Dallas City News

With the Dallas Cowboys entering the 2024 season with several departures in free agency, there is plenty of opportunity for younger players to make a big statement. Here are three players who should be viewed as breakout candidates for the upcoming NFL season.

WR Jalen Tolbert

The most obvious breakout candidate is third-year wide receiver Jalen Tolbert. After the team moved on from veteran WR Michael Gallup this offseason, the Cowboys have an open competition for the team’s WR3. While Jalen Brooks, KaVontae Turpin and Ryan Flournoy will both be competing for the role, it feels likely that Tolbert will be the team’s WR3 week one if they do not sign someone in free agency.

Tolbert faced a lot of criticism his rookie season when he had just two receptions for 12 yards in 2022. He was only active for eight games of the season, as he wasn’t able to carve himself out a consistent role on the team.

Tolbert significantly improved in 2023, despite still not being a starter on the team. He played in all 17 games, accumulating 22 receptions, 268 receiving yards, and two touchdowns. His longest reception of the season was a 45-yard reception which he caught over veteran CB Xavien Howard of the Miami Dolphins.

If Tolbert can continue to build off his improvement last season, he could have his first season of 500+ receiving yards with a much larger role in 2024.

LB DeMarvion Overshown

Second-year linebacker DeMarvion Overshown looks to be a crucial player for the Cowboys defense after an ACL injury robbed him of his rookie season in 2023. It has been reported by Jon Machota that he is expected to start in Mike Zimmer’s defense at the weakside linebacker position with Eric Kendricks (middle) and Damone Clark (strongside) filling out the group.

Overshown turned some heads in his rookie training camp, and also impressed in the preseason. In 46 total preseason snaps, he had a 75.0 overall grade with eight total tackles, zero missed tackles, and three stops at or behind the line of scrimmage. He will hope to improve a linebacker corps that struggled at times for the Cowboys last season.

DT Mazi Smith

2023 first-round pick Mazi Smith had a disappointing rookie season to say the least. The defensive tackle from Michigan was selected with hopes to improve the Dallas run defense, which struggled mightily in 2022. Unfortunately, Smith was unable to consistently get on the field on a defensive line that still had bad moments against the run last season. In 17 games, he only started three of them, accumulating 13 tackles and one sack. He finished with just a 49.8 PFF grade.

New defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer talked about Smith’s issues last season, and how he hopes to develop him this upcoming season.

“I heard that he kinda struggled a little bit last year. … We’re going to start with the basics. Get him in a good stance, get him using his hands the right way, getting his footwork the right way, and kind of go from there.”

Despite the rough start to his career, there is a lot of optimism that Smith will turn things around in 2024. Notably, the team is now without DT Johnathan Hankins who signed with the Seattle Seahawks in free agency. This opens up a bigger need for Smith in the middle. He also has reportedly gained more weight this offseason as Zimmer plans to play Smith more as a traditional nose tackle this year and let him concentrate on being a run-stuffer.

Smith is a great candidate for a breakout year this upcoming season. If he is unable to make significant improvement, he will be entering Taco Charlton-like bust territory.