Could Gavin Escobar Be The Next Julius Thomas?

The Dallas Cowboys offense was already quite lethal in 2013, but it doesn’t mean it can’t be better in 2014. With an improved offensive line and Dez Bryant becoming more dominant every day, I think it’s very likely that Dallas remains as one of the top offensives in the NFL. But I believe the Cowboys posses a player on their team who was under-utilized in 2013 and holds the keys to unlocking the Cowboys’ passing offense to reach even higher goals. That player is Gavin Escobar.

In 2012, the Denver Broncos had an elite offense with Peyton Manning, Demaryius Thomas and Eric Decker. In 2013, Denver added Wes Welker via free agency and he certainly made their passing attack better. But I would argue that the emergence of third year tight end Julius Thomas is what made the offense historic. And with Gavin Escobar now in his second season with the Cowboys and paired with a creative offensive coordinator in Scott Linehan, it’s quite possible that we see a huge leap from the Dallas Cowboys offense in 2014 similar to what we saw from Denver last year. For comparison sake, look at Denver’s 2012 offense and their progression the following year compared to Dallas’ 2013 season:

https://lh4.***BROKEN***/ER06BG205nuztuVr6Znn2UiTM5RYXWffWxRiuaNplk7i_Ymyf0PxtFBnqhY0u0GP5fiEbpoYKogm3th0yCooRL_WoILxqN5p4HgarDoeP5Cs7QTcJsdmkg3DCgLIXW2upHHmUzgzMf0

In 2013, Denver was better across the board in offensive statistics and huge part of that was the development of Julius Thomas. My belief is this; if Gavin Escobar can make a big leap in year two, the Dallas Cowboys offense can make a big jump in their offensive statistics.

Read the rest at: http://cover32.com/cowboys/2014/08/23/gavin-escobar-is-about-to-unleash-the-dallas-cowboys-offense/

I think Escobar is going to put up big numbers this year. He has soft hands.. blocking has improved. and his height will be a major factor. hoping for big things from him this year.

I'm guessing we get 400 yards a game sweep the division and get into the dance as division champs. 400 is a lot of yds but put Murray down for 85 Bryant down for 75 Williams down for 65 Witten down for 55 and Escobar in for another 45. The rest of the guys add up to 75 yards between the backs and pass catchers. 400 looks doable.

Escobar could be the first Escobar.

NeonDeion21 said:

The Dallas Cowboys offense was already quite lethal in 2013, but it doesn’t mean it can’t be better in 2014. With an improved offensive line and Dez Bryant becoming more dominant every day, I think it’s very likely that Dallas remains as one of the top offensives in the NFL. But I believe the Cowboys posses a player on their team who was under-utilized in 2013 and holds the keys to unlocking the Cowboys’ passing offense to reach even higher goals. That player is Gavin Escobar.

In 2012, the Denver Broncos had an elite offense with Peyton Manning, Demaryius Thomas and Eric Decker. In 2013, Denver added Wes Welker via free agency and he certainly made their passing attack better. But I would argue that the emergence of third year tight end Julius Thomas is what made the offense historic. And with Gavin Escobar now in his second season with the Cowboys and paired with a creative offensive coordinator in Scott Linehan, it’s quite possible that we see a huge leap from the Dallas Cowboys offense in 2014 similar to what we saw from Denver last year. For comparison sake, look at Denver’s 2012 offense and their progression the following year compared to Dallas’ 2013 season:

https://lh4.***BROKEN***/ER06BG205nuztuVr6Znn2UiTM5RYXWffWxRiuaNplk7i_Ymyf0PxtFBnqhY0u0GP5fiEbpoYKogm3th0yCooRL_WoILxqN5p4HgarDoeP5Cs7QTcJsdmkg3DCgLIXW2upHHmUzgzMf0

In 2013, Denver was better across the board in offensive statistics and huge part of that was the development of Julius Thomas. My belief is this; if Gavin Escobar can make a big leap in year two, the Dallas Cowboys offense can make a big jump in their offensive statistics.

Read the rest at: http://cover32.com/cowboys/2014/08/23/gavin-escobar-is-about-to-unleash-the-dallas-cowboys-offense/

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Good work Marcus. I really like Escobar. His hands are as good as it gets

I think Escobar has all the tools to be a very good TE. I'm beyond excited to see what he can do this year.

