Dallas City News

As if any of us needed a reminder, the next time the Dallas Cowboys play football, every play matters. Week 1 is set for Sunday, September 8th and it will see the Cowboys in Cleveland against the Browns, on FOX with Tom Brady making his broadcasting debut, and things will suddenly feel much more real and intense than they have at any point in the preseason. This is especially true for an offense that rested as close to every key player as they possibly could through three exhibition games, letting Trey Lance use the entirety of the preseason to show what he can do.

Dak Prescott jogging out onto the field for the first time, contract status still very much up in the air, will be just the first reason Dallas expects to field a much better offense than they did with Lance. How confident should Dallas be in the talent surrounding Prescott in a contract season though, looking to remain near the top of the league in yards and scoring in year two of head coach Mike McCarthy calling plays?

With the 53-man roster now set, let’s take a look at the entirety of the offense and what to expect on gameday. Ranked in order of confidence, we begin in the trenches.

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1. Interior Offensive Line

• Players: Tyler Smith, Cooper Beebe, Zack Martin, T.J. Bass, Brock Hoffman

The Cowboys put a clear emphasis on their inside run game this preseason, and they have the players to lean on up front at guard and center. Keeping the front of the pocket clean in pass protection has also been a priority, and having future Hall of Fame right guard Zack Martin still playing at a high level in both areas is a huge reason why this group is number one on the confidence scale. Where Martin is a model of consistency at right guard, Tyler Smith is emerging as a similarly reliable player at left guard. Both players carry the flag for Dallas’ impeccable track record of hitting on first-round picks on the line, especially those changing positions in the NFL as Martin and Smith were collegiate tackles.

This gives hope for a new rookie in third-round pick Cooper Beebe, the projected starter at center, to follow in similar footsteps after playing guard at Kansas State. Beebe won the job throughout the preseason over Brock Hoffman, getting better with the mechanics of playing center and showing off his high upside as a run blocker while doing so.

Starting his first season in Dallas sandwiched between two powerful players like Smith and Martin can only help Beebe immensely, as the Cowboys will look to get back to having a dominant push up front with this trio. Retaining Hoffman as a depth option as well as T.J. Bass, both players that started games a year ago, makes this an even more surefire place to start this list.

2. Quarterback

• Players: Dak Prescott, Cooper Rush, Trey Lance

While some positions require strength in numbers to be an overall team strength, others on offense can be greatly lifted by just one player. This is never more evident than at quarterback, where the tried and true formula of letting Dak Prescott be himself and having a defense that can widen the advantage of the QB matchup for Dallas has yielded them 12 wins in each of the last three seasons.

Prescott has great continuity around him at the receiving positions with CeeDee Lamb, Brandin Cooks, and Jalen Tolbert at WR and Jake Ferguson at TE, and even the new faces blocking for him up front have already shown plenty of promise. Prescott’s record against the NFC East is particularly something to watch for this season as the Giants are at a make-or-break point with Daniel Jones, the Commanders turn to rookie Jayden Daniels, and Eagles are looking for new life out of an offense still led by Jalen Hurts.

The Cowboys have a ton of confidence in Cooper Rush as a capable backup that can win a few games if Prescott misses any time, and Lance is still an intriguing developmental option at QB3 to give the team depth all around with star power at the top for the most important position in sports.

3. Tight End

• Players: Jake Ferguson, Luke Schoonmaker, John Stephens Jr., Brevyn Spann-Ford

This position group is elevated by one player, tight end Jake Ferguson. A breakout player in his second season who was featured heavily with the change to McCarthy as play-caller, the sky is now the limit in year three for Ferguson. The Cowboys receiving trio of Lamb, Cooks and Tolbert will be looking to stretch defenses vertically, something Ferguson can do himself with an average of 10.7 YPC in 2023, which should allow even more underneath targets for the sure-handed tight end to wear down defenses.

As the Cowboys search for answers in the run game early in this season, they will need efficiency in the short passing game to keep the offense on the field, and this is where not only Ferguson has room to develop but also second-year man Luke Schoonmaker. Injuries have unfortunately continued to hold back Schoonmaker’s development as a second-round pick, but he has not fallen out of favor with McCarthy or offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer as the second option at TE if he stays on the field. Dallas tried to get the ball to Schoonmaker a number of times in the preseason, but the overall timing of the offense was behind with Lance under center.

Behind Ferguson and Schoonmaker, the Cowboys can turn to fan favorite John Stephens Jr. as a more dynamic option, and also kept another player here with some preseason buzz in UDFA Brevyn Spann-Ford as a blocking option. This is a group that should help the Cowboys be multiple on offense and find new wrinkles to keep up with defenses throughout the season, earning them a high mark on the confidence meter.

