Tashard Choice: Dallas Cowboys' Offensive Key Has Been There All Along

Tashard Choice is the real deal. 

He is the total package at running back. The way he slices through the line allows him to get the most out of every run, and he often will pick up an extra yard as he is going down, falling to the side of tacklers and stretching out to pick up just a little more as he goes down.

He has the quickness to slice through the middle, and enough speed to break it to the outside if he has to. Choice shows the kinds of instinctive running that can't be taught, as he feels his way through a crowded line on his way to daylight.

He could have been the next Emmitt Smith—except his first three years as a Cowboy were wasted as a backup for Marion Barber and Felix Jones.

Tashard Choice should have been the starter, and Felix Jones should have been given enough carries to take advantage of his explosiveness. The Cowboys could have had two of the top running backs in football in their backfield for the past two years.

Instead, Marion Barber remains the starter, despite the fact that a practice squad back could probably equal the production that Barber brings to the team. Since being given a $45 million contract in 2007 to become the next great Cowboys running back, Barber has instead been arguably one of the biggest busts in NFL history.

Barber is yet to gain 1,000 yards in a season, and lacks the speed to be effective against fresh defenses on a repeated basis.

Even worse, each time the Cowboys waste an offensive down by giving Barber the ball, they could have instead given the ball to Choice or Jones and actually gotten some production out of that play.

And heaven help the Cowboys if he decides to try and break one to the outside. For a team that is supposed to be the elite in the NFL, why no Dallas coach has ever told Marion Barber that he just isn't fast enough to run the ball to the outside is one of the great wonders of the world.

Often a hole will be opened by the line, only to close before Barber can get to it. Yet for some reason Jason Garrett continues to insert Barber as the starting back for the Cowboys, and drives continue to stall on 3rd-and-1 and 4th-and-1 situations in which Barber can't get the distance needed for a first down.

In 2010, Barber was better in short yardage, but he still lacked the ability to produce when the Cowboys need him most.

And Barber's tendency to get up pounding his chest after a three-yard run indicates  he may not understand what he is supposed to accomplish out there. It's as if he thinks the whole stadium should celebrate his below average run, while the Cowboys offense is left with a 2nd-and-7.

When Felix Jones gets the ball, on the other hand, he is just as likely to take it to the end zone as not. Jones possesses the explosiveness that allows him to score from anywhere on the field if he gets a lane to the end zone, and his speed electrifies Cowboys fans each time he touches the ball.

It is Jones big play ability that makes him a constant threat when he is in the Cowboys backfield, and he has become a key component in the Cowboys offense.

However, neither Jones nor Barber have shown they can stay healthy when carrying the load. Barber's production gradually grinds to a standstill as the season wears on, and Felix Jones has been unable to carry the load without suffering injury that takes him completely out of the line up for weeks at a time when he is used too much.

Enter Tashard Choice, who came into the NFL in 2008 as a rookie along with Jones. But while Jones was given a rookie contract that pays him about $2 million a year, Tashard Choice makes only about $400,000 per year with his contract. Now, in the last year of his rookie contract, neither Choice nor the Cowboys can afford for him to be wasted on the sidelines while Marion Barber is on the field.

In 2008, after both Barber and Jones went down to injury, it was Tashard Choice who came in and showed Cowboys fans what a real franchise running back should look like. With no one to back him up, Choice stepped in and carried the load at running back and the Cowboys offense suddenly had new life.

Choice gained 492 yards while filling in for Jones and Barber, putting up big games against some of the best defenses in the NFL. He added new life to a Cowboys offense that had struggled since Barber became the starting back in 2007. No longer did the Cowboys lack the ability to pick up the short yardage needed to sustain drives.

Tashard Choice has the ability to make tacklers miss, and the speed to get around the corner and make things happen in the running game. Outspoken and passionate about the game he plays, he has become a leader on the Cowboys offense.

So why has he been a backup since 2008? There have been all sorts of excuses given, with the latest being his disappointing performance on special teams. But Tashard Choice is a top caliber NFL running back and shouldn't be on special teams to begin with. The Cowboys could have easily listed Choice as inactive on game days and used another player if special teams was an issue.

More than likely, Barber's $45 million contract keeps him in the lineup despite his production, along with Jerry Jones' unwillingness to admit that he made a huge mistake when he signed a situational backup running back to one of the largest contracts in Cowboys history. Barber had been allowed to run against tired defenses under Parcells, while Julius Jones carried the load as the starter. His fresh legs against a defense that had lost a step made him look much better than he actually was.

And what's worse, in 2010 Michael Irvin went on the NFL Network and publicly stated that Choice shouldn't see the field unless Barber or Jones was hurt. After these comments were made, Choice was benched and didn't see the field again until the Saints game on Thanksgiving, when he came in and scored a touchdown after Barber again struggled in short yardage.

So, Cowboys fans have been forced to watch as the running game struggled, giving way to an air attack that was just as feeble, leaving the Cowboys unable to score once they got into the red zone and the playing field shortened, making it harder for the Cowboys speedy receivers to get open.

These kinds of mistakes by the offensive coaches has led to disappointment after disappointment for the last four years. How can anyone get excited about the 2011 draft when the Cowboys coaching has wasted so much talent already?

It is also the reason that Choice may be forced to look somewhere else to play before his most productive years are completely wasted by the same incompetent leadership that has had him on the sidelines while the Cowboys running game struggled.

With Choice now in the last year of his rookie contract, if the Cowboys don't pay him and play him, another team inevitably will. There has reportedly been plenty of interest from other teams over the past two years in acquiring his services, to which the Cowboys have refused to entertain offers.

The Cowboys cannot afford to repeat the mistakes of the past four years. And Cowboys fans have seen enough of Marion Barber falling flat of his face in open field without being touched. The Cowboys have only so many opportunities, only so many offensive plays in a season. They cannot afford to waste them on Barber.

Tashard should be the starter in Dallas in 2011.

That's the bottom line.