This week, all week long, we're taking a negative look at each of the teams in the NFC East, in detail. Batting leadoff, as always, will be the Dallas Cowboys.
To note, we will not be talking about the positives of any of the Eagles' NFC East rivals, because, well, that's no fun. This will be 100 percent vitriolic. And yes, we'll get to the Eagles as well at the end of the series.
1) The Cowboys have become boring 😴
One of the best sports days of the year is when the Cowboys find a new and interesting way to lose in the playoffs. Football fans were robbed of that last season with the Cowboys dead and buried before Thanksgiving.
It was an awful 2024 calendar year from the start for Cowboys fans, as Jerry Jones promised in January that he was "all in," only to watch as his team lost key contributors in bulk while adding virtually nothing to the roster.
Many of the Cowboys' on-field deficiencies were easy to predict, like their rushing offense, their rushing defense, their crappy depth, and contract squabbles with their best players. But they also suffered a slew of injuries, to guys like Micah Parsons, DaRon Bland, Trevon Diggs, DeMarcus Lawrence, and, of course, Dak Prescott, the highest paid player in the NFL.
In a way, it's kind of a bummer when the Cowboys are as bad as they were last year. They finished 7-10 with a point differential of -118. When you know they're going to lose before the coin is flipped, it's not as fun. I mean, their Thanksgiving game last season pitted Cooper Rush against Drew Lock. Do any non-Cowboys fans remember one detail about that game? I tried, and came up empty.
The Cowboys just aren't that interesting, which makes me sad. 😞
They have also now managed to go yet another year without making any sort of playoff run. Here's a visual of the last time each NFC team played in the NFC Championship Game:
062125CowboysNFCCG
It's been like 30 years! I mean, even the freaking Commanders lucked into an NFC Championship Game last season.
As is tradition, would you mind updating the "Days Without a Conference Championship Appearance" counter, Jerry?
062125JerryNFCCG
Currently, only three NFC teams have longer odds to win the Super Bowl than Dallas (via FanDuel):
Team Odds Team Odds
Eagles +650 Bears +3400
Lions +950 Cardinals +5000
49ers +1300 Seahawks +5000
Packers +2100 Falcons +5500
Commanders +2200 Cowboys +6000
Rams +2600 Saints +13000
Vikings +3300 Panthers +15000
Buccaneers +3400 Giants +20000
At one point this offseason, the Cowboys had longer odds to win the Super Bowl than Zootopia 2 had to win the Oscar for best picture:
Year after year, the Cowboys are one of the most overhyped teams in the NFL, because, well, they're the Cowboys. Somehow, they've just become boring and borderline irrelevant.
They do nothing in free agency lately, and they drafted a guard at pick 12. I suppose they did trade for George Pickens. Yawn.
You're 82 years old, Jerry. Clock is ticking, man. Do something.
2) The Cowboys replaced Mike McCarthy with someone even worse 🚮
After parting ways with Mike McCarthy, the Cowboys interviewed fewer people for their open head coaching job than a summer ice cream truck might have for a part-time teenager to work the register.
062125JerryHelpWanted
The Cowboys reportedly only interviewed Kellen Moore, Leslie Frazier, Robert Saleh, and Brian Schottenheimer for the job. They landed on Schottenheimer, an inexpensive warm body who was already in the building.
They also "Friday news dumped" the hire, announcing it at around 8:40 p.m. CST, on Friday, January 24, the weekend of the Conference Championship Round of the playoffs.
"Brian Schottenheimer is known as a career assistant," Jerry Jones told ESPN after the hire was announced. "He ain't Brian no more. He is now known as the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys."
I didn't make up that quote, lol.
Schottenheimer has 14 years of NFL experience as an offensive coordinator, but has never produced impressive results. A look at Schottenheimer's coaching history since he initially landed the Jets' offensive coordinator job in 2006:
• Jets offensive coordinator (2006-2011): The Jets had some good teams during this span, mostly on defense, but the offense always held them back from something bigger.
• Rams offensive coordinator (2012-2014): The Rams never had a winning season during Schottenheimer's tenure in St. Louis, and his offenses never cracked the top 20 in yards or points.
