7 days ago
KaVontae Turpin turns heads at practice as RB; could be wild card in Cowboys backfield
One of the burning questions of this Cowboys training camp is the team's rushing attack. The first day of practice in Oxnard was, of course, never going to provide a clear-cut answer on how the workload will ultimately be split; Javonte Williams and Miles Sanders both got reps with the starters, and both Deuce Vaughn and rookie Jaydon Blue reportedly had nice showings behind Joe Milton.
But the Cowboys may be adding another legitimate option in this multiple-choice exercise.
Wide receiver and All-Pro return specialist KaVontae Turpin took several handoffs out of the Cowboys backfield on Tuesday and turned heads with one designed run in particular that likely would have gone the distance, even if the defense had been going full speed.
Turpin has seen his offensive touches increase in each of his three seasons as the Cowboys look to take advantage of his otherworldly speed. But the fifth-most-targeted receiver on last year's squad was also its third-place rushing leader behind Rico Dowdle and Ezekiel Elliott.
Small sample size? Yes, Turpin logged just 16 rushing attempts in 2024, for 92 yards. But six of those carries- or a robust 37 percent- resulted in a first down. And his 5.8-yard average led the Cowboys overall. When he touches the ball, good things frequently happen.
In fact, looking at every NFL player who recorded 16 or more rushing attempts in 2024, only 20 men had an average that was better than Turpin's. Of those, 12 were quarterbacks. Six were full-time running backs.
What that means is, among the players who don't touch the ball on every snap or aren't primarily paid to carry it into traffic, only Packers wide receiver Jayden Reed and Saints gadget guy Taysom Hill had a higher yards-per-carry average than Turpin.
It's been just one summer day of no-pads practice, but it seems head coach Brian Schottenheimer may have already done the math and calculated the extraordinary upside in giving Turpin more than 0.9 carries per game.
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This article originally appeared on Cowboys Wire: Cowboys' KaVontae Turpin turns heads with RB reps on first day of camp
