For much of the year Jaydon Blue couldn’t earn a jersey for the Dallas Cowboys.
Yet, in a largely meaningless game, which also ended in a loss, Blue showed Cowboys fans why the team exhausted a draft pick on him.
The rookie running back rushed for a career high 64 yards and one touchdown in Dallas’ 34-17 loss to the New York Giants, earning the bulk of the carries in his first game since Oct. 26.
Blue capped his rookie season with just 38 attempts, 16 of which came in the Cowboys’ Week 18 game where Nos. 1 and 2 running backs Javonte Williams and Malik Davis were inactive.
Dallas (7-9-1) finished its year with four losses in its final five games.
Jaydon Blue ‘Felt Great’ Playing Against The Giants
Blue was a fifth-round pick, ahead of breakout running backs Kyle Monangai and Ollie Gordon, after a solid career at the University of Texas.
But he was the clear No. 4 running back on the Dallas depth chart, even after veteran Miles Sanders went down for the year with a knee injury. Blue played just 78 snaps this season — Monangai had 783 rushing yards and even Gordon finished the year with 70 rushing attempts.
But with both Williams and Davis earning the final game off after a season’s worth of wear and tear, Blue took the lion’s share of carries Sunday and showed the Cowboys what he could do. He spoke about how good it felt to get on the field.
“I felt great to be out here and get to showcase what I can do,” Blue said. “I was just hungry. I feel like I haven’t played in a while and I knew this was the last [game] of the year, so I wanted to seize the opportunity.”
Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer has been critical of Blue’s work ethic throughout the season — he relented before Week 18 that Blue’s standard had improved throughout the year.
“A huge part of our job as coaches is to develop young players,” Schottenheimer said last week. “Jaydon is a guy that has been getting better, that has been improving. Has it been up and down and inconsistent? Absolutely it has. But that’s part of young players. But it doesn’t mean that we’re not excited to have Jaydon, it doesn’t mean we don’t expect great things from Jaydon.”
Blue acknowledged that he’s receiving Schottenheimer’s message and had that in mind in the season finale.
“I’ve been working hard and practicing, making sure I’m doing the little things so I can perform whenever the time is needed,” Blue said. “At this level, talent isn’t everything, so I have to make sure I’m putting in the work so that I can continue to have those opportunities.”
Jaydon Blue Has A Huge Opportunity in 2026
The Cowboys’ entire roster is fluid, as most NFL teams’ tend to be. But their running-backs room looks the most up in the air heading into the offseason.
Williams is about to take his 1,201-yard, 11-touchdown season into free agency, and Sanders’ career may be over. That may leave Davis, Blue, Hunter Luepke and Phil Mafah as the only backs on the roster, and Blue is by far the most pedigreed of that group — even though he fell behind Luepke and Davis on the depth chart in 2025.
“There were some good things I did,” Blue said, “but there’s also some things I can take and build on going into next year.”
With Dallas likely to try and lock up 1A wide receiver George Pickens, and undoubtedly make upgrades to its 32nd-ranked defense, that quartet could be the Cowboys’ RB room next year. If Blue has figured out his work ethic, the 5-9, 196-pound bowling-ball-like back could be a huge asset, especially near the goal line.
Cowboys Rookie RB Jaydon Blue Sends Honest Message After Breakout Game