Once the Dallas Cowboys released Ezekiel Elliott, we knew it was only a matter of time before they added some talent to their running back room. Tony Pollard is only back on a one-year franchise tag, after all, and he is coming off having suffered a broken leg during the team's playoff loss to the San Francisco 49ers.
The Cowboys waited and waited, and on Saturday evening they finally added a running back in the draft. With the No. 212 overall pick, the Cowboys selected former Kansas State running back Deuce Vaughn.
Ordinarily, a late sixth-round pick wouldn't be all that notable. But this pick was special. Vaughn's father, Chris, is Cowboys' assistant director of college scouting, and he is in the draft room helping the team make its picks. The selection of his son brought Vaughn to tears, and he went around the room hugging everyone he could find. The team then put Vaughn on the phone to make the call to his son, informing him that they would now be members of the same organization.
Deuce was wildly productive the past three years at Kansas State, totaling 3,604 yards and 34 touchdowns on 651 carries and adding 1,280 yards and nine more scores on his 116 receptions. With a resume like that, you'd think he would be an early-round pick. The most likely reason he wasn't is that Vaughn is the smallest player in the history of the NFL Scouting Combine, checking in at just 5-5 1/4 and 179 pounds.
Despite his size, Vaughn packs a surprising punch, to the point that it was one of the first things K-State coach Chris Klieman mentioned to our Dennis Dodd. "I always knew he was fearless and not afraid to run inside," Klieman said. "We started to use him as a pure running back as the [first] season went on. I've been saying ever since he got here: He's a very underrated running back between the tackles. Some of his best players have 3-4 yard gains that could have been 5-6 yard losses. You can't get clean shots at him."
Due to his statute and alma mater, Vaughn has drawn repeated comparisons to Darren Sproles, who at 5-6, 190 pounds carved out a long and lucrative career as an all-purpose playmaker and one of the best receiving backs in recent memory. If the Cowboys can get anything close to that level of production from Vaughn, this pick will be considered a home run in places far beyond the Vaughn household, where it likely already is.