National Football League

Lance Dunbar on pace to earn Cowboys' passing down RB role

Published Jun. 5, 2015 3:28 p.m. ET

foxsports

The Lance Dunbar hype train reached absurd levels last offseason. When the Dallas Cowboys hired offensive coordinator Scott Linehan, Dunbar was expected to be the 1b to DeMarco Murray's 1a in the Cowboys' running back rotation. Previously, Linehan had leaned heavily on a two back rotation during all of his previous coaching stints. Dunbar put together an impressive training camp, but it wasn't enough to earn him snaps in the regular season after Murray took the 2014 season by storm. It's early, but Dunbar is once again shining during the Cowboys' OTAs practices. This time, he doesn't have Murray to worry about.

According to Todd Archer of ESPN, Dunbar was dominant during the Cowboys' OTA practice on Wednesday. Archer noted that Dunbar worked with the first team unit during the team's two-minute drill to close out practice. He caught four passes during that drill and also shined during the 7-on-7 drills earlier in practice.

In practice on Wednesday, he specifically caught the eye of veteran tight end and team leader Jason Witten.

“He understands it’s an opportunity for him on third down," said Witten, per Clarence Hill of the Star-Telegram. "Out of the backfield on routes, he is a huge mismatch. (What he did in practice) was a good example of that."

It's no surprise that the Cowboys' linebackers can't keep up with Dunbar in the 7-on-7 drills. Dunbar checks in at in at 5-foot-8 and 205 pounds with a 4.47 40-yard-dash and a 35-inch vertical. He has elite lateral agility and explosion, and this makes him very difficult to cover as a receiver out of the backfield. Dunbar's NFL career has been slowed down by injuries and the players ahead of him, but he was very productive at the collegiate level. He accumulated 4,224 rushing yards, 1,033 receiving yards, and 49 combined touchdowns while playing at North Texas.

It's no secret that Dunbar's quickest path to playing time is to earn the role of the Cowboys' passing down back. This back comes in for hurry-up offensive situations, third downs and two-minute offense. In 2014, 62 of 82 total pass attempts to a running back went to Murray. There's a lot of targets to go around now with Murray gone, and Dunbar has a good chance to collect some of them.

Dunbar likes what he's been seeing in practice so far, but he knows that the only way to earn opportunities in the real games is to keep grinding away in practice.

"I'm just competing every day," Dunbar said, per Clarence Hill of the Star-Telegram. "Whatever happens (with the starting job) happens. But I know I'm going to have a role. Since DeMarco is gone, there is lot to be done."

Dunbar is not bitter at all about the 2014 season where he saw just 60 total touches. He thinks on a bigger scale and puts the team's success first.

"He was a back that could do everything," Dunbar said. "It was his time. It was frustrating, but at the same time it was what was best for the team. It was working. We were winning. Why change it up? But I feel good about my opportunities this year."

Now that Murray is no longer a Cowboy, Dunbar can set his sights on carving out a major role for 2015. The passing down back role is definitely on his radar first, but with unproven and injury prone competition surrounding him on the depth chart at running back, he may be able to carve out an even bigger role.

"Everybody would like to have a guy like Dunbar. Once you find one, you've got to find things for him to do and you've got to make sure that he's involved in the gameplan," running backs coach Gary Brown said to reporters last July. "He brings a whole different dimension, a whole different vibe in our room as far as what he does and we're looking forward to using him as a weapon as well.

"Well, he's a guy that's going to be a complete weapon. We can line him up anywhere on the team-tailback spot, at the wide receiver spot, in the slot," Brown said.

If he does become the complete weapon that Brown predicted that he eventually would, don't be surprised if Dunbar is the back who ends up with the most total touches in the Cowboys' backfield in 2015.

(h/t ESPN)

Photo Credit: Kevin Carden/USA TODAY Sports