Oliver Hoyte looks in line to be the starting fullback for the Cowboys this season.  He played in 12 games (5 starts) last season and he caught 2 passes for 10 yards and he made 4 tackles on special teams as a rookie.  Lousaka Polite is the likely back up at fullback for the Cowboys.  He played in 12 games (0 starts) last season for the Cowboys and he carried the ball 7 times for 18 yards (2.6 ypc) and he also caught 2 passes for 21 yards (10.5 avg).  He has played in 27 games (3 starts) in his NFL career and he has carried the ball 9 times for 26 yards (2.9 ypc) and he has caught 12 passes for 97 yards (8.1 avg) with 1 TD grab.  Rookie Deon Anderson has the all-around potential to win the starting job outright as he is a better runner than either Hoyte or Polite.

Despite drafting Nick Folk in the 6th round of the draft it seems as if Gramatica will have a leg up in the competition.  It’s likely that the Cowboys drafted Folk to kick off to save Gramatica’s leg.  Gramatica hit 77.8% of his field goal attempts last season and he made all 23 of his extra points finishing with 44 points for the Cowboys last year.  Gramatica was 4 for 4 on field goals of 39 yards or less and he converted 3 of 5 field goals of 40+ yards.

Gramatica has now played in 101 career NFL games and he has scored 636 points for an average of 6.3 points per game.  He has made 144 of 188 (76.6%) field goals and 204 of 206 extra points.

The Cowboys split the carries between Julius Jones and Marion Barber last season and the results were incredible.  Between them they rushed for 1,738 yards and 18 TDs last season.  The Cowboys will likely split the carries again this season but they will probably be a little more evenly distributed.  Julius Jones was the running back that worked a little more last season.  He started all 16 games last season and he carried the ball 267 times for 1,067 yards (4.1 ypc) with 4 TD runs.  He also caught 9 passes for 142 yards (15.8 avg).  Jones is a much faster back than Barber is but he’s a little more prone to get dinged up which bothered Coach Parcells the last couple of seasons.  That is part of the reason why his workload will be cut down a little bit this year.  He has now played in 37 games (35 starts) in his NFL career so far and he has carried the football 721 times for 2,896 yards (4.0 ypc) with 16 TD runs.  He also has caught 61 passes for 469 yards (7.7 avg) with 0 TD grabs.

Marion Barber is the tough guy of the running back corps as he would rather run over you than around you.  He will likely see his workload increase a little bit this season in an effort to keep Julius Jones close to 100% this season.  Barber played in all 16 games (1 start) last season and he carried the ball 135 times for 654 yards (4.8 ypc) with 14 TD runs.  He also has caught 23 passes for 196 yards (8.5 avg) with 2 TD grabs.  Look for Barber to continue to due the heavy lifting in short yardage situations and around the goal line.  If you are going to draft a running back in a Fantasy League from the Cowboys….Barber is the man.  Barber has now played in 29 games (3 starts) in his NFL career and he has carried the ball 273 times for 1,192 yards (4.4 ypc) with 19 TD runs.  He has also caught 41 passes for 311 yards (7.6 avg) with 2 TD grabs.

Tyson Thompson will be the #3 running back for the Cowboys again this season.  He missed the last 9 games last season due to injury.  He is a big back that’s more like Barber than he is like Jones.  Thompson likely won’t get man carries this season unless Jones or Barber gets injured this season.  He played in 7 games (0 starts) last season and he carried the ball 13 times for 30 yards (2.3 ypc) with 1 TD run.  He also returned 21 kickoffs for 546 yards (26.0 avg).  Thompson is still in the early stages of his career so he could improve soon.  He has played in 22 games (0 starts) in his NFL career and he has carried the ball 59 times for 212 yards (3.6 ypc) with 1 TD run and he has caught 3 passes for 16 yards (5.3 avg).  Thompson’s biggest role with the Cowboys in his career has been as a kickoff returner as he has returned 78 kickoffs for 1,945 yards (24.9 avg) with 0 TDs.