Jerry Jones: Cowboys need more than DeMarco Murray

Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones insists his team needs more than just DeMarco Murray in the backfield if the Cowboys are to escape a haze of mediocrity.

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"To totally count on that would give you visions of 8-8, because the last two years, we've had games that we didn't have Murray, and we didn't run the ball as well," Jones said, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported Sunday. "We didn't have as good an offense within it. So if we have somebody that could possibly step up there and give you the respite that you need when you don't have Murray, that's a big deal for us."

Jones, never afraid to speak his mind, raises a legitimate concern for the Cowboys. Murray is a dynamic playmaker, but despite his career average of 4.8 yards per carry, he's missed nine games over his first two seasons due to injury. The Cowboys haven't been the same team in his absence.

The Cowboys, of course, could have done more to address this issue in the 2013 NFL Draft, but they chose to wait until the fifth round to grab running back Joseph Randle out of Oklahoma State. The only other backs on the roster are little-used Phillip Tanner and Lance Dunbar, a change-of-pace man.

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Jones argued that Randle could, indeed, split carries with Murray and called the rookie a potential starter, according to the Star-Telegram.

"We really could envision him coming in and having that many plays a game," Jones said. "One of the advantages, one of the reasons, we wanted him was because he really mirrors a lot of what Murray is, relative to a complete three-down back."

Follow Marc Sessler on Twitter @MarcSesslerNFL.