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The key to success for the Dallas Cowboys in 2017 may depend more on young, under-the-radar veterans than it will on the 2017 rookie class.
The second NFL year can be a break-out party for talented NFL players. For some players, that breakout doesn't happen until their third or fourth years in the league.
It is a widely held belief that NFL players take a quantum leap in performance from their rookie season to their second season. After all, they've been through their first full season, they've been through a full NFL-level offseason strength & conditioning program, they're hopefully a little more mature, and they've had ample time to improve their technique. But that belief usually only applies to higher-round draft picks. For bottom-roster guys, that leap in performance sometimes doesn't happen until their third or fourth year in the league - if at all.
- Doug Free for example, a fourth-round pick in 2007, became a starter in his third NFL season and remained a key piece for the Cowboys O-line until his retirement earlier this year.
- Miles Austin entered the league as an undrafted free agent and played sparingly in his first three NFL seasons (just 18 receptions for 354 yards) but then put together two consecutive Pro Bowl seasons.
- Tony Romo joined the Cowboys as a UDFA in 2003, and didn't start his first game until his fourth season, yet eventually ended up earning $127.4 million in the process, and that's excluding endorsements and his subsequent broadcasting deal.
Two weeks ago, we asked you to name your pet cats on the 2017 roster. Today, we're going to ask you to nominate your Breakout Player for 2017. But before you start typing a response (e.g. "THE GODBACKER JAYLON SMITH, SUKKAHHZZZ!") you can only select players that fit very specific criteria.
Every year, Football Outsiders release their list of Top 25 Prospects, in which they nominate the 25 players they think are most likely to have a breakout year. To qualify as a Breakout Player, the following criteria must be met:
- Drafted in the third round or later, or signed as a college free agent
- On the Cowboys roster in 2016
- Entered the NFL between 2014 and 2016
- Fewer than 500 career offensive or defensive snaps
In 2016, FO didn't have a Cowboys player making their top 25, the year before Joseph Randle made the list. In 2014, the Cowboys again came up empty again, though LB Devonte Holloman did get an honorable mention.
If this list doesn’t appear like something you’d want a Cowboys player to appear on, know that in the 2013 edition, Ronald Leary and James Hanna both got honorable mentions. Since then, the Cowboys got 47 starts from Leary (and likely a fourth-round comp pick in 2018), and 29 starts from Hanna. If the Cowboys can get more production like that out of the ranks of their under-the-radar, lower-round prospects this year, that would be a big success.
Football Outsiders haven't released their list of 2017 breakout players yet, but the table below lists all the qualifying Cowboys players who meet the criteria outlined above.
From this list, who would you pick as your 2017 Breakout Player for the Dallas Cowboys?
Name
POS
Rookie season
Draft Round
Snaps
3-year veterans
3-year veterans
Edwards, Kadeem
OG
2014
5th
0
Smith, Keith
FB
2014
UDFA
175
Seamster, Sammy
CB
2014
UDFA
28
2-year veterans
2-year veterans
Green, Chaz
OG
2015
3rd
150
Wilson, Damien
LB
2015
4th
316
Swaim, Geoff
TE
2015
7th
227
Nzeocha, Mark
LB
2015
7th
16
Whitehead, Lucky
WR
2015
UDFA
298
Ash, Richard
DT
2015
UDFA
66
Smith, Rod
RB
2015
UDFA
30
Showers, Jameill
S
2015
UDFA
0
1-year veterans
1-year veterans
Tapper, Charles
DE
2016
4th
0
Frazier, Kavon
S
2016
6th
37
Gathers, Rico
TE
2016
6th
0
DeBord, Clay
OT
2016
UDFA
0
Jones, Andy
WR
2016
UDFA
0
Jones, Lenny
DE
2016
UDFA
0
McKinnon, Jeremiah
CB
2016
UDFA
0
Wood, Zach
DE
2016
UDFA
0
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