Cowboys vs. Chargers day after thoughts: Deuce Vaughn needs to have a serious role
The preseason came and went for the Dallas Cowboys and all that separates us from truly setting our sights on the Cleveland Browns is the assembly of the team’s 53-man roster. The dust is still settling on the exhibition part of the calendar and with it complete we can allow ourselves the opportunity to reflect upon it with varying thoughts.
Something that began this preseason and that will continue through the regular season on this site is offering three different thoughts on the game that we just saw the day after. The point of this exercise is to allow some time to properly think and reflect, and let the emotions of the moment pass, before we come to any sweeping conclusions. This particular Day After Thoughts encompasses more than just the preseason game itself as the period has wrapped. Today, we are offering thoughts on the preseason and everything up through it, so to speak.
Let’s begin.
Deuce Vaughn needs to not only make the roster, but have a legitimate emphasis placed on whatever his role is
It feels safe to say that the story of Deuce Vaughn was bigger than anything that he did on the field last year. How could it not be? The story is incredible. Whether or not the coaching staff felt like they could legitimately get anything out of Vaughn in 2023 is water under the bridge at this point. In the here and now, Vaughn clearly looks like someone not only worthy of a roster spot, but worthy of serious planning and preparation.
This isn’t to say that Vaughn can be some elite weapon that takes the Cowboys offense to places that they have never before been. But he is a different kind of weapon, a change-of-pace back if you will, and you can never have enough variety.
This draft class looks very promising through the preseason
With context that the games we have seen do not ultimately matter is certainly necessary, but the names really do pop. Tyler Guyton looks great and is a starting-caliber left tackle (he is obviously going to start). Marshawn Kneeland has looked quite strong and is an even more necessary pick than the moment his name was called. The third round of the draft yielded starting center Cooper Beebe and surprising contributor Marist Liufau. Caelen Carson has flashed and Ryan Flournoy has come on as of late.
As you can see this year’s Dallas Cowboys rookie class is contributing to this point. It is very exciting to consider that the team found a legitimate handful of players that will contribute at the very least over the life of their rookie contracts, and that they seem prepared to do some heavy lifting in the here and now.
The Cowboys love to talk about how much they pride themselves on their ability to draft and early returns show that they have a right to pound their chest. But there are other parts of roster construction that it would behoove them to be equally obsessed with.
Speaking of!
It is unbelievable we are at this point without any major extensions signed
Given that we have had these same discussions for months on end now, any time they come up it is rather annoying. We all understand this.
But with two weeks to go until the Cowboys will be in Cleveland for a game that counts, they have yet to get an extension done for Dak Prescott, CeeDee Lamb or Micah Parsons. Forget all in, forget urgency, forget all of the talk, this is a massive failure to not have a single swoop of pen on paper.
It is certainly possible that one or more of these deals gets done before toe meets ball in Cleveland, but the result will not justify the process. The Cowboys dragged this out until quite literally the last possible minute and do not seem to have learned from that as evidenced by the fact that Parsons (who is a year behind Lamb contractually) does not seem to be a priority.
You can be the best drafting team in the world, but if you are tying one hand behind your back in another avenue of team-building you are just hurting your own cause. We have finished the preseason and the conversations we had in late January are still relevant.