Former undrafted Cowboys player is set to be a big part of the offense in 2024

The Dallas Cowboys still have a lot to figure out when it comes to their running back room. Will they make Ezekiel Elliott or Rico Dowdle the leader of their "RB committee"? Will Deuce Vaughn or Royce Freeman make the cut?

But they appear to be decided about one young player taking on a much bigger role: RB/FB Hunter Luepke.

A second-year undrafted player, Luepke is turning heads around in practice and he's trending toward playing a whole lot of football in 2024.

Luepke had the fourth-highest special teams snap count on the Cowboys last year but his involvement on offense was fairly limited. When he did get on the field, his assignments were pretty straightforward as he only had six rush attempts and four targets all year. In other words, he was simply tasked with the usual fullback blocking. A costly fumble against the Miami Dolphins in Week 16 didn't help.

But now, the Cowboys want more out of him. Head coach Mike McCarthy revealed over the weekend that they were cross-training Luepke with the tight ends. To back it up, on Saturday's Blue-White Scrimmage, Luepke had a very interesting route while lining up, essentially, as a flexed out tight end.

In the play, which you can see below, Luepke is flexed out a few yards away from the right tackle and runs a deep crosser route. He seemingly needs to adjust his route after contact from the linebacker forces him to work upfield, but the fullback beats his man with speed to make a tough grab going to the ground.

It's just a rep from practice, but that's what the Cowboys coaching staff is looking for when claiming Luepke is working with the tight ends and that they want to use him beyond usual fullback duties.

In an earlier practice in camp, Luepke was also making catches out of the backfield on checkdown routes. What makes it all more intriguing is that the Cowboys don't truly have a receiving back specialist. Considering Luepke did a lot of that in college and is now getting a chance to do it in Dallas too, it wouldn't be a surprise to see him play a significant role in the passing game the upcoming season.

To get Luepke on the field more often, expect more 21 personnel groups (2 running backs, 1 tight end) to be run by the coaching staff.

"I'd say there's a little bit more 21 (personnel) this year," Luepke told reporters on Saturday . "We're going to expand the package a little bit hopefully throughout the season even more, I'm excited for that."

Related: Awesome Cowboys practice clip shows hard, old-school coaching is back in Dallas