What is the saying? Was the coldest winter of my life a summer I spent in San Francisco?
California is cool, and in the summer it does its best to show off. Speaking in person here, my family and I are actually getting ready to head to the San Diego area for a week. If you have any tips for the area, feel free to reach out, or if you’d like to make some good wishes for taking an infant to Disneyland for a day. I am afraid.
As much work as my trip may be, the Dallas Cowboys will have to do more when they travel to the West Coast (the real trip, not the Texas coast the team did) later this month. We are about three weeks away from the Cowboys having their first training while near the Pacific Ocean. And while they’re breathing in the cool air, munching on In-N-Out, they have a lot to do.
Some things are more important than others. You don’t win b power July or August, but you’re laying the groundwork and all the other clichés.
Here are five things the Cowboys need to be sure to do before they pack up to return to The Star.
Really figure out the plan at the left guard
When it was reported that Tyron Smith would officially return to the Cowboys for his 100th season with the team, there was celebration among all of us. He’s one of the best tackles this team has ever had and when he’s healthy he stays very close to this player.
Unfortunately, thewhen he’s healthy” Somewhat important. Keep in mind that Dak Prescott is the NFL’s tallest quarterback (with his specific team) and the tallest starting quarterback never Tyron Smith has been available on his blind side for an entire season. All this time has passed
So while Smith’s presence is a great thing, it’s also a landmine that we should dance around like Will Smith and Martin Lawrence at the end of the series. Bad Boys II. He’ll get hurt, right? at what point? mid season? late in the year? Before everything literally started like that last season? The unknown is terrifying which means making a plan across the line is important.
Which is why answering the left guard’s dilemma is almost the team’s top priority at the moment. If the Cowboys want to commit to Tyler Smith at left guard, that makes sense in the world, until he has to kick it out when Tyron wastes time. If Leaving Ranger isn’t Tyler, then who is? Matt Farniuk? Choma Idoga? TJ Bass? Terrence Steele or Josh Paul, assuming they’re serious about moving one?
Obviously, the Cowboys have a plan that they’re going to go with, but the offensive linesmen’s dance is going to happen one way or another, so they need to make sure they have the proper contingency plans in place.
Choose a lane at the narrow end
Jake Ferguson’s club is feeling a bit full right now, to the point where I think there’s even a line out the door. I’m not in the building or even in line, well I haven’t put my shoes on at home so I get in the car and drive that way.
None of this is because I think Ferguson is a bad player or anything, but the sample size was very small last year. The idea that he has a tight final century stand at the moment seems a bit premature, especially considering the Cowboys just spent a second-round pick there. Not to mention there’s Peyton Hendershot, you know.
Like a lot of quarterbacks, Dak relies on his tight ends, but especially in the red zone. Consider the number of touchdowns he’s thrown to the center over the past few years.
- 2019 (16 games): 7 of 30 (23%) – Jason Witten leads 4
- 2020 (5 games): 2 of 9 (22%) – Dalton Schultz had both
- 2021 (16 games): 11 of 37 (30%) – Dalton Schultz leads 8
- 2022 (12 games): 8 of 23 (35%) – Dalton Schultz leads at 5
- Total over the past four seasons: 28 of 99 (28%) – Dalton Schultz with 15 of them
Just over half of the touchdowns that Dak Prescott has thrown to tight ends over the past four years (when he leveled up his game more as a passer) have all gone to Dalton Schultz, who is now a member of the Houston Tx. The question of who the torch will be handed must be answered. Jake Ferguson with the highest ranking and highest draft pick position (Hendershot’s fourth round undrafted walk) would hardly trade him.
And just one final note in that many consider the wild card win in Tampa to be one of the best performances of Dak Prescott’s career. That’s fair, right?
Dalton Schultz hit two touchdowns in that game specifically (two caught by Tennessee). The water has to flow somewhere.
Get at least one long-term deal, it is better to complete it
We’re all painfully aware of the contracts (to varying degrees) that Cowboys have hanging over their heads right now. Dak Prescott, CeeDee Lamb, Trevon Diggs, Tony Pollard, Terence Steele, and Tyler Biadasz all have reps whose phones are likely to be ready for the next 60 days and change. This is not so much a list of priorities as a set of names that the team needs to know about the cases, but as you can see the list is long.
As a matter of priority, Diggs, Pollard, Steele and Biadasz are all entering the final year of their current deals with the team. If Dallas doesn’t lock out any of them, they’ll risk heading into the offseason the following season as Micah Parsons will be eligible for an extension, which would be like one of those countersigns in front of a math problem that dramatically changes calculus.
Obviously, the work has to be done in the field, but it’s imperative that some pens meet certain papers as well.
Make sure you have enough veteran days
There are undeniably questions swirling around cowboys with certain qualities but for the most part things are pretty chalky, right? At least they are expected to be.
We’re talking about a core that won 12 games in consecutive years, a playoff contest a year early, and a group that gives back the majority of what they had and that they need to work with in hopes of getting past the next hurdle. . No one wonders about the chemistry between Dak Prescott and Sir Lamb or how Dan Quinn figured out how to use his collection of fast passing games.
It’s not uncommon to say but the Cowboys have benefited from being suspicious of some things and that’s why we don’t need any heroics at camp. The battle of attrition that is the NFL season means our goals are met on winter days, not when the pavement can cook an egg (maybe not in California as above).
Veterans (we all know them) deserve their rest. It’s a marathon, not a sprint.
Choose a kicker
This is very important but let me ask you a question:
Do you know who the Cowboys kickers were this time last year?
Maybe you do, maybe you don’t, but I’m going to help you anyway. One year ago, we were all hoping Jonathan Garibay would show up at UDFA and be the next Dan Bailey. Yerim Hajarallah was also on the list, but things weren’t supposed to come down to him.
As we all know Garibay and Hajrullahu fumbled which led to the team bringing options to work. Shockingly, and surprisingly, Brett Maher was the best they could do and prove a bunch of people (myself included) wrong. Maher was great until he wasn’t (we don’t need to reconsider that).
Recently, Tristan Vizcaino was the only real option the team had at the kicking position until Brandon Aubry joined the conversation. Whether it is one or another person, the answer must be found.