The NFL is an opportunity-based league. For some, those opportunities come earlier and more often than others. For others, sometimes there is just one shot to make an impact to earn a spot moving forward.
That is especially prevalent with undrafted free agents.
In a season for the Dallas Cowboys that will see at least 12 players go on the injured reserve list, opportunity has been more frequent for lower spots on the depth chart in 2024 than other seasons, and with that has come new names making big impacts.
Despite the mounting injuries and shuffling in the starting lineup for much of the last seven weeks without quarterback Dak Prescott, the Cowboys have been able to put together three wins in the last four weeks.
In Sunday’s 30-14 win against the Carolina Panthers, one touchdown play early in the second half sums up the presence of opportunity this season along with the following execution and production that has come in the last few weeks.
With 12:46 left in the third quarter, the Cowboys offense faced a second-and-five from the Carolina 11-yard line. Quarterback Cooper Rush ran a play-action fake to running back Rico Dowdle before scrambling right off-script and finding Jalen Tolbert in the back of the end zone for the team’s second touchdown of the day.
On the play, Dallas had seven of its 11 players on the field that were undrafted free agents: Rush, Dowdle, fullback Hunter Luepke, center Brock Hoffman, right guard T.J. Bass, right tackle Terence Steele and tight end Brevyn Spann-Ford.
“It was kind of crazy,” Hoffman said of the play. “When you got guys that are hungry and didn’t get all of the glitz and glamour coming into the league, guys that are undrafted have to fight every day.”
The Cowboys are in a position where they have to trust their depth to finish the season, whether it ends on a high note or not. If the last four weeks are any indication, that trust has been well-placed by the coaching staff.
“I’m just proud of those guys,” head coach Mike McCarthy said. “I think it’s all an example of it’s not where you started. You just keep working and your opportunity comes. I think they clearly have taken advantage of it. I think that’s awesome.”
It’s hard to argue that any player has had as much of an impact over the last four weeks than running back Rico Dowdle. For a player that has patiently waited for his opportunity since going undrafted in 2020, Dowdle has put together a three-game stretch that has seen him run for more yards (392) than any player in the NFL.
“I start with the journey part,” Dowdle said when asked what he credits his hot streak to. “Being undrafted took an effect on me. I always felt like I had something to prove since I came in. When you’re undrafted, it’s a different process to getting to where you want to go. I stuck to it, I’ve been able to hang around here and it’s finally paying off.”
That rightful chip on the shoulder of any player that goes undrafted is something that coaches realize. In some cases – much like the Cowboys’ current one – it’s something they can take advantage of.
“I think there’s something to the guys that are undrafted,” offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer said. “There’s a major, major chip on their shoulder that fuels them. They feel like they are overlooked and it bothers them. It feeds them and makes them do the little things before and after practice. In this league, you’re going to have to play with those guys.”
For a player like Brock Hoffman, his on-field nastiness and after-the-play extracurriculars that often see him jawing with opposing players have helped paint the identity of an offensive group that is finding a late-season stride.
“You gotta do the little things right and you can’t make the same mistake twice, because teams won’t give you a second chance the way they will a draft pick,” Hoffman said. “That’s the realness of the NFL and the mindset that a lot of guys that are undrafted have.”