Dallas City News

Can Trey Lance overtake Cooper Rush? – Staff writers, Dallascowboys.com

There’s a chance the Dallas Cowboys could go with Trey Lance over Cooper Rush.

Mickey Spagnola: That would be premature to suggest heading into training camp. That’s what we go to camp to find out. Really, all we know about Lance is his name and first round draft status (No. 3 overall in2021). And that’s all the Cowboys know first-hand, too, other than his workouts and mostly scout team reps last year. They will first give him every opportunity during camp practices and in at least two if not all three preseason games to prove he is worth keeping as at least the future backup. Remember, Lance is in the final year of his contract, as are Dak Prescott and Rush. And let’s also remember Coop has far more experience than Lance, who would have to gain enough trust to overtake Rush (5-1 as a starter) this season. Looking forward to seeing what Lance can do once actually playing in games, since he’s appeared in only eight NFL games, starting four, and not since Sept. 18, 2022, all with the Niners over two seasons.

Patrik Walker: Two things are true here: Yes, it’s possible for the former third-overall pick to beat out Cooper Rush in training camp and the preseason. It’s also not going to be anything near easy for him to achieve that goal. Lance shows a lot of promise and is developing very nicely under McCarthy, and a full offseason should pay dividends in July and August, but Rush has never been an easy out and he is not only one of the better backups in the league, but his familiarity with McCarthy, Dak Prescott, the receivers and the entire offense plays largely in his favor. This is a matchup that is probably top-3 in ones to watch in Oxnard, because it’s the youth and upside of Lance versus the experience and proven ability of Rush. Hold onto your butts, folks.

Nick Eatman: This is one of those ‘I’ll believe it when I see it’ situations. Sure, Lance is supposed to beat out Cooper Rush for the backup job here in his fourth pro season. But he’s also supposed to be the 49ers starting quarterback and that didn’t happen either. I think I’d be surprised if Lance was actually better than Rush when we’re done with camp and preseason. That doesn’t mean the Cowboys wouldn’t make him the backup because it seems as if they’d want it to play out that way. But Rush has been better in the brief things we’ve seen in the offseason. Rush has a good command of what the Cowboys are trying to do schematically and let’s face it, Rush has been better than Lance (and a lot of quarterbacks) when he’s been asked to play. I think if it’s a fair competition, I can see Rush still being the No. 2 quarterback heading into the season.

It’s time for the Dallas Cowboys to unveil new uniforms – Tyler Reed, Cowboys Country

Should the Cowboys upgrade their uniforms or keep the classics?

When thinking about iconic uniforms around the NFL, the Dallas Cowboys are the first team that comes to mind. The white tops with the blue numbers have become the franchise’s calling card look. But what if it was time to mix things up a bit? Teams around the league have been updating their looks year after year while the Cowboys quietly watch from the sidelines.

Maybe it’s time for the franchise to finally jump into the new uniform mix.

Fans have long been creating ideas they would love to see on the field. The first is an itty-bitty change to the current look. Itty-bitty changes have worked for folks like Vanilla Ice, and I think they could work for the Cowboys, too. Bringing a darker shade of blue to the current white uniforms honestly looks beautiful. The franchise should already be looking to make this change because it would be an immediate top seller.

Look me in my virtual eyes and tell me you wouldn’t want to have the helmet above hanging in your home. The fact is, you can’t. The franchise could have a little fun with this one. Yes, negative Nancy’s will probably pass out if the star helmets are never on the field, but let’s have some fun with it, shall we? This helmet is amazing, and since the league is about how much money it can make, this helmet is a gold mine.

The 5 best kick returners in the history of the Dallas Cowboys – Jerry Trotta, The Landry Hat

Some of these names will take you down memory lane.

5. Miles Austin

Before Austin developed into Tony Romo’s go-to target and one of the best slot receivers in the league, he was a dynamic return specialist. In the Cowboys’ 2006 playoff loss against the Seahawks, Austin returned a kick 94 yards for a touchdown to give Dallas the lead in the third quarter.

Austin is still the only Cowboys player to return a kick for a touchdown in the playoffs. The former two-time Pro Bowler is fifth in franchise history in both kickoff return yards (2,416) and yards per return (24.1).

Returning kicks is a forgotten aspect of Austin’s game, but his status as one of the best in Cowboys history should give fans a greater appreciation for the talent he possessed.

4. Tyson Thompson

A standout running back at San Jose State, Thompson signed with the Cowboys in 2005 as an undrafted free agent and immediately won the kickoff return job. He only logged 73 carries in his three seasons in Dallas, but he compiled 2,416 return yards, which is the second-most in franchise history.

Thompson never returned a kick for a touchdown, but he was remarkably consistent, averaging a healthy 24.7 yards per return. That’s the sixth-most among Cowboys who have returned at least 40 kickoffs.

An overlooked player for Bill Parcells and later Wade Phillips in 2007, Thomas absolutely deserves recognition as one of the best return specialists to ever play for the Cowboys.

Dallas Cowboys pre-training camp position breakdown series, looking at the specialists – RJ Ochoa, Blogging the Boys

The Cowboys may have the best special teams unit in the NFL.

Brandon Aubrey

In doing the prep work for this series it became apparent that the Cowboys haven’t entered training camp with this level of certainty around the kicker position in some time, so we wrote about that in advanced of talking about the specialists as a whole. Brandon Aubrey deserves that much love.

Aubrey was so good and consistent last year that it became boring. He smashed the NFL record for most consecutive field goals to start a career and was easily named both a First-Team All-Pro and Pro Bowler. Beyond how boringly successful his season was the days of Dan Bailey are not so far in the rearview mirror that we have totally forgotten what it was like to have one of the more reliable kickers in the game. There is an argument to be made that this has been the most stable position on the roster over the last 13 or so years with a few seasons of volatility in between Bailey and Aubrey.

Bryan Anger

Did you remember that Bryan Anger was also an All-Pro last year? It may have been as “only” a Second-Team selection, but the honor is impressive nonetheless.

Anger may not lay dudes out on returns the way that his predecessor in Chris Jones was known to do from time to time, but he remains highly impressive in what will now be his 13th NFL season.

On the subject of Anger’s NFL origins, one of my favorite things is that he was the inspiration for Rich Eisen’s famous “punters are people, too!” rant. In case you forgot, Anger was a third-round pick of the Jacksonville Jaguars which obviously turned some heads. Eisen defended the move with that rallying cry and the rest is history.

These days life is pretty easy for Anger as the punter that plays alongside one of the better and more efficient offenses in the league. Last season actually saw a career low for Anger in terms of the number of punts that he booted in a season with 44. The low number helped him field his largest yards per punt at 51.4.