• University of Georgia offensive coordinator (2015): Georgia's points per game the last 12 seasons (Schottenheimer season bolded in red):
Season Georgia points per game
2024 31.5
2023 40.2
2022 41.6
2021 37.4
2020 32.3
2019 28.3
2018 37.3
2017 35.8
2016 24.4
2015 24.5
2014 40.2
2013 36.0
• Colts quarterbacks coach (2016-2017): The Colts went 8-8 with Andrew Luck still at QB in 2016, and 4-12 under Jacoby Brissett in 2017.
• Seahawks offensive coordinator (2018-2020): The Seahawks had productive offenses under a prime Russell Wilson, but they only won one playoff game during this span and Schottenheimer was fired after Seattle sputtered offensively down the stretch in 2020.
• Jaguars passing game coordinator (2021): The Jags finished 30th in passing DVOA, and head coach Urban Meyer was fired in-season.
• Cowboys coaching analyst (2022), offensive coordinator (2023-2024): The Cowboys' offensive DVOA finishes under Schottenheimer:• 2022: 15th
• 2023: 9th
• 2024: 25thThey were 6th in 2021 before he got there.
During McCarthy's five-year tenure, the Cowboys had a 49-35 record.
• 2020: 6-10
• 2021: 12-5
• 2022: 12-5
• 2023: 12-5
• 2024: 7-10
Dak Prescott suffered season-ending injuries in each of McCarthy's two losing seasons. In his three other seasons, McCarthy presided over a lot of regular season wins, only to have Super Bowl hopes quickly extinguished in the playoffs in spectacular fashion. Still, the Cowboys won the NFC East in 2021 and 2023 under McCarthy. While perhaps not a coach likely to win a Super Bowl (he did win one with Green Bay, but only one despite 13 years with Brett Favre and prime Aaron Rodgers), he did at least bring a certain level of floor competency to the Cowboys on gameday.
You can do worse than Mike McCarthy, and Schottenheimer is very likely going to be worse.
3) They got worse in free agency... again 📉
For the second straight offseason, the Cowboys got worse in free agency. Their most notable losses:
• RG Zack Martin: Martin retired. He was a nine-time All-Pro and nine-time Pro Bowler.
• DL DeMarcus Lawrence: Lawrence only had two double-digit sack seasons, but was an impactful player, notably in the run game. He made the Pro Bowl in 2022 and 2023, and his 2024 season was off to great start as he had 3 sacks in the first 4 games, but a foot injury ended his season.
On a side note, Lawrence got into a Twitter fight with Micah Parsons after he left, perhaps revealing some bad blood in the Cowboys' locker room.
• SCB Jourdan Lewis: Lewis has been a slot corner for the Cowboys since they selected him in the third round of the 2017 draft.
• EDGE Chauncey Golston: Golston was a Cowboys third-round pick in 2021. He was quiet the first three years of his career, but he had 5.5 sacks in 2024.
• RB Rico Dowdle: Dowdle got 235 carries for 1,079 yards (4.6 YPC) and 2 TDs as Dallas' lead back in 2024.
Their only noteworthy additions in free agency were Dante Fowler, Javonte Williams, and Miles Sanders. (We'll get to Williams and Sanders in a bit.)
These morons also signed backup-level players like Williams, Solomon Thomas, and Robert Jones to contracts high enough to qualify toward the comp pick formula, likely canceling out the losses of Golston, Brandin Cooks, and Chuma Edoga, who would have all gotten the Cowboys comp picks in 2026. Comp pick chart via OverTheCap.com:
062125CowboysCompPicks
Last year they lost Tyron Smith, Tyler Biadasz, Dante Fowler, Dorance Armstrong, Tony Pollard, Leighton Vander Esch, and Stephon Gilmore. That's fine if you're crushing the draft every year and replacing the old guys with good, young players. Except... 👇
4) They haven't drafted well lately 🐣🐥
The Cowboys had three good drafts in a row from 2020 to 2022, and began to get the reputation for being a great drafting team. The last two years? Ehhh.