Escobar may not have the speed of Thomas, but I don't care if he power walks his routes if he boxes out the defender and makes the catch

Nope.

Section444 said:

Nope.

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Have to agree.

Who are you taking plays away from to get him the ball? Dez, T Williams, Witten, Murry, Dunbar or Beasley? If everyone else is healthy, I would be surprised if he gets more than 1 look a game.

Keith Vetter said:

Who are you taking plays away from to get him the ball? Dez, T Williams, Witten, Murry, Dunbar or Beasley? If everyone else is healthy, I would be surprised if he gets more than 1 look a game.

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How did DEN do it with D.Thomas, E.Decker, W.Welker, M.Ball, Knowshown Moreno?

Out of all the players you listed, Escobar is the most likely to get favorable match-ups each snap that he is in. As I showed in the OP, Escobar on a LB is easy money for DAL.

Could this thread be another great example of why we should have a sub forum called "The Hypothetical Zone"...

Denver offense isn't the cowboys offense. Denver doesn't as many playmakers. Count the names I posted then count yours.

I don't think our offense will be as good as the individual parts we have. I think we will spend most 2nd halves in must score mode and that pressure usually is difficult to constantly be under as we saw last year. Escobar is nice but I don't think he moves the needle relative to wins. The crime is the defense which robs us of finding out how good the offense can be imho.

Keith Vetter said:

Who are you taking plays away from to get him the ball? Dez, T Williams, Witten, Murry, Dunbar or Beasley? If everyone else is healthy, I would be surprised if he gets more than 1 look a game.

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You're going to have to define what a "playmaker" is before you throw Dunbar and Beasley on the list and declare the Broncos don't have as many.

What I mean is... As long as the guys I mentioned are healthy they will remain the main targets. Until they can prove that they can run the 2 TE set and use both TE's equally, I don't think Escobar will get significantly more touches than he has. However I do think he will get a few more chances in the red zone.

theSHOW said:

I'm guessing we get 400 yards a game sweep the division and get into the dance as division champs. 400 is a lot of yds but put Murray down for 85 Bryant down for 75 Williams down for 65 Witten down for 55 and Escobar in for another 45. The rest of the guys add up to 75 yards between the backs and pass catchers. 400 looks doable.

Click to expand...

That's 6400 yds per year. It's doable but tough.

Keith Vetter said:

Denver offense isn't the cowboys offense. Denver doesn't as many playmakers. Count the names I posted then count yours.

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What? Denver has fewer playmakers?

I doubt it. Thomas was the #1 TE and had over 900 snaps.

Escobar isn't taking snaps from Witten so he's not going to be on the field nearly as much as Thomas was.

Even if Escobar got every snap at the #2 TE spot and Hanna had none, Escobar still has about 400 snaps to go.

I agree that Escobar has a lot of potential to help escalate our offense to a higher level, but I don't see him as the primary difference between us and the Broncos.

I think that is going to be Terrance Williams. The first key difference between us and the Broncos was that their #2 receiver had about as many yards receiving as Dez Bryant last year. To put in plainly the Broncos were simply a lot deeper than we were last year.

Where Escobar should have the largest impact is in the Redzone.

The Broncos were also a lot more productive on the ground than we were last year, even though we were more efficient at running the ball. They stuck with the run through out the season. A lot of that has to do with our defense, but for our offense to reach another level it'll need to properly incorporate the running game better.

I'm really excited about how Linehan plans to use Murray and Dunbar, but in order to emulate Denver's success you'll need just about everyone to step up this year. That means Dez, Witten, Williams, Beasley, Escobar, Murray, and Dunbar.

Dez and Thomas potentially cancel each other out.

Can Williams be as productive as Decker was last year? Can Witten, Beasley, and Escobar replace the production from Thomas and Welker? Can our running back corps keep up in the running game and the passing game?

There's a lot of reasons to believe that they can, but we'll need to see it. I would say that we have the potential to be just as deep if not deeper than the 2013 Broncos. The biggest question is can Williams reach a much higher level this year than last year. I've got a lot of hope for Williams, but a lot of concerns as well. He isn't going to reach the next level body catching balls, which is something I'm still seeing him do.