If you have been awake for Jason Garrett’s tenure as the Head Coach for the Dallas Cowboys, you might have noticed he doesn’t have the same loyalty issues that plagued Jerry Jones early on in his General Manager role. All Jason wants to know is (1) can the player still play and (2) can the front office make room for him in their salary cap. That’s it. Can he play and can we afford to pay him? Answer those two questions in the affirmative, he’ll give you a look. After that, you either make the team or you don’t. Quick and mostly painless, that.
But if you are a veteran of the Cowboys, and have been for a while, your end as a Cowboy is anything but quick and painless. Anyone reading between the lines of Tony Romo’s heart-wrenching succession speech knows the pain Romo had to press through uttering those fateful words, “Dak has earned the right to be our Quarterback.”
What Romo suffered through was basically a long and drawn out version of what training camp and preseason will be for several veterans currently on the team. Out of 88 players currently waiting for their life-long dream to come true, only 53 will make that dream a reality. Granted, several others may catch on elsewhere, but for now they are dreaming of being a member of the most internationally recognizable sports franchise in the world.
Normally, the veterans have tenure and the salary cap in their corner and don’t have to worry as much as the new guys. But the Cowboys have a long tradition of finding hidden talent and giving guys not formally deemed worthy of an actual draft pick, the opportunity to supplant players that were at one time considered worthy of a draft pick. In Jason Garrett’s eyes, they are all special and therefore none of them are.
On a personal level, I’m sure Garrett’s loyalty knows no bounds. But from a business perspective, he is like a CEO: cold and calculating. You can either do the job you are paid to do and better than the younger alternative, or you cannot. Or you might still be able to the job better but there is a younger player displaying what could be projected as a higher ceiling…Jason will take rookie-mistake lumps over losing to father-time lumps any day of the week. After all, it is ultimately that brand of loyalty that ushered in a losing era of two decades starting in 1996 for the Cowboys and Jason Garrett had front row seats.
The veterans on the hot seat topic is largely old news at this point. However, the question now pulsing in my mind is what would be worse: Being cut from the roster to make room for youth or losing your starting job in favor of youth? The first option would certainly hurt, but at the very least you would be afforded the opportunity to catch on elsewhere with the potential to start. The second option, however, is tantamount to career purgatory…that place in between having a career and not having a career, and the end typically follows quick, fast and in a hurry.
So, speculate all you like who the Cowboys will keep and who they won’t, the following is about those players on the cusp of purgatory…be it too soon or not soon enough.
At this point, the drop off between production would have to be miniscule for the Cowboys to start a rookie over Orlando Scandrick (30). My best guess puts him at Nickel corner with Anthony Brown and Nolan Carroll manning the outside corner spots. I honestly can’t see any of the rookies replacing those top three before the regular season starts. Midseason, however, is a whole nutter thang.
Injuries will likely dictate the depth chart work-arounds, but by midseason 1 of the 3 rookie corners very well could make it hard for the coaches to take them off the field. Considering Scandrick has never (and likely will never) be a ballhawk, it is entirely possible that Scandrick will find the bench by merit of not ever finding the ball, which may end up being the only difference between him and one of his apprentices. On balance, as young as this defense overall is, they very well may live and die on their ability (or lack thereof) to take the ball away. That said, should that happen, I’m sure from Scandrick’s perspective it would be much better to be cut or traded away than ride the pine in favor of a rookie.
I honestly view Demarcus Lawrence (25) and Tyrone Crawford (27) through the same lense. Both, at one time or another, have shouldered larger-than-deserved expectations at some point in their career with Dallas. Fortunately for us fans, we’ve been there and done that already; if we are going to believe they are any more than what they have showed us thus far they will have to prove it with their play in the regular season on a consistent basis. Should someone in training camp suggest the Cowboys may actually get what they’ve paid for from either of the two, I imagine, if eye-rolls made a noise, it would be the eye-roll heard around the world. No one is buying that stock anymore.
While both are still relatively young, the opportunity to start will likely never again be as good as it is this year. Granted, even if they don’t start, they will have their opportunities. But being supplanted by essentially what is two rookies (Tapper and Taco…and, of course, David Irving will certainly be in the conversation) carries with it a stigmatism their careers may never recover from. And the money they will be offered following this contract will likely be 1 year prove it deals with very few occasions offered to actually prove it. If they are here to cash a check and nothing else, more power to them; they are on the right track. But if they ever want to do something substantial with their career, they have to recognize that their chance may never be as good as it is with their present team in this season.
Dez Bryant (28). I’ll bet you didn’t see this coming. It’s worth pointing out that the NFL at large says Dez hasn’t earned his contract (and I agree). Granted, injuries have been the big reason fueling this discussion, but as Bill Parcells once said, “Your availability is your best ability.” I recognize that his presence on the field alone helps everyone else. But he is getting paid to be so much more than a guy who demands double-coverage. That quality is hard to quantify, but I am fully aware of how much that helps everything the offense wants to do. Furthermore, it is extremely difficult to be a Super Star on an offense stocked with potential Super Stars.
That said, his days could be numbered dependent on the outcome of this year. Dez must remove all doubt with his play in 2017. Best case scenario, should he fail to play up to his contract this year is the Cowboys will ask him to accept a pay cut…which is not something I see Dez accepting. Worst case scenario, they draft a WR high, of like stature and production, in the 2018 draft. Should the latter come to pass, the trade talks will certainly begin. And given the youth movement this franchise has been married to for the last 5 years, it would not surprise me in the least, to see the Cowboys move on from the X Factor.
This is not hard-hitting analysis. It is simply yet another speculatory-fluff-piece bent on killing time with hopes of generating further conversation to ferry us across another day without football. Nevertheless, for Orlando, Tyrone, Demarcus and Dez it is the story of their life, their dreams, and their ambition to win a Championship with a blue star on their helmet. This upcoming season very well could be their last chance.
Thoughts?
