NFL Trade Rumors: If Cowboys Shop Tashard Choice, Who Will Want Him?

Even struggling teams are more likely to trade from areas of relative strength. The Dallas Cowboys, 26th in the NFL with 86.8 rushing yards per game, seem an odd choice to be giving away running backs.

Nevertheless, ESPN Dallas lists second-string RB Tashard Choice as one of the Cowboys who “could be dealt” at Tuesday’s NFL trade deadline. Choice has been the primary backup for Felix Jones, but has run for all of 53 yards in 2011.

Indeed, the fourth-year vet has run for a total of just 1,117 yards in his career. After averaging five-plus yards per carry in his first two seasons, he’s down to just 2.5 yards per attempt this season.

All of which begs the question of what the Cowboys possibly hope to get if they shop Choice. There just isn’t a market for unremarkable backup running backs who will be free agents after the season.

Choice is a perfectly competent change-of-pace back, but it’s hard to see him measurably improving an NFL roster. He’s a decent receiver (a career high of 21 catches as a rookie), but not the kind of game-breaker a team would be likely to seek out as an addition to its backfield.

Even a team like Kansas City, potentially in the market for RB help thanks to Jamaal Charles’ season-ending injury, has no reason to part with any players or draft picks for Choice. Replacements Dexter McCluster and Thomas Jones are at least as valuable as Choice, and don’t require the Chiefs to give up any trade assets to bring them in.

Once Choice becomes a free agent, his relative youth (and the lack of miles on his legs) may well make him an attractive prospect for any number of teams to sign. No team, however, seems likely to be so enamored of Choice that they would bother to send draft picks to Dallas for the privilege of adding him to its roster for 10 games.