Their 2023 draft:
1: DT Mazi Smith
2: TE Luke Schoonmaker
3: LB DeMarvion Overshown
4: DL Viliami Fehoko
5: OL Asim Richards
6: S Eric Scott
6: RB Deuce Vaughn
7: WR Jalen Brooks
And their 2024 draft:
1: OT Tyler Guyton
2: DE Marshawn Kneeland
3: OL Cooper Beebe
3: LB Marist Liufau
5: CB Caelen Carson
6: WR Ryan Flournoy
7: OL Nathan Thomas
7: DL Justin Rogers
Both first-round picks look like they might be busts, and there's like one definitely good player in that group. Speaking of whom... 👇
5) Two of their best defenders are coming off of major injuries 🩼🩼
In January, CB Trevon Diggs had a "chondral tissue graft procedure" on his left knee. He also tore an ACL in that same knee in 2023. Diggs had a huge year in 2021 (11 INTs, 2 pick-sixes), but hasn't been the same player since because of injuries and inconsistency. Even if he is able to return to the lineup in time for the start of the season, what is he going to look like?
In Week 14 last season, LB DeMarvion Overshown shredded his right knee, tearing his ACL, PCL, and MCL. The optimistic return timeline for him is November. A torn ACL in his left knee cost Overshown his entire rookie season in 2023.
Overshown is latest talented linebacker who has had trouble staying on the field, carrying the torch passed on by Sean Lee and Leighton Vander Esch.
062125SeanLeeLeightonVanderEsch
6) Those offensive tackles... 😱
The Cowboys' offensive line will look like this in 2025:
LT LG C RG RT
Tyler Guyton Tyler Smith Cooper Beebe Tyler Booker Terence Steele
Let's start with the interior.
• Smith is a very good player. He's the only sure thing along the offensive line.
• Beebe had a decent rookie season starting at center after mostly playing guard in college. It's reasonable to assume he'll improve in 2025.
• Booker, the Cowboys' rookie first-round pick, has prototypical size at 6'5, 321, with 34 1/2" arms, and gigantic hands. As you might expect of a player his size, he gets movement in the run game, and he can anchor against power in pass protection. He also does a nice job of reading stunts and twists, and most importantly to the Cowboys, apparently, is that he is widely regarded as a smart player with leadership intangibles.
But, man, he is not a great athlete, to put it kindly.
That 10-yard split... Yeesh. That's like, civilian speed.
The Booker pick was questionable. Per Daniel Jeremiah of NFL Network on his 40's and Free Agents podcast with Gregg Rosenthal, part of the Cowboys' plan — if the draft didn't fall the way they hoped — was to settle on a guard at pick 12.
"I had heard early on in the process that they were dialed in on interior offensive linemen, and that if Tetairoa McMillan was there, they liked him," Jeremiah said. "So it was going to come down to that. I knew that if they were going to take an interior O-lineman they preferred to trade back, but what looks like what happened, was that McMillan was gone — he goes to Carolina — and they couldn't [trade back]. So you're stuck and you just make the pick."
That's a pretty awful draft process. But whatever. The interior of the Cowboys' O-line could (maybe should?) be fine.
The tackles? Yuck. 🤢
• At RT, Steele signed a five-year deal worth $82.5 million during the 2023 offseason after a very good 2022 season. He has since been a below-average starter, allowing 17 sacks over the last two seasons, per PFF.
• At LT, Guyton finished second in the NFL with 18 penalties. PFF had him down (very generously) for 6 sacks in 2024. He got benched multiple times during the season.
I would take any other tackle tandem in the NFC over Guyton and Steele.
7) Their run game is going to suck 🐌
As noted above, the best part of the Cowboys' offensive line is the interior, more specifically their run blocking ability. Unfortunately for Dallas, their strength on the interior won't matter.
