How Cowboys can improve run game, from free-agent fits to the draft: ‘It’s everything’ – Saad Yousuf, The Athletic
The ground attack certainly needs to be reworked in 2024.
In one of his first public comments of the offseason at the Senior Bowl, owner and GM Jerry Jones singled out the Dallas Cowboys’ running game as one of the key areas in need of improvement next season.
The running game has been an emphasis in Dallas long before Mike McCarthy’s “run the damn ball” comment last offseason. The end of the Tony Romo era featured DeMarco Murray in the offense, and the Dak Prescott era was launched in unison with running back Ezekiel Elliott’s selection at No. 4 overall in the 2016 NFL Draft. Last season, the Cowboys played without Elliott for the first time since 2016 and handed the keys to the running game to Tony Pollard.
The results were mediocre. The Cowboys finished 14th in total rushing yards and tied for 16th in yards per attempt. Pollard’s 4.0 yards per rush tied for 27th in the league.
Figuring out how to improve the run game so that it can be a weapon — at least situationally — will be a storyline all offseason. Personnel changes and upgrades will be an obvious thing to point to but Cowboys’ executive vice president Stephen Jones started from the top.
“I think it’s everything,” Jones said. “I think we have to continue to look at our schemes and what we’re doing there. I know Mike (McCarthy) certainly, as you well know when you talk to Mike, he wants to run the football well. He thinks, at the end of the day, a very important part of the offense is to be able to run it effectively.
“Then you’re looking at how we do that, how we coach it up. You’re looking at the players, the personnel, the whole nine yards. I don’t think it’s any one thing. I think you have to look at it holistically and then come back and say, ‘Here are the changes we’re going to make to be better.’”
Cowboys get under salary cap by converting guard Zack Martin’s contract, clearing $13M in space – RJ Ochoa, Blogging The Boys
With free agency looming, more moves like this will be made by the Cowboys.
As of Friday morning the fine folks at Over The Cap had the Dallas Cowboys just over $10M in the red as far as the salary cap is concerned. That changed rather quickly. It was reported bright and early by NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero that the Cowboys converted part of guard Zack Martin’s salary and in the process created $13M in salary cap space. Dallas is now in the black.
Salary cap-clearing as free agency approaches …
The #Cowboys converted guard Zack Martin’s salary, clearing $13M
The #Browns converted tackle Jedrick Willis’ fifth-year option, clearing $10.44M
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) March 8, 2024
The #Cowboys converted $16.25M of G Zack Martin’s 2024 salary into signing bonus, adding 1 additional void year to free up $13M of cap space.
Dallas now holds around $9M of Top 51 cap space, with Dak Prescott’s hefty $59.4M figure still on the books.https://t.co/hUUecut2RO
— Spotrac (@spotrac) March 8, 2024
With the Cowboys now officially under the cap they do not technically have to do anything else although there are obviously a lot of lingering questions. There is the matter of Dak Prescott’s contract and whether or not he is going to receive an extension with the team (current reports are that this might take until August). Doing so could provide additional cap space, as could a restructure, and obviously the more available space that the team can create can allow for more opportunities to re-sign players or bring in free agents.
Cowboys awarded two compensatory draft selections – Nick Harris, DallasCowboys.com
Dallas gets multiple draft picks due to recent departures.
The NFL officially announced the 32 compensatory draft selections for the 2024 NFL Draft in Detroit, and the Cowboys have been awarded two picks for free agents that departed last season. The two picks are in the fifth round (Pick 39, No. 173 overall) and the sixth round (Pick 41, No. 216 overall).
The fifth-round pick was awarded for the departure of Connor McGovern and the sixth-round pick was awarded for the departure of Dalton Schultz. The Cowboys barely missed out on being awarded a seventh-round pick for the departure of Noah Brown, but his categorization under compensatory pick rules fell just outside of the top 32 in the league.
The Cowboys will now head into the latter half of the draft cycle officially holding seven picks in April’s draft. They retain their original first-round (No. 24), second-round (No. 56), third-round (No. 87) and seventh-round (No. 245) picks as well as a seventh-round pick that was acquired in the trade for Johnathan Hankins (No. 234) and the two compensatory selections (No. 173 and No. 216).
They will be without their original fourth-round pick (traded away for Trey Lance), fifth-round pick (traded away for Stephon Gilmore) and sixth-round pick (traded away for Brandin Cooks).
Dak Prescott, Cowboys feel attacked about their culture. It’s their postseason play that’s the issue – Clarence Hill, Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Postseason failures over the last few years have called some things into question around Dallas.
A 48-32 playoff loss has them dumbfounded and discombobulated when it comes to explaining what exactly went wrong in the playoff loss, coming at the end of a season that set them up for a long postseason run.
That they not only lost, but they played arguably their worst game of the season.
It remains a sore point. For all.
Adding more insult to situation are the questions from inside and from outside the organization about how they go about their business are reasons why they continue to fail in the postseason.
A locker room that has prided itself on having a strong brotherhood has been attacked for having a bad culture.
And no one feels more under siege than quarterback Dak Prescott, who is the team’s best leader and also the biggest scapegoat for their playoff failure.
“Yeah, the culture is high honestly, and the culture is great from my standpoint. . . . My point is that’s something I’ve bragged on and took pride in,” Prescott said. “So if there’s questions of that or concerns on that, I feel attacked. I’m sure some guys in the locker room do, but at the end of the day, it’s a business, and the way that this business plays out, people don’t get exactly what they want. There’s always sourness I guess you could say somewhere. I don’t want to make anything bigger than that.”
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