In this article
FRISCO, Texas — Dallas Cowboys offensive coordinator Klayton Adams said Thursday that Dallas has to be careful with Javonte Williams, who has carried at least 20 times in each of the last three games. Adams also said the Cowboys still have to settle on a second running back.
Williams ran 25 times for 155 yards and a touchdown in the Oct. 26 win at the Philadelphia Eagles. He carried 24 times for 56 yards in the Nov. 1 overtime loss to the Arizona Cardinals. At Indianapolis on Sunday, he had 20 carries for 101 yards and scored the winning touchdown on a 1-yard run with 1:08 left in the 27-23 win over the Indianapolis Colts.
Through nine games, Williams has 154 carries for 629 yards and 9 touchdowns. He did not reach 20 carries in any of Dallas’ first six games.
Backup Tyler Goodson ran 12 times for 77 yards at Indianapolis before a knee injury that Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer said Monday will cost him multiple weeks. Dallas signed Kendre Miller to its practice squad Wednesday, joining Israel Abanikanda and Jashaun Corbin.
Both parts of the workload concern Adams: the carries Williams has taken and the need for a second running back to take some of them.
“Short answer, yes and yes,” Adams said. “Javonte would say no, give me 50 carries, but the truth of the matter is that, yeah, those numbers are real, and he’s a physical runner who seeks contact, and he’s done a great job for us, but we need to be on top of that.”
“And again, the next man up type thing, we’ve got to figure out who that’s going to be, and we’ve got to figure out how to use them properly and put them in positions where they can help us be successful by being successful,” Adams continued. “But, yes, we’ve got to be careful because you get into this time of year, and it’s really easy to wear somebody out, and we don’t need to do that.”
Klayton Adams On Running Back And Tight End Depth
Tight end Jake Ferguson caught a 10-yard touchdown pass on fourth-and-2 at Indianapolis and was hurt on an 11-yard catch in the third quarter. Schottenheimer said Monday that Ferguson will also miss multiple weeks with a knee injury.
With Ferguson and Goodson both out of practice Wednesday and Thursday, Adams said Dallas is building its personnel groups around the defensive response it wants to draw.
“Yeah, I think you just try to, personnel groupings start with who the best players are and who can help you succeed on a play,” Adams explained. “But I also think the other layer to personnel groupings is what response is it eliciting from the defense. And so if you’re trying to get sub defense or base defense, sometimes you can get that done by using another tight end or by using another receiver. And so we just try to be creative when you have depth issues with, all right, what are we trying to get done here and can that person do that job?”
“So those are things that we’re looking at for sure,” Adams continued. “Nobody cares if you got injuries. So we just got to try to get the end goal on each of these plays with the people that we’re putting out there.”
Tight end Brevyn Spann-Ford was a full participant Wednesday with a shoulder injury. With Ferguson out, Cowboys special teams coordinator Nick Sorensen still plans to use Spann-Ford on his units. “I’ll use Brev as much as I can without hurting the team,” Sorensen said.
Kendre Miller And Broderick Jones In Dallas Cowboys’ Plans
Miller, 24, starred at TCU and spent four seasons with the New Orleans Saints, who drafted him in the third round in 2023. Cowboys running backs coach Derrick Foster coached him in New Orleans in 2024, as Dallas Sports Journal detailed Wednesday.
Miller had been through one practice with Dallas when Adams spoke Thursday. Some of the terminology Miller learned in New Orleans overlaps with the Cowboys’ offense, Adams said.
“Derrick had had him, I believe, in New Orleans,” Adams said. “And just watching him practice for one day, he’s got good size and seems like he’s got good quicks. And I think someone that kind of speaks our language a little bit with I think some of the terminology here in New Orleans, there’s some similarities. So it seemed like a good fit.”
Dallas has been without return man KaVontae Turpin for three games with a rib injury. Sorensen said Miller’s background as a kick returner was part of the reason Dallas signed him.
“I think it’s everything when we bring players,” Sorensen said. “I think it’s everything. So he’s going to get his reps just the same as everybody else. Yeah, he’s solid. He’s good. That’s why he’s here. Part of the reason.”
Dallas acquired tackle Broderick Jones from the Pittsburgh Steelers on Aug. 29, along with a 2027 fourth-round pick, for 2027 third- and sixth-round picks. Jones, a 2023 first-round pick, has been used as an extra blocker in the Cowboys’ jumbo package, including late in the 34-31 loss to the Baltimore Ravens in Rio de Janeiro on Sept. 27.
“Again, generally, part of it in the back of my mind is you get your, if a team is going to play, like let’s say if you put 12 personnel in the field and sometimes you’re getting sub defense and sometimes you’re getting base defense, if you play 12 personnel with him, you know you’re getting base,” Adams said. “And so it simplifies things a little bit because you’re not necessarily having to plan for eight defensive calls. You might be planning for three defensive calls and within that there might only be one coverage.”
“So simplification, the next part of it is that the dude, we wanted to put him out on the field and let him play a little bit with us because at some point, he’s going to, I think still competing to take more reps, but at some point he’s going to be taking meaningful reps,” Adams continued. “And I’d prefer the first 20 to 25 of them not be in that situation. So he got to go in at the end of the Rio game, did a nice job. He’s done a nice job for us in the role that he’s been playing with the jumbo tight end. And at some point just because it’s the NFL, there’s going to be more reps for him. So I feel like he’ll be more prepared because of that.”
The Cowboys (4-5) host the San Francisco 49ers (7-1) on Sunday at AT&T Stadium, with kickoff set for 3:25 p.m. CT on Fox.
Join the conversation