Position Unit of Most Concern

[CowboyRoy]

Because our starting 5 is one of the best in the league - unless you think Steele won't be ready, but his video from two months ago says he will be

NO I dont think Steele will be ready and Tyron will get hurt at some point. wont last a season.

 

[Jarntt]

NO I dont think Steele will be ready and Tyron will get hurt at some point. wont last a season.

Yes Tyron will get hurt. He is still a starter though so our "starting 5" is one of the better OLs in the league.
I feel confident that if he doesn't have a set back that Steele will be at or near 100% by week 1. To see him already moving that well in April was insanely encouraging.

 

[DuncanIso]

Have to go OL. Very little in the way of adequate backup for anything longer than a game or two

At least Jerry finally fired Philbin.

Big Mikes buddies were a disaster.

 

[DuncanIso]

NO I dont think Steele will be ready and Tyron will get hurt at some point. wont last a season.

I would not rush Steele. We just need him ready for game 1.

Any of our OL players can get hurt on any play. Especially leg injuries.

Most of them don’t even wear knee braces. (Tyron does.)

Hyperextended knees are too common.

 

[DuncanIso]

Offensive Line to me. RB is a close second.

I'm surprised the team didn't allocate more draft capital to these areas.

They must be counting on RJones.

He has a 1 yr contract though.

Will likely be gone after the season.

 

[DuncanIso]

Yes Tyron will get hurt. He is still a starter though so our "starting 5" is one of the better OLs in the league.
I feel confident that if he doesn't have a set back that Steele will be at or near 100% by week 1. To see him already moving that well in April was insanely encouraging.

There’s hurt, and there’s injured. - Bill Parcells

 

[doomsday9084]

Cooper Rush had a sack rate of 4.1%. If taken over the course of a season, that would have been the 4th lowest in the NFL. Tyron didn't play one game with Rush. Dak had a 4.8%, which was 5th lowest in the NFL. Tony Pollard had the 3rd highest YPA in the NFL.

IMO, a lot of the criticism of the line last year was simply based on Zeke making them look bad by being too slow. The line last year was good and that was with Tyron or Steele missing every game I believe. Unless you think that McGovern is a huge loss, I don't get the concern here.

That's not getting into the fact that Philbin wasn't particularly good at his job. The team didn't put its O line in a good position. There was basically no attempt to confuse D linemen with pulls or complex blocking schemes. The d line knew what the cowboys were going to do before every play and that's how you set yourself up to fail.

I do agree with TRO that Erdoga isn't likely to be some gem in the rough. If Dallas doesn't like what they see on the bench, they can always pick up another player as filler.

 

[Hadenough]

Excluding QB and Kicker, what position unit concerns you the most?

I gotta go RB.

Huge Tony Pollard fan, but I think he will need to be limited throughout the season in order to stay healthy and fresh come playoff time. He shouldn't receive more than 20 touches a game imo.

Ronald Jones hasn't had a good season since 2020 when he was on the Bucs Super Bowl Roster. Last year, in Kansas City he was barely used, carrying the ball only 17 times for 70 yards. In 2021, he averaged an unimpressive 4.2 yards per carry on 101 attempts. If he's our RB2, then we'll have serious issues running the ball.

Deuce Vaughn is a wildcard. Chances are he'll most likely be a gadget player on offense, but I think we'll have a good idea on what type of production we'll get from Deuce during preseason.

Then there's Malik Davis who didn't show anything special last year. Doubt he'll make a positive impact if given a larger role this year.

I agree about RB. Other than Pollard all the other RBs are mehhh! The second best RB on the team is Rico Dowdle. Vaughn is a poor man's Sproles. Jones is worse than Zeke. Davis is solid but nothing spectacular. I want to see what that kid Hunter looks like.

 

[Hadenough]

Cooper Rush had a sack rate of 4.1%. If taken over the course of a season, that would have been the 4th lowest in the NFL. Tyron didn't play one game with Rush. Dak had a 4.8%, which was 5th lowest in the NFL. Tony Pollard had the 3rd highest YPA in the NFL.

IMO, a lot of the criticism of the line last year was simply based on Zeke making them look bad by being too slow. The line last year was good and that was with Tyron or Steele missing every game I believe. Unless you think that McGovern is a huge loss, I don't get the concern here.

That's not getting into the fact that Philbin wasn't particularly good at his job. The team didn't put its O line in a good position. There was basically no attempt to confuse D linemen with pulls or complex blocking schemes. The d line knew what the cowboys were going to do before every play and that's how you set yourself up to fail.

I do agree with TRO that Erdoga isn't likely to be some gem in the rough. If Dallas doesn't like what they see on the bench, they can always pick up another player as filler.

