Dallas City News

Ferguson challenged to become a Cowboys’ great – Patrik Walker, DallasCowboys.com

Jake Ferguson hopes to add to Dallas’ rich TE history.

FRISCO, Texas — When Jake Ferguson looked at his phone on one fateful night in April 2022, and saw the area code belonged to North Texas, it instantly hit him that he’d be tasked with potentially, one day, being the next big thing at tight end for the Dallas Cowboys — a fourth-round pick with a shot at replacing the previous fourth-rounder, Dalton Schultz.

One season later, having shown plenty of flash as a rookie, Schultz was out of Dallas and Ferguson was awarded the keys to a throne once owned by greats like Jason Witten, Jay Novacek and Billy Joe Dupree.

He’d go on to have a breakout season — catching 71 passes for 761 yards with five touchdowns and 40 first downs en route to his first-ever Pro Bowl honor, and was acknowledged by future Hall of Fame tight end Travis Kelce as the next in line at the position.

Not too shabby, but that’s all in the past now, and the name of the game now is to make sure he has more than one hit on the album that will ultimately be his NFL career.

“He had a good year last year, but can you do it again?” said Cowboys’ tight ends coach Lunda Wells, challenging his prized pupil to keep climbing. “The legends and the great players do it consistently over the years — Jason Witten, Travis Kelce, Tony Gonzalez — you can go down the list — the great ones do it consistently every year. You can’t be one and done or a one-hit wonder, because those get lost.

“If you wanna be great, you’ve gotta do it every year, consistently, and I think that’s the challenge he understands. And that’s the best thing: he understands that. … [He] set the standard last year, now let’s make sure we do it even better, like the great ones do.”

Speaking in early May, Ferguson spoke to that very point.

“It’s my consistency in my prep,” he said. “To me, I think I’m not even scratching my surface. There’s so many things that I want to get better at and I know I can get better at. We watch film every day of different games, even the practices we’re doing now and I’m like, ‘OK, I can get a lot better still.’”

NFL economics: Why waiting to pay Dak Prescott is not costing the Cowboys more cap space – Dan Rogers, BloggingTheBoys.com

It may not break the bank to pay Dak Prescott.

It’s a weird thing. The front office of the Dallas Cowboys loves Dak Prescott. The front office also loves cap space. So, why would such a frugal organization take so long to re-up on their franchise quarterback when he’s only becoming more expensive? It just doesn’t make sense. Today, we’ll shed some light on the puzzling modus operandi of the Cowboys front office.

When Prescott signs his new deal, he will become the highest-paid player in NFL history, surpassing Joe Burrow who signed a five-year, $275 million deal last offseason. When the news breaks, some will complain about Dak’s playoff history and how he doesn’t deserve as much as Burrow, while others will point out that the Cowboys could’ve gotten him much cheaper if they had just been a little more proactive.

Prescott’s contract will be larger. His signing bonus, guaranteed money, and average annual salary will all be larger than it would have been had the Cowboys signed him this time last year. That clearly makes him more expensive, right?

Not so fast.

What we must take into consideration is the economy, the NFL economy. The salary cap continues to rise. That’s because the NFL is a profitable business that brings in money hand over fist and with greater revenue comes a greater share for the players. The profits took a hit back in 2021 because of the fallout from COVID-19, but for the most part, we see a steady increase in revenue.

The cap currently sits at $255.4 million and over the next five years, that amount is projected to grow another $100 million. These numbers match what spotrac.com uses for their estimates. Keep in mind these are just estimates as the exact figures will be different. The key thing to take from this is that the cap is increasing, and when the cap increases, so do the salaries of NFL players.

This is important because even though the price of a player’s contract is larger, this quarterback “inflation” we think we are seeing doesn’t actually decrease the purchasing power of NFL teams because they have more cap space.

5 Cowboys who need to show drastic improvement in 2024 – Yardbarker.com

Here are some players, including a first-round pick, that need to step it up in 2024.

On the heels of their third consecutive 12-5 campaign, the Dallas Cowboys are entering a vital year. They’ve had success in the regular season but under the bright lights of the playoffs, things have been a disaster.

If the Cowboys are going to finally make that leap, they need more than just Prescott and Lamb to shine. They also need role players to step up, such as these five who need to show improvement in 2024.

Damone Clark, Linebacker

Dallas’s linebacking corps was a problem last year. Defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer aims to correct this issue and hopes the addition of veteran Eric Kendricks and rookie Marist Liufau will help.

Even if they live up to expectations, the Cowboys need Damone Clark to improve this season. He fell from the 38th ranked linebacker in 2022 to 54th in 2023. His numbers were fine as he racked up 109 tackles but Clark needs to make more impact plays, especially after Leighton Vander Esch decided to retire.

Mazi Smith, Defensive Tackle

For all the good Dan Quinn did during his tenure, his plan with Mazi Smith was unbelievably misguided. He took a 330-pound nose tackle who excelled in this role at Michigan and asked him to lose 30 pounds. He then put Smith at the 3-tech, where he never found his footing.

Entering his second season, Smith is returning to his natural position. The problem is that Dallas has him penciled in as the starter with no threat to take him place should he struggle. That means if they’re going to find any success on defense this year, they need Smith to rise to the challenge.

‘Whatever it Takes!’ Ezekiel Elliott Taking Selfless Approach to Second Stint With Dallas Cowboys – Matt Galatzan, Sports Illustrated

Zeke is ready to give it his all in his comeback tour with the Cowboys.

Former Ohio State Buckeyes star running back is back in familiar territory.

Not only has he re-signed with the Dallas Cowboys, but he is also donning a new jersey number in No. 15 – the same number he wore during his time in Columbus.

And while he might not be the same player he was back in 2016 when he was winning the NFL rushing title as a rookie, he still believes he can make an impact for Dallas. Which is exactly what he aims to do with his new fresh start with the franchise.

“I love football, so I’m gonna do whatever it takes for me to help this team win,” Elliott told DallasCowboys.com. ”Whatever that is.”

Elliott, who had rushed for 8,262 yards and 68 touchdowns over seven seasons in his first stint in Dallas, spent last season in New England, where he was deployed in a variety of roles, and in some cases found tremendous success.

In total, he made five starts and played in all 17 games, rushing 184 times for 642 yards and three touchdowns.

But more importantly, he made his name with New England doing the dirty work in pas coverage and in short yardage situation – something he aims to bring to the Cowboys, who struggled in those areas in a big way in 2023.

“We’ve got a lot of good, young players that bring a lot of good things to the table,” Elliott said. “I’m excited to get to work with them in camp and help them to continue to develop. I’ve got eight years with however many carries, however many reps and however many blitz pickups, so the experience (will be helpful). … I’ve seen just about everything. I just want to give them a little bit of my experience and any tidbit that can help them.”