Dallas City News

The Dallas Cowboys approach to the 2024 season has been a head-scratcher from the beginning. Not only did they lose quite a bit of talent via free agency this year, but they did little to replace those players they lost. Now seeing them sit on their hands with the November 5 NFL trade deadline approaching is mind-boggling.

Looking back at the Cowboys’ approach to free agency this year is still something that makes very little sense. They had a lot of key players, both starters and backups, sign elsewhere. Instead of bringing in players to fill the holes, they chose to rely heavily on young players stepping up this year and shopping the bargain bin once again.

The only problem with that line of thinking is it was a huge gamble and so far it hasn’t paid off. This team has taken a huge step back this year from where they were just a season ago, both offensively and defensively. There is just poor play all around so far and a lot of it is coming from players who were supposed to replace starters Dallas lost to free agency.

On the offensive side of the ball Tyron Smith’s and Tony Pollard’s replacements have underperformed so far this year, and Tyler Biadasz’ replacement has been inconsistent. Dallas’ entire offensive line is struggling and the rushing attack is currently dead last in the league. Defensively things aren’t much better, but that’s mostly due to untimely and unfortunate injuries to key players. But even on defense, the Cowboys made no real effort to replace the injured Sam Williams, or exiting free agents Dante Fowler and Dorance Armstrong, except for drafting rookie Marshawn Kneeland.

All in all, the Dallas Cowboys are currently like a water bucket full of holes. It looks capable of getting the job done, but it’s ultimately useless until those holes are fixed/patched to hold water. Sadly, the Cowboys brass have failed to do that so far this year. Believe it or not though, there is a still a chance for them to fix those holes but time is running out.

As of now, Jerry Jones and Company continue to sit on their hands ahead of the NFL trade deadline this year on November 5. Despite the need to upgrade the running back position and maybe wide receiver on offense, and quite possibly their defensive front on defense, Dallas continues to watch other teams get better by not engaging in the trade market.

To the frustration and disappointment of fans around Cowboys Nation, the Cowboys just don’t seem all that interested in trying to improve their roster this year. It’s almost as if they have already given up on the season and are waiting to start fresh next year with a new coaching staff taking over. Whether that’s true or not though remains to be seen.

In the end, Jerry Jones only has himself and his staff to blame if things don’t turn out as expected. In the meantime, we will have to to struggle through the remainder the season with what looks like a team who will be lucky to finish .500 this year. But who knows, maybe there is a sliver of hope they can turn things around. It certainly seems unlikely though.