Malik Davis likely has one path in the running back competition to make the roster
Running back Malik Davis’ career took a backward step last season. Still with the Dallas Cowboys and their tumultuous RB situation in his third year, is Davis a contender for a roster spot in 2024 or nothing more than a camp body?
Undrafted out of Florida in 2022, Davis signed with Dallas and impressed as a ball-carrier in training camp and preseason. He was in what felt like a neck-and-neck competition with Rico Dowdle for the bottom of the depth chart. However, with Ezekiel Elliott and Tony Pollard already commanding the carries that season, the Cowboys needed their third RB to provide special teams value. That helped Dowdle to make the roster and put Davis on the practice squad.
Dowdle was injured in mid-October and Davis was elevated for the final 12 games of the year. While stuck behind Zeke and Pollard, he did get a few offensive looks, mostly in bench-emptying situations, and finished with 38 carries for 161 yards and one touchdown, plus six catches for 63 yards.
With Elliott gone last year, Davis and Dowdle found themselves in a new battle for the backup job behind Pollard. Dowdle prevailed again, and with Deuce Vaughn claiming a roster spot it sent Davis back to the practice squad. This time around, he’d never get called up for a game.
Davis now enters his third season as a dark horse candidate in Dallas’ next RB competition. Elliott’s back, Dowdle and Vaughn are still around, and now veteran Royce Freeman is also in the mix. Throw in third-year prospect Snoop Conner and you have six guys vying for no more than three roster spots. There’s even a chance it could be two, depending on how the team plans to use versatile players like FB Hunter Luepke and WR KaVontae Turpin.
Given the scene, it’s fair to ask if Davis even has a chance. We know Zeke will take one spot and Dowdle’s beaten him twice before. If Vaughn proves why the Cowboys made him one of their sixth-round picks a year ago, that would fill up the depth chart quickly. Freeman may seem redundant after the team re-signed Elliott, but if Zeke were to get hurt he’d have a clear path to the 53 as the short-yardage back.
Even Conner shouldn’t be ignored here. He’s over two years younger than Davis and was a fifth-round pick in 2022 by Jacksonville; the same year that Davis went undrafted. The Cowboys just added him as a free agent last January, so it’s entirely possible that he’ll outshine some of his competition in the months ahead. If nothing else, he could push Davis off the practice squad as a younger prospect with potentially more upside.
Barring injuries, if Malik Davis is going to stick around in Dallas this year his only path may be to earn the starting job. He’s not going to get it by outmuscling Elliott or Freeman, outworking Dowdle on special teams, or claiming a niche role like Vaughn. But with RB1 seemingly up for grabs right now, Davis has to show the coaches that he can do the most with what the offensive line is offering.
Ironically, despite how the last two years have gone, that could give Davis his best shot ever. He was never going to wrest carries away from Elliott and Pollard in past seasons, but now his biggest competition for RB1 is probably Dowdle. If the decision between them now comes down to offensive value over special teams, Davis will be at less of a disadvantage.
As things currently stand, Malik Davis probably isn’t going to make the Cowboys’ roster in 2024. He may not even get to the practice squad. But he’s hung around the last two seasons and this offseason because, at times, he’s flashed as much potential with the ball in his hands as the team’s current favorite to start. That does put some intrigue around Davis going forward; a potential outhouse-to-penthouse story as Dallas builds this season’s roster.