Spoiler alert: The Cowboys' running back room is still in turmoil. Ignoring the position throughout the entire 2024 NFL Draft and then reuniting with Ezekiel Elliott did little to inspire confidence in the team's ability to put up a solid game in 2024.
Most of the talk about the Cowboys' running backs has focused on Elliott and Rico Doodle, who had 361 rushing yards, 144 receiving yards and four total touchdowns as Tony Pollard's backup. There's good reason for this, as these two will most likely account for the majority of carries in 2024.
However, there is one player who hasn't been mentioned much so far. This is a player that everyone was paying attention to at this time exactly one year ago. Deuce Vaughn made national headlines with his heartwarming story of being drafted by the team where his father works as an assistant director of college scouting.
But Bourne wasn't just a good story. In three seasons at Kansas State, he had 3,604 rushing yards, 1,280 receiving yards, and 43 total touchdowns. He exceeded 1,400 rushing yards in each of his final two years with the Wildcats and never had less than 375 receiving yards in a season. It was all despite his height of 5 feet 6 inches.
Vaughn continued to shine in the preseason. Vaughn played against second and third stringers and showed off his explosiveness with 64 rushing yards and two touchdowns on 13 carries. Vaughn looked so good that Dallas didn't even play Vaughn in the third and final game of the preseason, as he had already solidified his spot on the roster.
The coaching staff also made a good effort to get Bourne involved once the regular season started — he had 25 touches in the first five games — but the rookie wasn't fully capable of fulfilling his role. I had a hard time. As a result, Vaughn will be out of action for most of the rest of the year, and his hype has cooled considerably.
However, of the first five games in which Vaughn had a consistent workload, only one (against the 49ers, where everything went wrong) featured all five starters on the offensive line. Worth noting. Bourne wasn't the only one struggling at the time, as the Cowboys' entire run game struggled during that period.
Still, much of the sentiment from fans and media isn't focused on Bourne at all. This could be a mistake, as Vaughn's great preseason performance from a year ago is still happening and the running back will only get more comfortable in this year's offense. The fact that the Cowboys didn't draft a running back, and even chose Marist Liufau over two different running back candidates, probably means the team still has confidence in their diminutive running back. It would suggest that there is.
Will McCray went out of his way to mention Bourne in a recent interview with 105.3 The Fan after the draft. When he was asked about running backs, specifically undrafted rookie Nathaniel Peete, McCray said:
… What we added to our running back room was the element of another explosive player with him. And add Sieg, [Royce] I think with the players we have returning in addition to Freeman, we have a balanced group. It's no longer a single number one running back. It is carried out by a committee.
I'm excited about the potential of that group of players, which will add an element of speed and explosiveness to our offense. And let's not forget the deuce. We drafted him last year and we're adding pieces to that because we should have more opportunities this year and the coaches will find a way to utilize all those pieces.
The idea that Vaughn might make a big jump from his rookie year to this season isn't entirely unfounded. Looking at the drafts over the past five years (2018-2022), there have been 25 running backs taken after the 200th overall pick. Of these 25 players of his, eight saw a significant increase in usage and production in his second year in the NFL. Notable names include Isaiah Pacheco, Myles Gaskin, Boston Scott, and Khalil Herbert.
Obviously, this doesn't guarantee Vaughn will break out in his second season, and it's no wonder running backs outside the top 200 have poor batting averages. But Vaughn doesn't face much of a challenge in making the leap from last year to this year.
Given how the Cowboys have reinvented their offensive line this offseason and the committee approach they're clearly taking with their running back room, don't be surprised if Bourne feels consistently busy on Sundays. . If so, it wouldn't be too far-fetched to see him take off again.