FRISCO – The Dallas Cowboys under promoted offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer are vowing to emphasize the running game in 2025 … the new regime spouting an old platitude.

But maybe new head coach “Schotty” means it … and maybe the Cowboys prove it by selecting a running back in the first round of the April NFL Draft.

OK, that would not be a surprise. After all, despite starting running back Rico Dowdle’s solid year (he ended the season with 1,079 rushing yards) … the Dallas ground game was erratic, took too long to get established, and now plows forward with Dowdle ready to enter free agency.

So in his latest NFL mock draft, ESPN expert Mel Kiper Jr. helps the Cowboys address those concerns with their first-round pick of …

Not Ashton Jeanty?

“I’ve talked to people in the NFL who have Jeanty and (Omarion) Hampton neck and neck for RB1, and there are even some who prefer Hampton,” Kiper writes. “And I look at Dallas’ decision to hire Brian Schottenheimer as coach and can’t help but think about his father, Marty, and all those run-heavy offenses he had over 21 seasons in the same job for four different teams.

“One would think some of that will rub off on the Cowboys’ new coach, even with Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb in the offense.”

We believe Mel’s got the second part of his take right regarding the run-game goals.

But Hampton as Jeanty’s equal?

The Cowboys have been linked to Boise State running back Jeanty for much of the season and offseason, with the player himself part of the push to come home as he is a Frisco native who played high school games at The Star.

Kiper predicts that Jeanty will be drafted No. 6 overall by the Raiders, so that would block Dallas at No. 12, obviously.

So Hampton – who to his credit ended up rushing for 1,660 yards and scoring 15 touchdowns at North Carolina – gets picked at No. 12 as Dallas’ consolation prize?

Our problem with the projection? With all due respect to Kiper, our guy Dane Brugler has Jeanty and Hampton (6-0, 219) on two completely different planes, with Jeanty (5-8, 217) ranked as his fifth-best player available on April 24 while Hampton is ranked at the No. 36 guy – one slot behind another back, Kaleb Johnson of Iowa.

Is Dallas so desperate to draft a running back that it takes the third best one … 24 slots too high?