FRISCO-Pretending to despise the Dallas Cowboys, this isn’t Stephen A. Smith teasing them. Furthermore, this isn’t a phony Skip Bayless who is constantly bashing the team and pretending to be a fan.

Rather, he is a seasoned front-office and scouting executive who played in the NFL for 14 seasons, all of which were spent in the NFC East. Rather than the media’s excessive hoopla demanding attention, Louis Riddick is gently requesting a hammer.

We also say he’s correct.

“The Cowboys need a hammer!” Riddick stated on ESPN’s Get Up! last week. “Saquon Barkley is great, but he’s not the reason Dallas wins. They require a return of mindset. Teams play Dallas with an attitude, don’t they? Dallas must play its opponents that way too

Henry owns a home in DFW, but despite this, there doesn’t seem to be much fire to this Cowboys smoke. However, there ought to be.

The Cowboys determined that Ezekiel Elliott was finished due of financial concerns. They were mistaken, as the 28-year-old had a respectable season with the New England Patriots despite a terrible offensive line and a poor offense. Next week, he will become a free agent; perhaps he will come back as Hammer 2.0?

Tony Pollard was not the hammer, as we know. Selected as a younger, less expensive version of Zeke, Pollard was let down in his solo role. The Cowboys ran for nearly 20 less yards per game in 2023 with him than in 2022 with Elliott, and he only had one game of 100 yards or more Thus, Pollard is set to become a free agent and forfeit his $10 million, one-year salary. Indeed, according to CowboysSI.com, Dallas may want to keep him. But for the time being? That puts players like Rico Dowdle, Malik Davis, Deuce Vaughn, Hunter Luepke, and Snoop Conner on the running back depth chart.

Put another way, a tool belt that is terribly devoid of a hammer.

Henry led the league last season with 2.21 yards after first contact, as Riddick noted in a tweet on Saturday. Behind a flimsy Tennessee Titans offensive line, he ran for 1,167 yards, including 153 on just 19 carries in his season finale.

He is, in fact, a thirty-year-old hammer.

The Cowboys can mount and ride this two-time rushing champion to finish games with those decisive, four-minute drives. Defenses would have to respect, if not fear, this weapon. He would relieve Dak Prescott of all the pressure to create the winning plays for the pass-happy Cowboys offense right away.

Riddick selected players for the Eagles and Washington over many years. He’s really hitting the nail on the Cowboys’ head right now, if we may say so.