The Dallas Cowboys are in the midst of a running back competition in training camp, yet their top two candidates can't seem to avoid the injury bug.
Darren McFadden has been bothered all summer with hamstring injuries and Joseph Randle currently is sidelined with a strained oblique.
Health and not ability might determine who is slated to start Week 1 for the Cowboys, and it seems as though McFadden has a head start.
The team moved McFadden off the PUP list to the active roster and the running back confirmed Saturday that he's full-go for the first time this training camp. He missed Dallas' first 11 practices due to the hamstring injury that he suffered a week before training camp. The oft-injured running back also missed several offseason practices because of a different hamstring injury.
"It's very hard. I'm the type of guy who wants to be out there with my teammates and seeing how they grind the way they do, I want to be out there and be a part of that," McFadden told The Dallas Morning News. "I'm happy to be back out there on the field and I'm just looking forward to getting out there and just being better every day."
The former Oakland Raiders running back is confident that he'll make an early impact.
"I've been on top of my playbook, I've been up to par on everything so it's just a matter of getting back out there and getting my feet back up under me good," he said.
Jerry Jones has endorsed both McFadden and Randle to top the depth chart. But it's McFadden who some believe is the more talented of the two. And the running back wants to prove it with his play, expressing that he wants to show everybody "the type of back Darren McFadden is."
"I'm going to be a hard worker and a guy that knows how to pick up his pass protection and a guy that can break big runs and make plays for this offense."
That is music to most Cowboys' fans ears. But "the type of back Darren McFadden is" was expendable for the Raiders, so he might want different results in Dallas.
