The offensive department of the Cowboys is going through a complete revamp. Are the fans even keeping up with the Cowboys’ hiring department? Their new head coach was promoted from the offensive coordinator (OC) role. Recently, they filled the OC position by bringing in Klayton Adams. In between, they also hired Derrick Foster as the new running backs (RB) coach. All this was prompted by a dismal 2024 season.

And while the Cowboys look like they are doing the right things, not everyone is convinced. In fact, as far as expert opinion goes, a Cowboys legend has come out questioning the direction of the reasoning. Well, he is directly questioning the man who influences it all – the General Manager of the Dallas Cowboys, Jerry Jones.

3-time Super Bowl winner with the Cowboys, Emmitt Smith, thinks nothing’s gonna get solved by the Cowboys just copying the other team’s quarterback method. He believes the Cowboys should do what suits them. As a host on the “Maggie & Perloff Show”, Smith pressed down on what he thinks the Cowboys should do: “Quit trying to do what everyone else is doing in the National Football League. Your quarterback is not Patrick Mahomes. He’s not Josh Allen, he’s not Joe Burrow. He’s Dak Prescott.”

Smith says the Cowboys have the resources to run the ball. It’s just that they have not been utilized properly: “You trying to tell me Ezekiel Elliott and Rico Dowdle could not carry the team? No. There was no commitment to run the football. And when there was a commitment, when Dak Prescott went down, Rico ran the ball well.”

The NFL legend is adamant the Cowboys can run the ball with quarterbacks like Dak Prescott and Cooper Rush as long as they move away from a passing game and create ‘runs for the running game.’ And then, they have to do it consistently: “And then you start having this level of balance. And start to show some kind of consistency. Need to do that the whole entire year. That’s the formula that I’m talking about.”

Jerry Jones has gone radical this preseason. He has, in fact, made the changes that would make a fan think the Cowboys are working on their running game. But for Emmitt, it was never about personnel.

Jerry Jones thinks a new RB is the answer; Emmitt Smith doesn’t

Since the addition of Klayton Adams to the squad, the chatter has gone up about highly rated RB Ashton Jeanty being drafted by the Cowboys. The Boise State graduate’s major strength is his running game. In the 2024 season, he had 2601 rushing yards on 374 rushing attempts. He averages 7 yards per rush attempt and has the longest rush of 77 yards.

With such figures, he looks like the right option to go for. But Emmitt Smith says the Cowboys can’t solve their issues with the Jeanty signing: “If he comes to the Cowboys right now… he’s going to get beat up. I don’t think we’re ready. We don’t have the right mindset. We don’t have the right commitments.”

He elaborates that drafting exciting talents won’t work out unless the Cowboys take a systemic shift. He thinks the Cowboys QBs have been set up to stay in the pocket and play a passing game for the tight ends and wide receivers instead of using the RBs they had.

That their running game was poor goes without saying—27th in rushing yards per game, 24th in rushing attempts, 30th in yards per rush attempt, 24th in rushing 1st downs per game. To top it off—last place in rushing touchdowns per game. The problem is so apparent.

Is someone showing Jerry Jones this clip? The fortunes of the Cowboys depend on how their preseason surgery goes. They need the best minds and the most qualified expertise to not ruin things before they even get started.