Jaydon Blue injury: Cowboys RB exits final preseason game, will not return

Dallas Cowboys rookie running back Jaydon Blue has been ruled out for the remainder of Friday’s preseason finale against the Atlanta Falcons. He left the matchup with an ankle injury.

Blue went down with 13:17 left in the fourth quarter of the game and the training staff quickly went out to check on him. He appeared to tweak his ankle on a run, but ended up walking off under his own power into the medical tent.

The Cowboys selected Blue with the fifth round of the 2025 NFL Draft out of Texas, where he emerged as a key part of the Longhorns’ backfield. His injury comes with two weeks to go until the season opener against the Philadelphia Eagles, and Friday marked his first preseason action of the year after dealing with a knee issue.

In the first three-plus quarters of Friday’s game, Blue totaled 25 yards and a touchdown on nine carries. He steps into a Cowboys running back room with some questions, even after the additions of Javonte Williams and Miles Sanders. Dallas also has third-year running back Deuce Vaughn on the roster.

Jaydon Blue put together an impressive 2024 season at Texas, emerging after multiple injuries to Longhorns running backs. He ran for 730 yards and eight touchdowns while also totaling 368 receiving yards and six touchdowns in the passing game.

Throughout the offseason, running back became one of the biggest questions around the Cowboys this season as Brian Schottenheimer takes over as head coach. In fact, ESPN analyst and former Dallas lineman Marcus Spears said Blue could be an “unsung guy” in 2025.

“I think the Dallas offensive line is going to be one of the more physical and athletic offensive lines when it comes to zone schemes and as far as getting running backs in lanes and allowing them to use speed,” Spears said in June. “I’m looking forward to this rookie maybe shocking a lot of people. A lot of good stuff coming out on him when he was there for rookie minicamp and OTAs. The speed jumps off the page at 4.38. He could be an unsung guy that we could talk about a lot.”

The Cowboys eventually came away with a resounding 31-13 victory over the Falcons in the final preseason game and will hope that translates to positive momentum entering the season opener. Dallas will kick things off against the Eagles on Sept. 4 – the first game of the NFL season.