Tony Pollard Reminds Cowboys on Monday Night Football: You Get What You (Don't) Pay For

Jerry Jones maintains the Dallas Cowboys couldn't afford Derrick Henry last offseason. Same for Tony Pollard.

While both are among the NFL's Top 15 running backs through four games, the Cowboys are saddled with the league's most impotent running game.

Moral to the story: You get what you (don't) pay for?

The Cowboys got an up-close-and-too-personal look at Henry last week when he gashed them for 151 yards and two touchdowns in a loss to the Baltimore Ravens. And if they were watching this week's Monday Night Football , they saw Pollard ... and remembered what is was like to have a running back with a burst.

In the Tennessee Titans' blowout of the Miami Dolphins, Pollard rushed 22 times for 88 yards, a touchdown and a 41-yard scamper in which - relatively speaking to the Cowboys' plodders - he looked like Olympic gold medal sprinter Noah Lyles. He scored his touchdown on a 4-yard run that sealed Tennessee's first win of the season in the final minute.

The Cowboys paid Pollard $10 million using the Franchise Tag in 2023, then let him walk into free agency. The Titans signed him in March to a three-year contract worth $21.7 million.

Instead of paying Pollard $7 million per season, the Cowboys are using a "running back by committee" featuring Ezekiel Elliott (making $3 million), Rico Dowdle ($1.25 million) and former Pro Bowl performer Dalvin Cook, who is yet to be elevated off the practice squad.

The Cowboys are saving money, but sacrificing results.

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Through four weeks they have the NFL's worst rushing attack, ranking 32nd in yards (301), 31st in carries (85) and 30th in yards per carry (3.5). Combined, Elliott and Dowdle have gained only 215 yards with a long run of 10.

The eyeball test showed Pollard's noticeable burst against the Dolphins. And his stats back up his superiority to what Dallas chose without him. Pollard has 246 rushing yards on 61 carries (4.03) and two touchdowns. He also has caught 13 passes for 87 yards.