson, who played for the Ravens off for

a long time, played for the Chargers, and you know, Gus Johnson on the right team, sky

that average, five yards of carry in the NFL, and nobody ever thinks of him as a great

back or anything like that, but just a really good rotational running back that gives you

some physicality.

I think the knock on him is there's no speed.

I think he's not really an asset as a receiver.

You don't see a ton of zone concepts on his tape either.

It's really just a lot of gap, a lot of inside stuff, but that's okay.

Like if you wanted something different, the pair of Javante, it's probably not Allen,

but if you wanted a guy that can give you something similar, I do think he can do that.

I also think that, you know, again, what we're talking about our back up running backs,

right?

So you have to kind of at least consider special teams.

And I do think that a guy like H.R.

and Allen probably gives you a little bit more in some special teams.

He just hasn't done it.

That's the other thing.

He's never played any special teams, which to me, that is a concern.

That's a concern with all these running backs.

I mean, let's be honest.

None of these guys that are being drafted into the NFL's running backs have played a ton

of special teams, unless they're, you know, from a smaller school.

So you know, you think Emmett Johnson, like he's the whole offense for the rest of it.

No.

So like, I don't think he's running down and kick off.

So yeah, I think that that's something you have to keep in mind.

But I think he's got at least the body and the physicality and the mindset for it.

So although I think a single thing could be a kick returner need him to be.

Well, no, I do think Singleton does have special teams.

Yeah, because he could be a kick returner because he could be, you know, on the return

teams for sure.

So yeah, I think that's a different case.

And that's more part of his appeal, I guess.

That's why he's a very different player that I think, Kate, John Allen and Emmett Johnson.

So just judging by your tone, it goes Singleton, Johnson, Allen for you.

Yeah, there's a little gap there, right?

For me, because I do think that, again, for the fit for what we're talking about for

the Cowboys, what you're looking for, specifically someone who could be a little bit more dynamic.

I think that's a better fit for what the Cowboys were looking for.

I like Allen and Johnson and the rules that we just talked about.

But I think it's sort of limiting and I feel like there's a lot of those bodies in the

NFL already.

All right.

That is it for today's show.

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