Dallas Cowboys fans hoping to reignite the team’s anemic running game weren’t happy to see the team’s latest addition in the backfield.
Although he’s still just 27, free-agent acquisition Miles Sanders was described as ‘washed up’ on X, where Cowboys supporters and other NFL enthusiasts blasted the move.
‘Washed up running backs are perfect for them!’ one wrote.
‘Jerry Jones is washed,’ added another, in a dig aimed the team owner and general manager.
‘We are not serious,’ one Cowboys fan moaned.
Sanders did get some support online, however: ‘He’s only 27… why are yall calling him washed he never had a real chance on the Panthers.’
Ex-Panthers running back Miles Sanders is still just 27, although some fans think he’s ‘washed’
Jerry Jones has become increasingly unpopular in Dallas as the Cowboys have struggled
Read More Dallas Cowboys star blasts Mavs over Luka Doncic trade: ‘Killed the city’ 
The Cowboys finished 27th in rushing last season with just 1,705 yards as a team. Now, after a 7-10 season, fans were hoping to see Dallas improve upon a backfield that featured retread Ezekiel Elliott and Rico Dowdle, the latter of whom recently signed a one-year deal with the Carolina Panthers.
Playing for those same Panthers last season was Sanders, who manged just 205 yards in 11 games.
It was just two seasons ago that Sanders gained 1,269 yards for the Philadelphia Eagles.
But, after signing a four-year, $25.4 million deal with the Panthers, Sanders has battled issues with fumbling and his aching ankles, leading to his early release in Charlotte.
The Cowboys have also added former Denver running back Javonte Williams on a one-year deal, but are rumored to have some interest in drafting Boise State’s Ashton Jeanty in the first round of next month’s NFL Draft.
The Cowboys could also look for a new quarterback in the draft, but that doesn’t necessarily mean Dak Prescott is on his way out in Big D.
As son Stephen Jones told the Dallas Morning News, the Cowboys are eyeing quarterbacks to develop behind Prescott, who has suffered two significant injuries over the last two seasons.
‘You know, I think one of our goals is to get a young quarterback in the draft,’ Stephen said, as quoted by the Dallas Morning News. ‘I don’t know where that’s going to be.’
Cowboys fans were nearly unanimous in their objections to the addition of Miles Sanders
Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty is one possibility for Dallas with the 12th pick in next month’s NFL Draft in Green Bay
Cooper Rush and Trey Lance both stepped in for an injured Prescott in 2024 without much success. The Cowboys acquired Lance a year earlier for a fourth-round pick hoping he could develop behind Prescott, but the former first-round pick completed only 25 of 41 pᴀsses in limited action last season.
And as Stephen Jones explained, quarterbacks – even project quarterbacks who aren’t counted to start right away – tend to go higher in the draft than expected.
‘That’s why we gave a [fourth-round pick] for Trey,’ Stephen said. ‘It seems like all the quarterbacks, even guys we have in the fourth round, go in the first. They always go so much higher than what you think.’
Although Miami’s Cam Ward and Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders are both expected to be among the first 20 players picked, a number of other quarterbacks such as Alabama’s Jalen Milroe, Mississippi’s Jaxson Dart, Texas’ Quinn Ewers, Notre Dame’s Riley Leonard and Syracuse’s Kyle McCord could still offer some depth behind Prescott in later rounds.
Prescott signed a four-year, $240 million contract extension in September and will earn a base salary of $47 million in 2025. Unfortunately, he played just eight games for the 7-10 Cowboys in 2024 before sustaining a season-ending hamstring injury.
Next season he’ll be playing under a new coach, former Cowboys offensive coordinator Brian ScH๏τtenheimer, who replaces the departed Mike McCarthy.
‘Super excited for him,’ Prescott told reporters of ScH๏τtenheimer at a recent Children’s Cancer Fund’s gala.
