Miles Sanders is the Cowboys RB to own this year. Here’s Why:

First off, let’s get the Jaydon Blue doubt out of the way. Brian Schottenheimer, and the Cowboys in general for the last decade, have been a power-run team. They’ve had their smaller speedbacks that they have never heavily relied on and I do not believe Blue is a transformative-level talent to change that.

Now for the workhorse comparison:

Javonte Williams is the better baseline prospect compared to Sanders and is 3 years younger. Likely why he has been projected as the starter. Obviously though, he has not been the same player since his ACL injury. Not only that, but he was not able to be consistently productive in a Sean Payton offense, probably the single-most RB friendly offensive mind in the league. Despite an abundance RB targets and touches, he couldn’t get it done.

Miles Sanders had probably the most embarrassing last 2 years out of any running back, there is almost no denying that. But what has been surfacing recently is that he had constant small nagging injuries, mental issues (self-admitted after Week 18 this last year), and that he never really caught on with the CAR running scheme. Luckily, he has avoided any major injuries throughout his career. It is also worth noting that Sanders has had a better top fantasy season than Javonte.

What I am betting on here is that Sanders had an ugly last two years due to surrounding circumstances. Javonte had an ugly last two years because he doesn’t have the juice anymore. Sanders is not great, but we’ve seen him be a very productive back when he is playing on any decently-coached team. Javonte very likely is just cooked. If he wasn’t able to be productive under Sean Payton, I don’t see him being productive here.