'The Hammer!' Here's Why Cowboys Need to Sign Free-Agent RB Derrick Henry

ESPN NFL analyst Louis Riddick is calling for the Dallas Cowboys to sign a running back "hammer" in free-agent Derrick Henry. We explain why he's right.

FRISCO - This isn't Stephen A. Smith yakking about the Dallas Cowboys while pretending to hate them. And this isn't fake Skip Bayless fraudulently claiming to be a fan of the team while also pontificating about them incessantly.

This instead is a former NFL player, and a front-office and scouting executive veteran, who spent 14 seasons in the NFC East. Instead of over-volume media hype clamoring for ratings, this is Louis Riddick calmly calling for ... a hammer.

And we say he's right.

"The Cowboys need a hammer!" Riddick said last week on ESPN's Get Up!. "I love Saquon Barkley, but that's not what puts Dallas over the hump. They need an attitude back. Don't teams play Dallas with an attitude? Dallas needs to play their opponents that way, too."

Despite Henry living in DFW and owning a house here, there doesn't appear to be much fire to this smoke from the Cowboys' end. But there should be.

For financial reasons, the Cowboys decided Ezekiel Elliott was done. They were wrong, as - at only 28 - he produced a decent season behind a horrendous line and on a inept offense with the New England Patriots. About to be a free agent next week, maybe he returns as the hammer 2.0?

We know Tony Pollard wasn't the hammer. Chosen to be a young, cheaper Zeke, Pollard disappointed in his solo spotlight. He had one just 100-yard game and the Cowboys rushed for almost 20 yards less per game in 2023 with him than in 2022 with Elliott.

So Pollard and his $10 million, one-year salary are entering into free agency. Yes, CowboysSI.com is reporting that Dallas might like to retain him. But for now? That leaves on the running back depth chart guys like Rico Dowdle, Malik Davis, Deuce Vaughn, Hunter Luepke and Snoop Conner.

In other words, a tool belt painfully void of a hammer.

As Riddick pointed out in a tweet on Saturday, Henry lead the league with 2.21 yards after first contact last season. He ran for 1,167 yards behind a porous Tennessee Titans offensive line, including 153 on only 19 carries in his season finale.

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Sure enough, he's a 30-year-old hammer.

A two-time rushing champion that the Cowboys can saddle up and ride to run out those four-minute, slam-the-door drives at the end of games. He's a weapon defenses would have to respect, if not fear. He would immediately alleviate pressure from Dak Prescott to conjure all the winning plays for the Cowboys' pass-happy offense.

For years, Riddick made draft decisions for Washington and the Eagles. Now - if we may say - he's hitting the Cowboys' nail right on the head.

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