There was much speculation leading up to the 2008 NFL Draft that the Dallas Cowboys and team owner/de facto GM Jerry Jones would trade up in order to draft an electrifying, uber-talented running back out of Jones alma mater, Arkansas, Darren McFadden.
McFadden wound up being selected 4th overall by the Oakland Raiders, the Cowboys went with McFadden's Razorback teammate Felix Jones at No. 22 and the rest, as they say, is history.
This offseason, after the Cowboys watched last year's leading rusher in the league, DeMarco Murray depart for the Philadelphia Eagles in free agency, McFadden and Jones have finally managed to join forces, and the union has McFadden excited to show Cowboys and NFL fans just what it is he's really capable of.
"I just want to go out there and continue to show people what I can do," McFadden said while a guest on NFL Network's NFL AM, per Kevin Patra of NFL.com. "I still don't think the world has seen the best of Darren McFadden."
McFadden has failed to live up to his lofty draft status to this point in his NFL career, though it's difficult to say how much of that was due to the consistently poor Raiders teams around him and how much was due to his own failings.
He's struggled with injuries in his career and has appeared in 16 games just once in seven season, but he doesn't view that as a negative for his NFL future.
In fact, McFadden believes that behind the notoriously strong Cowboys offensive line, led by former first-round picks Tyron Smith, Travis Frederick and Zack Martin, who helped pave the way for Murray to rack up 1,845 rushing yards and 13 touchdowns last season, he'll be able to post some significant numbers of his own.
"It's self-explanatory, when you look at those guys on film, they're just opening holes," McFadden said of the Cowboys' offensive line. "They have a great group of guys that are working hard. Even there now working out, the whole O-line is there right now before OTAs, so it's a great group of guys and they have a great thing going. ... I'm looking forward to being there with them."
He also admitted that, despite his high expectations for himself in the Cowboys backfield next season, he does expect Jones and head coach Jason Garrett to target at least one running back in the looming 2015 NFL Draft.
"It wouldn't surprise me at all," he said. "I'm a guy who's been in the league seven, eight years now. A team doesn't want to just put their everything on a guy. ... I feel like they're going to take a running back, and it's not going to be something that changes how I feel about the team. I'm a competitive guy, it'll bring out the best in me."
The Cowboys have been linked to the likes of Georgia's Todd Gurley and Wisconsin's Melvin Gordon - the 2015 NFL Draft's consensus top backs - in the first-round and players like Boise State's Jay Ajayi, Indiana's Tevin Coleman and Nebraska's Ameer Abdullah in the NFL rookie meat market's latter portion.
The draft though, as has been proven time and again, is a crapshoot. Nothing can be guaranteed until pen meets paper and paper is rushed hurriedly to the podium. So, for now at least, McFadden is the Cowboys best and really only hope for a dynamic running game next season.
The drop-off from Murray to McFadden seems to be a significant one, and the odds are certainly stacked against Dallas that McFadden will be able to exceed or even replicate Murray's 2014 success, but it has to be good for fans of the Cowboys to hear that the former Razorback and Raider has his sights set so high for next season.