The Cowboys' running backs are (checks depth chart)... Oh God, really? Javonte Williams and Miles Sanders? Over the last two seasons, Sanders and Williams have combined for 3.6 yards per carry:
Cowboys RBs (2023-2024) Rush Yards YPC TD
Javonte Williams (DEN) 356 1287 3.6 7
Miles Sanders (CAR) 184 637 3.5 3
TOTAL 540 1924 3.6 🤢 10
Preview of the Cowboys' rushing attack in 2025:
062125WilliamsCarry
In the fifth round of the 2024 draft, the Cowboys did also draft Texas' Jaydon Blue, a back with receiving chops and some breakaway speed, but also a back who only had 214 career carries in college and yet somehow had seven fumbles (five in 2024).
Again, just eyeballing the NFL's other depth charts, this is the worst running back room in the league, right? Personally, I don't think it's close.
8) Their run defense is going to suck 🗑️
The Cowboys' run defense was abysmal in 2024:
Cowboys run D Stat NFL rank
Rush yards allowed per game 137.1 29
Rush 1st downs allowed per game 8.3 31
Rushing TDs allowed 25 32
Yards per rush allowed 4.8 28
Rush DVOA - 29
This offseason, the Cowboys lost their best run defender in DeMarcus Lawrence, and the guy they traded for to replace DeMarvion Overshown — Kenneth Murray — has some horrid run defense grades from PFF. Mazi Smith has also continued to be a major disappointment.
062324MaziSmith
It might be pointed out here that the Cowboys will have a new defense in 2025, with the hiring of defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus. Cool. His Bears defense finished 31st in run defense DVOA last year.
In 2024, the Cowboys gained 1,705 yards on the ground, and gave up 2,331. That's a rushing yard differential of -626. I feel like most teams with that kind of rushing yard differential lose a lot of games.
9) The Cowboys didn't learn any lessons from their mishandling of Dak Prescott's and CeeDee Lamb's contract extensions 🔁
The Cowboys have botched Prescott's contract situation for more than a half decade, going all the way back to 2019. For the sake of brevity, we'll just skip to last offseason, when Prescott was scheduled to play on the final year of his deal. For some dumbass reason, Jerry Jones said that he wanted to "see more cards played" before getting a deal done with him. Predictably, that didn't work out, as the Lions' Jared Goff got a new deal worth $53 million per season, followed by the Jaguars' Trevor Lawrence getting a new deal worth $55 million (!) per season.
OOPS!
Just before the start of the 2024 season, Prescott signed for $240 million over four years, or $60 million per season. That made him the highest-paid player in NFL history, a title he still holds.
Similarly, CeeDee Lamb was in line for a new contract, but Justin Jefferson signed a new deal first, for $35 million per year on a four-year deal. Like Prescott, Lamb signed just before the start of the season, on a four-year deal worth $34 million/year.
This year, Micah Parsons is in line for a new deal. And it's the same story. While Jerry was twiddling his thumbs, Maxx Crosby signed a new deal worth $35.5 million/year, and Myles Garrett got a new deal worth $40 million/year, temporarily making him the highest-paid non-quarterback in league history. JaMarr Chase later topped Garrett's deal when he signed a four-year deal worth $40.25 million/year. All of those deals have no doubt raised the floor for a new Parsons deal, expected to be the highest non-quarterback deal in NFL history.
Jerry Jones trying his dumb negotiation tactics every year:
10) Dak kinda stunk last year 🦨
Prescott is a borderline top 10 quarterback, and certainly other teams around the league would rather have him than their current quarterbacks, but he is also coming off arguably the worst season of his career, with career lows in QB Rating (86.0), QBR (45.3), and a 3-5 record before he was shut down for the season with a hamstring injury. He also had eight INTs in under eight full games.
Wanna see those eight picks? That's a stupid question. Of course you do. (Actually, it's 9, but 1 didn't count.)
He also turns 32 in July.
062125DakPrescottOld
A list of projected starting quarterbacks heading into 2025 who are older than Dak:
Aaron Rodgers
Matthew Stafford
Russell Wilson
Geno Smith
Joe Flacco, maybe, if he wins the Browns' abomination of a quarterback competition
That's it. Four, maybe five guys.
So to recap, the Cowboys are a boring, probably bad, banged-up team with a suspect coach, decision makers who make the same mistakes every year, led by an extremely expensive aging quarterback who hasn't been able to stay healthy and who might be in decline.