PHOENIX -- The Dallas Cowboys won't know for sure who will be their starting running back in 2015 until a decision is made on DeMarco Murray or by DeMarco Murray.
If Murray does not re-sign, the Cowboys won’t know if Joseph Randle will be the starter, some early draft pick will be the starter or some free agent will be the starter.
But they will know how they want to run the ball.
“I just think we build on what we did,” offensive coordinator Scott Linehan said. “I think we obviously were very successful at it. I give a lot of credit to [new offensive line coach Frank Pollack] and some of the things we’re doing too. They were in place before I got here. Some of the concepts he brought from Houston I think are good fits for DeMarco. But we’ll look at it all and we’ll say, 'These run types fit this player,' and 'This player did this the best.' Once you go through and evaluate our season again. It’s amazing what you either confirm that you already knew or you might say, ‘What were we thinking? We ran this play twice and we got 15 yards on one and 20 on another and decided not to run it again?' That’s the kind of stuff you go through."
Murray led the NFL with 1,845 yards on 392 carries with 13 touchdowns. Randle carried the ball just 51 times but gained 343 yards and had three touchdowns. The draft class appears to be strong. However, a running back hasn’t been picked in the first round the last two years. There could be several free agents that attract the Cowboys if Murray’s price tag is too high, such as Mark Ingram.
Jason Garrett and Linehan want Murray to return in 2015. They realize his importance to the Cowboys' success.
But they can’t get caught up in the business of the NFL.
“I know we’ll do everything we can to get all of our current players back under contract that aren’t,” Linehan said. “There are business aspects that we’ll have to cross potentially but you don’t concern yourself with it. You’ve just got to place people in those positions in your mind hypothetically or if you already know, and then you move forward. Free agency is not for a while and we’ll see a lot of things between now and then and you just kind of stay with -- it’s probably an overused term -- but the process to go start hitting the evaluations of our team and our scheme and do all of that and everything else will take care of itself.”