The Dallas Cowboys are suddenly down another playmaker. With Tony Romo out until at least Thanksgiving and Dez Bryant potentially out until after the team's first bye week, the Cowboys have been relying on depth to get them by this season. Lance Dunbar was the star of that depth as he continued to make the biggest impact on the offense. However, the Cowboys will need to find someone new because Dunbar has been ruled out for the rest of the season.
Head coach Jason Garrett told the media via ESPN.com that Dunbar was out for the season after an MRI revealed the running back tore his ACL and MCL following a kickoff return against the New Orleans Saints. In Dunbar's first three games of the season he had 21 catches for 215 yards and was on pace to have the most receptions by a running back. Now the Cowboys must look for answers as quarterback Brandon Weeden makes it clear that his absence leaves a big hole.
"So much," said Weeden, per ESPN.com. "He does a lot out of the backfield for us. Obviously we saw that last week. And he ran the ball with a couple of big runs. He's electric."
The Cowboys could get lucky as they might just have a star in the making with Christine Michael. The Cowboys traded for the running back prior to the season and he was officially active in Week 4, but saw little playing time. There is a lot of talk that Michael could be a major factor in the Cowboys' offense coming up. Fantasy experts at SBNation.com are making the case that Michael is a waiver option heading into Week 5. Team vice president Stephen Jones told the media that Michael's going to be able and step up in place of Dunbar and get a bigger role in the offense.
Another issue facing the Cowboys is Joseph Randle who may be falling out of favor with Dallas. Randle was benched after carelessly reaching out into the end zone for a touchdown after being told not to. The Cowboys were not thrilled with the running back even if he did get three touchdowns the week prior. The Cowboys could give more carries to Darren McFadden or they could look elsewhere on the market for help.
"Lance was a weapon for us and we tried to use him as a weapon in a lot of different ways to impact our offense and impact the game," Garrett said, via DallasNews.com. "To say we have someone in house who is going to do those same kinds of things, I don't know that we have somebody like that. But we have guys in house who can do different things."
The Cowboys will get some relief when Bryant returns potentially after the team's bye week. The Cowboys will first see what they have in Michael before making a call on adding to the roster. For now heading into Week 5, Jason Witten is their biggest threat on offense along with Terrance Williams if Weeden can get him the ball.
