The Cowboys waved goodbye to Julius Jones in the off season as he bolted to Seattle as a free agent.  But, the Cowboys brought in two rookie running backs who will make everyone forget that Jones even played in Dallas.  The rookies will share the load with battering ram Marion Barber.  Barber is one of the strongest running backs in the NFL as he often pushes defenders backwards when he’s not just running over them.  Barber also has good hands in the passing game.  Barber played in 16 games (0 starts) for the Cowboys last season and he carried the ball 204 times for 975 yards (4.8 ypc) with 10 TD runs.  He also caught 44 passes for 282 yards (6.4 avg) with 2 TD grabs.  Barber will likely carry the ball a little more than half of the time for the Cowboys in 2008.  Barber has now played in 45 games (3 starts) in his NFL career and he has carried the ball 477 times for 2,167 yards (4.5 ypc) with 29 TD runs.  He has also caught 85 passes for 593 yards (7.0 avg) with 4 TD grabs.

Felix Jones will likely be the lightning half of the Cowboys’ running game.  He played in 27 games (9 starts) in his last two years at Arkansas and he averaged 1,165 yards rushing, 8.1 yards per carry and 8.5 rushing TDs per season.  Jones is the perfect complement to Barber’s power as he is one of the fastest runners in the NFL.  He should put up some really good numbers as a rookie this season for the Cowboys.

Fellow rookie Tashard Choice is a better runner between the tackles than Jones but he has nowhere near that kind of speed.  Choice was very effective in his last two years at Georgia Tech as he averaged 1,426 yards rushing, 5.1 yards per carry and 11 TD runs.  Look for Choice to gets scrap carries behind Barber and Jones unless one of them is injured.  Then he would likely handle half of the load.

PROJECTED GRADE FOR THE 2008 SEASON:  A

Tony Romo really broke out last season proving that his performance in 2006 was not a fluke.  He doesn’t have the strongest arm but he gets the ball where it needs to be.  He also is only of the more mobile QBs in the league and it helps him buy time in the pocket.  He does sometimes have brain freeze similar to Brett Favre but he generally doesn’t make those plays at bad times of the game.  Romo started all 16 games for the Cowboys last season and he completed 335 of 520 passes (64.4%) for 4,211 yards with 36 TD passes and 19 interceptions (97.4 QB Rating).  He also carried the ball 31 times for 129 yards (4.2 ypc) with 2 TD runs.  The only knock on Romo so far in his career is that he hasn’t stepped up in the playoffs but it’s early enough in his career to reverse that trend.  Romo has now played in 54 games (26 starts) in his NFL career and he has completed 555 of 857 passes (64.8%) for 7,114 yards with 55 TD passes and 32 interceptions (83.1 QB Rating).  He also has carried the ball 67 times for 229 yards (3.4 ypc) with 2 TD runs.

If anything happens to Tony Romo the Cowboys would be in deep trouble as Brad Johnson’s arm appears to be shot.  If he were starting the Cowboys would have to take a few plays out of the playbook.  He also isn’t very mobile anymore.  Johnson played in all 16 games (0 starts) last season for the Cowboys and he completed 7 of 11 passes (63.6%) for 79 yards without a TD pass or an interception (85.5 QB Rating).  He also carried the ball 5 times for -5 yards (-1.0 ypc) but most of those were kneel downs in Cowboys wins.  Johnson’s main job is holding the ball on field goal and extra point attempts and the Cowboys hope that’s all he has to do this year.  Johnson has now played in 161 games (122 starts) in his NFL career and he has completed 2,627 of 4,248 passes (61.8%) for 28,627 yards with 164 TD passes and 117 interceptions (83.1 QB Rating.  He also has carried the ball 274 times for 658 yards (2.4 ypc) with 8 TD runs.

Richard Bartel will be the #3 QB of the Cowboys but he doesn’t have much upside.

PROJECTED GRADE FOR THE 2008 SEASON:  A-

Erik Walden was impressive as a DE in college but he’s too small to play end in the pros.  He is 6′2″, 238 pounds and his main skill is getting to the QB.  He played in 44 games (21 starts) at Middle Tennessee State and he made 152 tackles, had 22.5 sacks, 40 tackles for a loss and forced 6 fumbles.  He is a project but the Cowboys think he has a nice upside.

Orlando Scandrick was a three year starter at Boise State but his stock dropped when he decided to declare for the draft instead of playing his senior season.  Scandrick is only 5′10″, 192 pounds but he is very fast and that should help him make the Cowboys’ roster.  He played in 39 games (38 starts) at Boise State and he made 152 tackles, had 3.5 sacks, 12.5 tackles for a loss, forced 5 fumbles, broke up 24 passes and had 4 interceptions.  Scandrick will likely have to make his way onto the team thru special teams as the Cowboys are loaded at corner.

The Cowboys didn’t really need another running back but Tashard Choice was just too good to pass up in the 4th round.  He is only 5′8″, but he weighs in at 210 pounds and he’s a power runner.  He carried the Georgia Tech offense the last two seasons and he might push for playing time early on this season.  He’s a tad on the slow side time wise running a 4.55 40 but he plays faster than that on Game Days.  Choice played in 46 games (27 starts) in his career at Georgia Tech and he carried the ball 697 times for 3,465 yards (5.0 ypc) with 28 TD runs.  He also caught 41 passes for 288 yards (7.0 avg) without a TD.  Even though the Cowboys didn’t need another RB this was a good pick for them.