It’s not often that a player selected in the seventh round of the NFL Draft gets the kind of opportunity Clemson Tigers back Phil Mafah received.
Mafah was selected No. 239 overall by the Dallas Cowboys on Saturday. It came at a time in the draft where it’s sometimes better to go undrafted. Those players can become priority free agents and can, in some ways, pick the best situation for them. It’s still a long shot to make the team, but one isn’t at the mercy of which team selects them.
Mafah landed with a team that is a complete mess when it comes to its running game.
The Cowboys had one of the worst rushing attacks in the NFL last season, as they gained 1,705 yards. Dallas averaged 4.0 yards per carry on 429 carries and scored just six times on the ground.
Those rushing touchdowns were concentrated around three players — Ezekiel Elliott (three), Rico Dowdle (two) and quarterback Dak Prescott (one).
Dowdle, who rushed for 1,079 yards, is now with the Carolina Panthers. He was the only good thing about Dallas’s ground game last season.
In his place the Cowboys signed two veterans — Miles Sanders and Javonte Williams. Sanders has rushed for 1,000 yards once in his career and Williams has never done so.
Mafah joins a running back room that also includes another rookie, Jaydon Blue, Malik Davis, Hunte Luepke and Deuce Vaughn. In other words, there is a massive opportunity for Mafah to make the team and make an impact.
ESPN’s Todd Archer, who covers the Cowboys wrote that Dallas usually carries four running backs during the season. If Sanders and Williams make the team, as expected, there are two more spots up for grabs and none of the other backs are guaranteed a spot.
Last season was his best in a Tigers uniform as he finally became the full-time workhorse back.
The third-team all-ACC selection rushed for 1,115 yards with eight touchdowns and caught 21 passes for 103 yards. He was one of only a dozen Tigers to start every game, even as he played with a shoulder injury he suffered in preseason. He recorded the 24th 1,000-yard rushing season in Clemson history and his 1,115 rushing yards was 14th on the single-season list.
Mafah’s four-year career with Clemson concluded with 561 rushes for 2,887 yards and 28 touchdowns. He also caught 58 passes for 309 yards. He played in 50 games for the Tigers, but only 21 starts, as he took on a primary role in the backfield his final two years.
He is ninth in program history in career rushing yards and tied for 10th in career rushing touchdowns. With Will Shipley, the pair became just the seventh Tigers duo to each rush for 750 yards in a season since 1948.
His most memorable performance was his Clemson-bowl-record four rushing touchdowns in the 2023 Gator Bowl against Kentucky, including three fourth-quarter scores in a comeback victory.
