Dallas Cowboys running back Deuce Vaughn waits to see if he’ll make the 53-man roster

Coming into the Dallas Cowboys final preseason game the running back room was one of the team’s biggest question makrs.

Some media pundits consider that the Dallas Cowboys have the worst running back room in the NFL.

Head coach Mike McCarthy said after Saturday’s loss to the Los Angeles Raiders, that the team would approach running back by committee. Deuce Vaughn, who had 87 yards on 14 carries, during the preseason topped the preseason rushing chart.

Keep in mind starter Ezekeil Elliot did not play a down.

Vaughn had 53 yards on nine carries as a part of a successful day on the ground for the Cowboys who ran for 246 yards on 41 carries with one rushing touchdown in the team’s 23-17 loss to the Chargers.

The lone touchdown was scored by Trey Lance, who also led the team in rushing with 90 yards.

Vaughn was drafted in the sixth round of the 2023 NFL Draft.

Vaughn’s selection was special because of his father. Chris Vaughn, Deuce’s father, is the assistant director of college scouting for the Cowboys and on draft day told his son he would be joining him in Dallas.

Vaughan said he continues to try to get better and is hopeful of earning a spot on the 53-man roster, which must be finalized by Tuesday afternoon.

“Just come in and just proving myself all over again, trying to get 1% better every single day, throughout camp, throughout these times, and come out here and just play my brand of football, just try to put great things on tape every single day. That’s a testament to everybody inside our building, learned a whole bunch this past year and this summer going into this season. So I’m excited.”

Vaughn said he’s willing to do anything asked of him to help the team win.

“I’ve always been a guy that whatever is asked of me from a program, the organization, I’m going to go and do, I’m going to put my head down, I’m going to attack it with hard work. Whether that be returning, whether that be the backfield, whether that be the receiver. Whatever I have to do to give myself an opportunity to help this team win, I’m going to do.”

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones wouldn’t guarantee that Vaughan would be on the roster and be in uniform when Dallas travels to Cleveland on Sept. 8 for the opener.

“He obviously has got some very special talent, and you gotta find a place for that, you gotta find a place for it on Sunday to get it on the field,” said Jones, “That will be the job of the next few days, of weighing what a roster spot means, he’s sitting right there though, he is gadget juice, and at non-gadget times. He’s gonna be interesting for us,” said Jones.

Vaughn said he’s done all he can do and is confident in his body of work and said the decision was in God’s hands and that he would await it with his family.

Regardless of whether Vaughn makes the team, the Cowboys will have new faces in the backfield after last year’s starter, Tony Pollard, signed with the Tennessee Titans in free agency.

Dallas followed suit by making signings of their own, adding Royce Freemen, Ezekiel Elliot and Nathaniel Peat in the offseason to a running back room with Vaughn, Malik Davis and Rico Dowdle returning from last season.

Elliott, like many other Cowboys including Dak Prescott, hasn’t played during the preseason, but is no longer the bell cow running back he was during his first stint with the Cowboys from 2016-2022. Last season Elliot had the lowest carries (184), yards (642), yards per carry (3.5) and rushing touchdowns (3) of his career.