4. Wide Receiver

• Players: CeeDee Lamb, Brandin Cooks, Jalen Tolbert, Ryan Flournoy, KaVontae Turpin, Jalen Brooks

With CeeDee Lamb back in the fold, the Cowboys receiving corps is as solidified as ever under Mike McCarthy. Keeping their WR1 happy with a new contract extension just before the start of the season has Lamb primed to be one of the best pass catchers in the game again this season, and the tandem of Lamb and Cooks proved dynamic particularly in home games from AT&T Stadium in 2023.

The need for a third receiver to step up was an early storyline in training camp for the Cowboys, and by the end of the preseason they saw numerous players place their bid for this all-important role in the regular season.

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Jalen Tolbert came into camp as the leading candidate to take a big step up, earmarked for this jump in playing time ever since Michael Gallup departed in free agency. The Cowboys saw Tolbert take full advantage of these reps as their most improved player coming out of Oxnard, but also may have found a more direct replacement to Gallup in sixth-round rookie Ryan Flournoy.

Flournoy was on the receiving end of two fade passes from Trey Lance in the red zone for touchdowns against the Raiders and Chargers, locking in a roster spot that seemed tenuous early in camp. The rookie was overshadowed by the likes of Jalen Brooks or even Tyron Billy-Johnson at times. By keeping two possession receivers like Flournoy and Brooks to complement the speed and star power of Lamb and Cooks at the top of the depth chart, the Cowboys have plenty of options to sustain an offense this season – even if they have to remain a heavy passing team throughout.

The wild card of this group is KaVontae Turpin, who will already have a chance to impact the game more as a returner thanks to the league’s change to the new dynamic kickoff return. If Turpin can carry this over in more than just the niche role he played on offense last year with 11 carries and 12 catches, the Cowboys will have no shortage of ways to distribute the ball and win the possession game when needed, while also boasting plenty of game-breaking ability out wide coming off a season they scored at least 40 points five times and at least 30 in all but seven.

5. Offensive Tackle

• Players; Tyler Guyton, Chuma Edoga, Asim Richards, Terence Steele, Matt Waletzko

We mentioned the Cowboys ability to develop first-round talent on the offensive line as the main reason their guard and center group led off this list with two former top picks there, but another will be starting his first season at left tackle in Tyler Guyton. Yet another prospect making a position change from right tackle to left and replacing the massive shoes of Tyron Smith, Guyton has looked comfortable in this switch.

The rookie growing pains will most certainly be there throughout the season for Guyton, and Terence Steele can have his ups and downs at the right tackle spot, which is why at the moment it’s harder to rank this position group any higher than fifth. The Cowboys showed plenty of looks that get the ball out of Prescott’s hands quickly to help mitigate any struggles on the edges in pass protection last year, and finding more success in these looks should be a focus early on while breaking in Guyton.

Guyton will be tested out of the gate with one of the best pure rushers in the league against Myles Garrett in Cleveland. A strong performance here would be a massive jolt of confidence for the entire offensive line to gel together and reestablish the standard that Dallas has one of the most imposing offensive fronts in the NFL. To do so, their depth will need to be ready for the attrition of the season, with Chuma Edoga, Asim Richards, and Matt Waletzko being the options here.

Edoga was the starting left tackle for much of camp, while Richards and Waletzko were iron men in the preseason games eating up snaps in protection of Trey Lance. These other three players, all with experience in the offense, can be called on at a moment’s notice.

6. Running Back

• Players; Rico Dowdle, Ezekiel Elliott, Deuce Vaughn, Hunter Luepke (fullback)

On paper, it is simply hard to have much confidence in the Cowboys stable of running backs going into the season. On one hand, they’ve “gotten with the times” and followed the trend of teams straying away from having just one featured back on a big contract and fully embraced a committee approach. On the other, it’s easy to think they’ve leaned way too far into this idea by trusting Rico Dowdle to seemingly be their top choice, with Ezekiel Elliott also expected to get plenty of carries.

One of the surprise roster cuts earlier in the week also came from this position group, as Malik Davis was cut following another preseason where he did all he could to prove he deserves a longer look. Especially with the emphasis on running between the tackles, Davis is cut from a similar cloth as Dowdle in his ability to fight for tough yards here. Instead, the Cowboys worked Deuce Vaughn and Royce Freeman in this area most of the preseason, keeping Vaughn and waiving Freeman.

Davis remains an option on the practice squad along with veteran Dalvin Cook, but there simply aren’t many teams less than two full weeks away from gameday looking to the practice squad to inspire confidence about a position as important as running back. Cook and Davis may be seen as potential insurance if Elliott struggles to regain any semblance of the form he previously had in Dallas.

To state the obvious, the Cowboys simply cannot ask Prescott to drop back and pass every play, but are going into the season with the run game being very much a work in progress.

The Cowboys did learn that Tony Pollard was less effective as a lead back in 2023, becoming the first free agent to leave the team for the Titans this offseason, but doing so little to replace him makes RB the least confident position ahead of week one.