Offseason Updates

The Dallas Cowboys offseason has been very progressive so far. To start off parting ways with offensive coordinator Kellen Moore. Many are blaming him for the offense's lack of big plays and some questionable play calls. With this departure the Offensive play calling will be handed to Mike McCarthy. Who was the play caller for Aaron Rodgers MVP seasons in 11’, and 14’. This will hopefully get more consistency and bigger plays from the Boys in this upcoming season.

After restructuring many contracts including Tyron Smith, Michael Gallup, Dak Prescott, and a few others creating a flexible amount of cap space. They decided to bring back a few of their guys. Including Tony Pollard on a Franchise Tag, Leighton Vander Esch to a multi year deal, and my personal favorite Donovan Wilson who led the team in tackles this last year. They were also able to bring in a few other depth pieces such as Dante Fowler, and Cooper Rush. This offseason has been one to remember as a Cowboys fan, as we are used to the front office not signing many players and almost no noise coming from trades. This off season has been different, the cowboys extremely upgraded their cornerback room along with wide receiver room for very cheap deals acquiring Stephon Gilmore from the Indianapolis Colts for a 23’ 5th round pick. While also acquiring Brandin Cooks from the Houston Texans for a 23’ 5th round and a 24’ 6th round pick. With all this being sent to other teams the cowboys still managed to have a pick in every single round of the upcoming draft. Gilmore, a former DPOY for the New England Patriots, is a fantastic compliment to Trevon Diggs as our defensive coordinator loves to play man defense. Gilmore was a top 5 corner in man coverage last year, as well as having a veteran's presence in the locker room who is proven and won a super bowl. Brandin Cooks allows partly the same veteran presence having been to multiple super bowls and on multiple great teams, he knows the kind of work that needs to be put in and done to get there. A story recently came out stating that Cooks and Gilmore were best friends and talked almost the whole summer while playing for the patriots. Check it out here, https://www.espn.com/blog/dallas-cowboys/post/_/id/4776226/cowboys-hope-stephon-gilmore-brandin-cooks-lead-way-to-super-bowl .

The Cowboys didn’t stop there. They added some key depth around the team with running back Ronald Jones, who has been to multiple super bowls with Tom Brady and Patrick Mahomes this last year winning with the Chiefs and also with the Buccaneers in 21’. Also adding Offensive lineman Chuma Edoga who can bounce around the line from tackle to guard allows the cowboys great depth at this position.

Unfortunately there are times when teams need to make hard decisions. This off season the Cowboys were faced with one of their biggest decisions since the release of Dez Bryant. The Cowboys chose to release Ezekiel Elliot due to how much money he was being paid and his production on the field. There are mixed opinions on this move, we've heard Cowboys legend Emmit Smith express his disagreement with this decision saying, “This is why, the NFL stands for not the law. Everybody else go get your money because they have no love for you.” (Via Twitter: rjochoa) With all these disagreements it’s sad to say as a die hard cowboys fan and massive Ezekiel Elliot fan, I agree with this decision. It was more then obvious that Tony Pollard deserved many more carries throughout the year and who knows if he doesn’t get injured that last game may have been different. Along with the departure of Zeke, Dalton Schultz and Noah Brown signed with the Houston Texans. According to Sports Illustrated, Schultz declined the Cowboys offer of 3 years- $36 million this offseason. Personally, I like many prospects in the draft and the combination of Jake Ferguson and Peyton Hendershot did very well and i'm excited for their bright futures in Dallas.

My opinion on this offseason:

It’s sad to see a fan favorite and possible Cowboys hall of famer leave the team. But if it means moving more to a fast paced offense and creating more plays over the top then I'm all for it. Everyone saw Ezekiel Elliots production on the field last year, and it wasn’t the prettiest. He started off just fine but as the season went on he got less and less progressive. I'm excited to see a full workload from Tony Pollard and potentially a rookie coming up in the draft. Im completely ok with all of our departures this offseason even with the expense of Zeke and Schultz we didn’t lose much. We were able to obtain mostly everyone that contributed a lot back onto the team. The Cowboys are a win now team with the end of Dak Prescott's era in Dallas most likely coming to a close soon, and the retirement of Zach Martin, Demarcus Lawrence, and Tyron Smith. This Cowboys team is going all in this year, when the Cowboys make trades such as these giving up draft capitol you know they mean business. The Cowboys being a very good frating team, have a lot to look at coming up in this year's draft. They’ve put themselves in a very open spot allowing themselves to take talent over need with no glaring holes on the team.

I’ll be giving my Draft opinions and who the Cowboys should look at in this year's draft soon!