Jean Jacques Taylor of the Dallas Morning News has aired an opinion that he thinks Dallas may be looking to trade Julius Jones saying, “Anything Dallas does regarding Julius Jones has nothing to do with salary-cap space. They have plenty of cap room to do whatever they want. They don’t think he’s an elite runner. They’re likely going to ship him off on draft day.”

Similar rumors surfaced during the lead up to last years draft and some say Dallas even had a trade on the table involving Jones.

In 2006, Julius Jones rushed for 1,084 yards with a 4.1 yards per carry average and 4 rushing touchdowns while sharing time with Marion Barber III. The two of them combined for over 1,700 yards and 18 rushing touchdowns providing a solid one-two punch.

The rumors could be a product of Dallas not being as high on Julius as an elite back, as Jean Jacques Taylor says, or it could be the team is impressed with Marion Barber, or they could be complete fantasy. There will be plenty of draft day wheeling and dealing and no doubt Jones could become a part of some discussions but the vacancy of Jones would leave a vacancy at running back. Even if the Cowboys are high on Marion Barber they will need an insurance plan beyond just Tyson Thompson who is coming off a season-ending injury.

Dallas might be thinking that, with Jones becoming a free agent after this year, getting anything in a trade would be a bonus, but that also means Dallas would not have the use of his services for 2007. It is unlikely they would want to go into the season with just Barber and Thompson, so they might need to draft a running back. It’s a big gamble to rely on picking up a rookie to fill those shoes when Julius Jones has already proven to be a solid running back.

One more thing to throw into the mix is Michael Turner. There were rumors of Dallas being interested in the Chargers running back earlier in the free agency and with Wade Phillips having intimate knowledge of Turner there might be something to that. I dislike placing too much value on a backup that has been given only limited time, but Turner’s 6.3 yards per carry average in 80 attempts could be tempting.

Personally, I’m of the “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” mindset. Dallas posted one of the best offenses in the league last year with a solid running game to accompany their passing attack. Two running backs has become the league standard with even elite backs like LaDainian Tomlinson sharing some time with Michael Turner. And it makes since to have two solid backs. It gives a team a fresher set of legs at the end of the game as well as an insurance policy should the starting back go down with an injury. And, with Jones being on the last year of his contract, his trade value would be decreased with any team knowing they’ll either need to give him a new contract now or after the season is over. Which means I’m not sure the Cowboys would get enough bang for their buck.

But, if the Cowboys have their eyes on one of the running backs in the draft, or if they are convinced Turner might be a long time solution, they may think of Marion Barber as their insurance policy and make a gamble using Julius Jones.