Shape of Cowboys’ 2024 running back room hinges on philosophy – Mario Herrera Jr., Inside the Star
The Cowboys might want to re-make their running back room with help from the draft.
Malik Davis made the team as an undrafted free agent in 2022 and Dallas used a 2023 6th round pick on the diminutive Deuce Vaughn.
Neither moves the confidence meter like a few backs who have already been linked to the Cowboys early in the draft.
The benefit of a rookie running back is two-fold.
First, you get the rookie contract at a cheap rate plus the 5th year option should that running back be drafted in the 1st round.
Second, the team gets a back who has fresh legs when it comes to NFL standards, and most sharing the backfield in college.
Here are a few names who have been brought up by analysts as good fits for the Cowboys’ offense:
Audric Etisme’ (Notre Dame)
Trey Benson (Florida State)
Blake Corum (Michigan)
Bucky Irving (Oregon)
Braelon Allen (Wisconsin)
Entire Dallas Cowboys coaching staff, QB Dak Prescott could face contract years in 2024 – Michael Gehlken, DMN
All coaches are in contract years this season, as is Dak Prescott. And a Prescott offseason extension is not a given.
Mike McCarthy and his assistants, most of whom are at the NFL scouting combine this week, are not under contract beyond the 2024 season. That includes new defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer and other recent hires; they signed one-year pacts, two people familiar with the situation told The Dallas Morning News.
It is not part of a larger design to have contracts for the coaches and starting quarterback scheduled to be up after the season.
An extension happening this year is far from a given.
The Cowboys, in fact, could find some attraction in waiting until early next year despite the inability to place a franchise tag on Prescott. The NFL’s salary cap is not expected to jump next year as dramatically as it did recently when swelling from $224.8 million in 2023 to $255.4 million. There is some thought a Prescott extension this year would be more cumbersome on the 2025 cap than a 2025 deal.
5 observations from the Cowboys draft picks over the last 10 years – Dan Rogers, BloggingTheBoys.com
The Cowboys may not spend in free agency, but they do know how to draft.
The Dallas Cowboys are a good drafting team. And it’s a good thing too because we all know they aren’t very active in free agency. “Build through the draft” and “keep free agent expenses to a minimum” have been Stephen Jones’ modus operandi for years now. If your player personnel department is sharp and they can draft well, this is a great strategy to employ. After all, spending money on outside free agents is a house game that largely results in overspending.
With no pick between 89 and 173ish, what type of impact will this have on the upcoming draft? To answer that, we embark on an investigation into the success of the Cowboys draft over the last 10 years. We chose 10 years not just because it’s a nice round number, but because it also marks the beginning of when Will McClay took over as the Assistant Director of Player Personnel. One might remember there was a disconnect during the 2013 Cowboys draft that resulted in McClay taking over the draft process the following year. The first draft under his control was in 2014, so we’re starting there. Here are all the Cowboys draft picks over the last 10 years.
Observation #1: The Cowboys are in line to make some noise in the first three rounds
Observation #2: Not having a fourth-round pick hurts
After that, it gets scarce as the team’s starter success rate drops. In rounds five through seven, the Cowboys have landed nine starters with 43 picks (21%). Basically, one out of five picks after the fourth round will turn into a starter. This lone statistic serves as sound reasoning to give up these late-round picks to acquire a veteran starter as they’ve done with the Brandon Cooks and Stephon Gilmore trades.
Observation #3: Using late-round picks for proven commodities is the way to go
One alarming thing on the graphic is that there is no green in the 2023 row. None at all. Now, we know it’s early and those picks still have time to manifest into good players, but as we can see from the other years, it doesn’t take long for players to show that they are starter-worthy. In 2022, we had a good sense that Jake Ferguson, DaRon Bland, and Damone Clark were going to be starters real soon. Not only were they all starters this past season, two of them were Pro Bowlers.
Diggs, Overshown on track for Cowboys camp return – Patrik Walker, DallasCowboys.com
Two defensive keys seem primed for 2024 returns after ACL tears in 2023.
Two absences that likely caught up to the Dallas Cowboys once the postseason rolled around were that of All-Pro cornerback Trevon Diggs and promising rookie linebacker DeMarvion Overshown, both having suffered a torn ACL earlier in the season.
No, you probably won’t hear about either getting fully cleared for voluntary OTAs or minicamp in June. According to the team’s front office, however, there’s a more than solid chance one or both could escape the physically unable to perform (PUP) list to begin training camp in July.
“I think it’s more realistic for camp,” said Executive Vice President and Director of Player Personnel Stephen Jones from the 2024 NFL Combine in Indianapolis.
If either Diggs or Overshown were to be placed on the PUP list in July, they’d be ineligible to practice until they’re removed from it. Should they remain on it after the final roster cutdown in late August, they’d be moved to reserve and forced to miss at least the first four games of the regular season.
Thankfully, at the moment, they are both far, far from the worst-case scenario of potentially being sidelined until October.
Diggs is at the point of his recovery wherein he no longer requires an apparatus or brace of any sort while rehabbing his surgically-repaired knee, and Overshown has been in the same space for weeks now— both beginning to ramp-up their respective workload, albeit cautiously, with the Cowboys’ training staff.
Early Free-Agent Contracts Cowboys Must Consider – Alex Ballentine, Bleacher Report
Typically frugal in free agency, the Cowboys should still take a look at these free agents.
RB Derrick Henry
There’s always pressure in Dallas, but there’s a lot of pressure on Mike McCarthy to make 2024 a special season. The Cowboys have been stuck in neutral when it comes to the playoffs.
McCarthy has gone 1-3 in the postseason with the Cowboys and they have yet to get past the divisional round.
This year, Tony Pollard’s struggles as the lead-back were partially to blame. The Cowboys finally gave him full command of the backfield with Ezekiel Elliott gone and he responded with much less efficiency than in years past.
The Cowboys were also not an impressive short-yardage offense last season.
A simple, quick fix to that issue is to make a competitive offer to Derrick Henry. The 6’3”, 247-pound back is still a productive back. Even behind a porous Titans offensive line he was second in the league in rushing, 10th in yards created and second in breakaway runs, per Player Profiler.
DT Grover Stewart
Defensive tackle is another team need that also happens to feature a very deep free-agent class. Names like Chris Jones, Christian Wilkins and Justin Madubuike are going to dominate the headlines, but that creates value with some proven veterans who will also be available.
The 30-year-old Stewart heads to free agency with a relatively clean bill of health. He missed the first six games of this season due to a suspension for violating the league’s performance-enhancing drug policy, however, he hasn’t missed a game since 2018 and had played in 84 consecutive games before the suspension.
Stewart is not an elite pass-rushing option, but the Cowboys can’t necessarily afford one in free agency. They can clear up a small free agent budget, but paying it out to the likes of Jones, Wilkins or Madubuike would be too costly.
Instead, they could target a sturdy run defender like Stewart who is going to improve the Cowboys run defense and offer some pass rush support. The nose tackle posted 11 total pressures this season and 14 last season, per Sports Info Solutions.
Ed. Note: Recently we noted the sad passing of Mark Lane, a contributor here at BTB and at many Cowboys media sites over the years. We wanted to let everyone know you can donate to a scholarship fund in Mark Lane’s honor here.
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