Dallas City News

3 Cowboys players to watch in 2024 NFL season opener vs. Browns – Koby Skillern, Sports Illustrated

Rookies will certainly be in the spotlight for the season opener.

3. Cooper Beebe

Cooper Beebe could be the steal of the draft, having passed all tests with flying colors during training camp and preseason. Now comes the ultimate test: the regular season.

While Beebe is still adjusting to his new position, there’s no doubt he will enhance the Cowboys’ run game and pass blocking.

However, as with any rookie, especially on the offensive line, some mistakes are likely. Given the Cowboys’ past struggles with penalties, minimizing drive-stalling errors will be crucial for a successful season and Week 1 debut.

2. Caelen Carson

Thankfully for the Cowboys, they will face the Browns without Nick Chubb, which might lead the Browns to a more pass-heavy attack.

This presents Caelen Carson with a chance to shine in his NFL debut, who is starting in place of DaRon Bland while he recovers from injury.

Carson will have the opportunity to guard one of the league’s top wide receivers, Amari Cooper. This matchup will be crucial for Carson’s development and will indicate whether he’s ready for tougher challenges ahead.

1. Tyler Guyton

The Cowboys desperately need their first-year players to perform, especially Tyler Guyton, who will line up against the reigning Defensive Player of the Year Myles Garrett.

Having played just one game at left tackle at Oklahoma, Guyton’s NFL debut will be be a challenge. While no one expects Guyton to completely shut down Garrett, limiting penalties and preventing Garrett from dominating the game would make for a strong debut.

The next DaRon Bland? Cowboys rookie aims to continue tradition of strong CB play as injury fill-in for Dallas – Garrett Podell, CBS Sports

A Dallas DB looks to capitalize on the “Next Man Up” mentality.

FRISCO, Texas — Another NFL season for the Cowboys brought forth an unfortunate, continuing trend in Dallas: a major cornerback injury.

This year, [DaRon] Bland himself got bit by the injury bug, suffering a stress fracture in his foot at training camp that led to him undergoing surgery to repair. He will be out for 6 to 8 weeks post-operation, which puts him in line to potentially return by Week 4, 5 or 6. Once again, owner and general manager Jerry Jones is refusing to look outside his franchise for help and instead relying on the players he has drafted.

“Not at all,” Jones said after the team’s preseason finale against the Chargers when asked if he is going to look outside the team for cornerback depth. “Not in any way. No, not at all. The good news is we’ve got some guys that have really shown well in camp. We won’t be looking at all.”

The injury replacement in 2024, rookie Caelen Carson out of Wake Forest, has a somewhat similar background to Bland in that both were fifth-round picks who weren’t drafted with the intention of play right away. However, that’s exactly what’s about to happen. Since this phenomenon isn’t new for the Cowboys, head coach Mike McCarthy isn’t as worried about it as other head coaches around the league might be if something like this happened on their team.

“I think it’s definitely something you can point to,” McCarthy said Monday when asked about the team’s success in mitigating cornerback injuries during his tenure as Dallas’ head coach since 2020. “I think anytime you have a situation that occurs and you can point internally to how you’ve handled it, that’s part of that five-year growth that I’m talking about. I think clearly with [assistant head coach/defensive backs coach] Al [Harris] and [safeties coach] Cannon [Matthews] and the guys that are in that room already, it’s definitely an experience that guys can lean on. I think it definitely helps you.”

‘Are you stupid??’ Cowboys star got early-career wakeup call after going broke – K.D. Drummond, USA Today

DeMarcus Lawrence details the learning curve of making NFL money.

For the Dallas Cowboys’ DeMarcus Lawrence, he recently admitted that he was one of those who squandered the majority of his rookie contract, but fortunately he wisened up with the help of his dad.

Speaking to the Level Up Lifestyle Podcast, Lawrence recounted the story of his accountant calling him after his third season, telling him his bank account was in the negative.

The end of my third year, I go completely broke. I get that phone call from my accountant, and he’s like ‘Hey man, you don’t have no more money in your account.’ I’m like ‘What do you mean no more, you mean like zero dollars? What are you saying?’ And he’s like ‘I mean like negative $100.’

Lawrence explained how shortly after his dad called looking for assistance and he had to tell him,

Dad, my accountant just told me I have zero dollars.’ He was like, ‘Huh? What’s going on?… Are you stupid?’

And Lawrence said he asked himself and that the comment really struck his soul, inspiring him to get his act together and better manage his finances.

Browns coach Kevin Stefanski anticipates tough matchup from Cowboys DC Mike Zimmer – RJ Ochoa, BloggingTheBoys.com

A former staff member of Zimmer’s, Stefanski knows the quality of his upcoming opponent.

But there is another new factor at play on Sunday afternoon in who will be calling the defensive plays for the Cowboys as Mike Zimmer is back at the defensive coordinator spot.

It is a risky proposition at best to take anything serious out of the preseason, but Zimmer’s unit did impress throughout the exhibition portion of the calendar. Obviously we hope that this standard follows suit throughout the regular season, but the Cowboys defense has been tremendously successful over the last three years. The bar for expectation is high.

For what it’s worth, one of Zimmer’s former pupils is expecting the best. You see, Cleveland Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski served under Zimmer before he came Cleveland’s head coach on staff with the Minnesota Vikings. Stefanski was the offensive coordinator. Zimmer is obviously a defensive mind. The former spoke on Monday about how he is expecting the best that his former boss has to offer.

“Preseason obviously is not a great indication for any team in terms of the scheme. Coach Zim, obviously I know really well, is an outstanding football coach so we know that we’ll have our work cut out for us. Personnel wise… they have a bunch of really, really good players from the d-line back through the secondary.”

Stefanski and Zimmer have squared off once before as the Browns visited the Vikings in 2021. Cleveland won that game, a low-scoring affair, 14-17.

Here is the Cowboys’ first injury report of the 2024 season.