Alfred Morris didn't get to do his patented homerun swing touchdown celebration all that often in 2015, despite the fact that the Washington Redskins put together an extremely strong campaign which resulted in an entirely unexpected NFL playoff berth. Morris, a guy who had eclipsed the 1,000-yard mark every year of his career prior to 2015, was relegated to spot duty as part of a committee in Washington with promising rookie Matt Jones and third-down pass catcher Chris Thompson.
As a result of his bouncing in and out of the lineup, Morris' production suffered. At this point, with his rookie deal expired, it seems almost a certainty that Morris will land elsewhere on the free agent market.
Surprisingly, one of the first teams to show interest in Morris on the open market and the first free agent visit the veteran running back will be taking is to Washington's NFC East rival, the Dallas Cowboys.
The Cowboys, of course, struggled to develop their run game last season for a plethora of reasons, not the least of which being that they failed to adequately replace DeMarco Murray after he departed for another NFC East combatant, the Philadelphia Eagles. Some combination of Darren McFadden, Joseph Randle and Lance Dunbar was expected to carry the load, but Randle struggled with on and off-the-field issues and was eventually dumped and McFadden proved to be the same uninspiring guy he was in Oakland.
Then again, it could certainly be argued that losing franchise quarterback Tony Romo for most of the season made the Cowboys offense one-dimensional and kept McFadden from being able to take advantage of the space that would have been created had defenses actually been forced to respect the Dallas passing game.
Either way, McFadden and Co. failed to get the job done last season. Morris, though he's not an exciting talent and won't "wow" anyone with breakaway speed or ankle-breaking moves, could be the perfect kind of steady, durable back to operate as the engine of the Cowboys offense.
Then again, considering that he "started" most games for Washington last season only to be replaced every other drive by Jones - or, in a lot of instances, even sooner - and then on third down by Thompson, it's entirely possible that Morris would suffer through a second consecutive mediocre season if he's not the undisputed No. 1.
Perhaps Morris is the kind of guy who needs the ball fed to him consistently in order to build up his productivity and wear down defenses. His best statistical season came his rookie year when he carried the ball an impressive 335 times for 1,613 yards, 13 touchdowns and a 4.8 yard-per-carry average.
There could also be a disturbing trend revealing itself in Morris' game - since that rookie season, his touches, yards and per carry average have all decreased yearly. Now, since his touches have steadily gone down, it makes sense that the rest of his production would drop. So that's not necessarily indicative of anything other than that Washington wanted to spread the ball more evenly across its offensive skill players.
But it's certainly a troubling notion, especially for a guy who lacks special athleticism to begin with.
Morris though, has proven himself a consistent presence and strong locker room personality. With guys like Greg Hardy on the outs and Randy Gregory struggling to stay in, Morris could be a good pickup in more ways than one for a Cowboys team that needs more of those "good guy" types.
On the field, Morris is a back who can log maximum carries and will only get better as the game wears on. Assuming Romo returns healthy, adding Morris on a relatively cheap free agent deal could be a smart play by Jerry and Stephen Jones, in that it would allow Dallas to again build their offense around a steady, sure-footed runner who may not make many highlight reel plays, but will move the chains and nose his way into the end zone again and again.