Good points! I wanted Philbin gone last year. It seems like in today's game all good running teams run zone blocking and let the RB choose the hole. All we saw was Zeke running into the back of his own linemen or dancing around behind the line of scrimmage.

 

[CowboysFaninHouston]

Excluding QB and Kicker, what position unit concerns you the most?

I gotta go RB.

Huge Tony Pollard fan, but I think he will need to be limited throughout the season in order to stay healthy and fresh come playoff time. He shouldn't receive more than 20 touches a game imo.

Ronald Jones hasn't had a good season since 2020 when he was on the Bucs Super Bowl Roster. Last year, in Kansas City he was barely used, carrying the ball only 17 times for 70 yards. In 2021, he averaged an unimpressive 4.2 yards per carry on 101 attempts. If he's our RB2, then we'll have serious issues running the ball.

Deuce Vaughn is a wildcard. Chances are he'll most likely be a gadget player on offense, but I think we'll have a good idea on what type of production we'll get from Deuce during preseason.

Then there's Malik Davis who didn't show anything special last year. Doubt he'll make a positive impact if given a larger role this year.

I have to say OL. we know a couple of the positions are settled, the RG and center. we will get tyron back to his natural position at LT and the other smith at LG, but Steele is still recovering and probably at best will be in good form by mid season, so I expect early struggles for him and it may take him the whole year to fully recover, given he got the injury mid year last year. and knowing that Tyron will miss games, then the OL shuffle begins. who is better back up, the LT or the LG? that will determine what the OL shuffle will be. the OL is less than settled.

 

[Brooksey]

Cowboys will have a Top 5 Offensive line - with QB and Kicker being excluded the biggest concern is the RB position.

 

[McMicah]

It’s OL, LB, 3T, and frankly TE.

Tyron has a 90% of going down, and at that point you are a ‘meh’ offensive line and 1 injury away from a ‘yikes’ offensive line.

LB might be ok if Clark comes along and Cox clicks, but that’s asking a whole lot.

At 3T, it’s basically just OSA. Again we are hoping Chauncey or Junior are pleasant surprises.

TE scares me because I’m nervous that Schoon will be oft injured with his college injury history, and I still don’t think they’ve had a starting caliber TE since Witten

 

[CowboyRoy]

Yes Tyron will get hurt. He is still a starter though so our "starting 5" is one of the better OLs in the league.
I feel confident that if he doesn't have a set back that Steele will be at or near 100% by week 1. To see him already moving that well in April was insanely encouraging.

Starting 5 is only good if they actually play together.

Over under on how many games they start together? 5?

And its almost a certainty that tyron doesnt make it to the playoffs.

Continuity is really important and with tyron we are almost guaranteed not to have it. Why we continue to rely on him is beyond me.

 

[CowboyRoy]

I would not rush Steele. We just need him ready for game 1.

Any of our OL players can get hurt on any play. Especially leg injuries.

Most of them don’t even wear knee braces. (Tyron does.)

Hyperextended knees are too common.

Not sure your point. Tyron gets hurt more than anyone.

 

[Xavier187]

I think you could still look to trade Tyron Smith if a Injury in the league happens. Capitalize on someone else's issues.
Problem is they might trade Steele and that would be a mistake

 

[Jarntt]

Starting 5 is only good if they actually play together.

Over under on how many games they start together? 5?

And its almost a certainty that tyron doesnt make it to the playoffs.

Continuity is really important and with tyron we are almost guaranteed not to have it. Why we continue to rely on him is beyond me.

It's still the starting 5 no matter how you want to qualify it and that's what my comment was based on. Our starting 5 is amongst the best in the league

 

[Floatyworm]

Its easily Oline. It was the #1 need before the offseason began and the cowboys did little to nothing.

......it's like it's the impending train wreck...and no way to stop it.

 

[CowboyRoy]

It's still the starting 5 no matter how you want to qualify it and that's what my comment was based on. Our starting 5 is amongst the best in the league

cant start if your injured.

 

[Jarntt]

cant start if your injured.

Nope and I was the one to first bring that up. But, again, that is our projected starting 5 and when together they are one of the better starting 5 groups in the NFL.

 

[CowboyRoy]

Nope and I was the one to first bring that up. But, again, that is our projected starting 5 and when together they are one of the better starting 5 groups in the NFL.

No they arent. The projected 5 is without steele. He wont start day one.

we have also never seen your dream starting 5 together.

last year with tyron, martin, Biadasz, mcgovern, tyler was not good enough. Average oline. So your saying putting in steele for mcgovern is going to vault an average line to the top? thats a big stretch. And not to mention we may never see that starting 5 healthy or healthy for very long.