Top Dallas Cowboys running backs in history: Ranking the RBs by total yards, TDs...

The Dallas Cowboys are having a bit of a crisis at the running back position this season. After Tony Pollard left for the Tennessee Titans, they brought back Ezekiel Elliott, who at one point was actually one of the best Cowboys running backs the franchise had ever seen, but…that time has passed.

Nothing lasts forever, of course, but throughout the Cowboys’ history, they have been dominant in the run game, thanks to talent like Zeke and of course, the NFL’s all-time rushing leader, Emmitt Smith. All this has made us ponder on the Cowboys’ best running backs throughout history, with the number one being a no-brainer.

Dallas Cowboys top running backs in history

1. Emmitt Smith, 1990-2002

Emmitt Smith was a part of Jimmy Johnson’s controversial Herschel Walker trade. Johnson sent Walker to the Vikings in exchange for five players and six draft picks, one of whom was Emmitt. The Cowboys picked him 17th overall and in spite of the controversy, he was one of the best decisions they ever made.

Smith proved his worth from the get go, picking up 937 yards and 11 touchdowns in his rookie season and winning the NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year award. He spent the next 11 straight seasons picking up 1,000+ yards, leading the league in rushing yards four times and touchdowns three times in those years.

He is without a doubt the number one running back in Cowboys’ history. At the end of his tenure with the Cowboys, he had run for 17,162 yards, a first in NFL history. He went on to add 1,193 yards with the Arizona Cardinals for a total of 18,355 career rushing yards, maintaining the record for most in NFL history to this day.

He also leads the league in most rushing touchdowns with 164. He has the most rushing touchdowns of any other Cowboy with 153. Behind him in that ranking is Tony Dorsett, with 72, less than half of Smitty’s.

2. Tony Dorsett, 1977-1987

And that brings us to our number 2 Dallas Cowboys running back - Tony Dorsett! It makes sense that our top two running backs are from the ‘90s and ‘70s. Those were the glory years, after all. But Dorsett was a star everywhere he went. He won the Heisman Trophy in college before being drafted second overall in 1977 to the Cowboys. Dorsett and Smith were both players who were criticized for being small, and both proved everyone wrong.

In his very first season, Dorsett racked up 1,007 yards and 12 rushing touchdowns plus 273 yards through the air and one receiving touchdown to win NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year. He spent the next 10 seasons playing with the Cowboys and gained 1,000+ yards eight times in his first nine. The only time he didn’t get more than 1,000 yards was in the 1982 season when there was a player’s strike and only nine games were played.

In 1983, Dorsett was the first player to ever get a 99-yard touchdown.

He ended his Cowboys’ career with three All-Pros and four Pro-Bowls, plus 12,036 rushing yards - a first in Cowboys’ history at the time.

3. Ezekiel Elliott, 2016-2022

In 2016, the Cowboys again used a first-round pick to take a running back. They chose Ezekiel Elliott fourth overall and at the time, that was an excellent decision. Zeke led the NFL in rushing yards in his rookie season with 1,631 and put up 15 touchdowns on top of it. He was suspended in 2017 after being accused of domestic violence. When he returned in 2018, he again led the league in rushing yards with 1,434.

Sadly, though Zeke was one of the best Cowboys running backs in franchise history, his time as a star didn’t last nearly as long as Smith’s or Dorsett’s. In 2019, Zeke went on a major decline, after holding out for a contract extension - which Dallas regrettably gave him, a decision that led to a serious lack of cap space for players who actually deserved to stay on the team, and is still haunting them now.

Still, Zeke is third in Cowboys’ history in yardage (8,262) and touchdowns (80) and when he was good, he was great. The Cowboys released him in 2022 and have now brought him back for the 2024 season, but I expect we’ll see more of the 2020 Zeke than the 2016 Zeke… just a guess.

4. Don Perkins, 1961-1968

Don Perkins was another very smart move the Cowboys made at running back. The Cowboys were just starting out in 1961 and, in exchange for a ninth-round draft pick, they took Perkins from the Baltimore Colts, who’d drafted him in 1960 (he had to sit out that season with a broken foot).

Perkins showed the Cowboys they need not regret that decision. In his rookie season, he racked up 815 yards for four touchdowns, winning NFL Rookie of the Year and his first of six Pro Bowls. The following year, he gained a career-high 945 yards and seven touchdowns.

By the end of his tenure with the Cowboys, Perkins made the Pro Bowl six times and was a three-time All-Pro (1962, 1967, and 1968). He finished as the Cowboys’ No. 4 all-time rushing yardage leader with 6,217 yards and 45 total touchdowns.

5. Calvin Hill, 1969-1974

Calvin Hill was another Cowboys running back who took off running from the beginning, if you will. The Cowboys drafted him 24th overall in the 1969 NFL Draft and in his first season, he picked up 942 rushing yards and eight rushing touchdowns, earning him NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year. He was the first Cowboy to ever rush for more than 1,000 yards.

He had back-to-back 1,000+ yard seasons in 1972 and 1973 and ended his tenure with the Cowboys with four Pro Bowls, two First-Team All-Pros and two Second-Team All-Pros. Hill won a Super Bowl with the Cowboys in 1971 when they beat the Miami Dolphins, although he wasn’t actually the top runner at the time - that was Duane Thomas. Still, he is the Cowboys’ fifth all-time rushing yardage leader with 5,009 and had 45 total touchdowns.