Rarely does a 13-3 team have this many question marks

[KJJ]

This was a 13-3 team that was 4-12 the year before so there's going to be some question marks. Most of the question marks are on a defense that's been holding the team back for a number of years.

 

[LatinMind]

With the large number of free agents and the Romo issue this is shaping up to be an extremely important offseason.

3/4 of the starting defensive backfield could be gone and one key contributor as a backup
Starting LG could be gone.
WR2 and his backup could be gone.
Unless Morris is kept, or Mcfadden re-signed backup RB is an issue
DE is a sore spot
DT might need an addition.
RT might be an issue
Who will be the backup QB?
Jaylon Smiths uncertainty makes the LB position not set in concrete.

I like to view these question marks as an opportunity to improve the team in most cases.

Carr, Claiborne and Wilcox. None of these guys have lived up to their potential but amazingly all 3 showed some glimpses of what they are capable of. Contract years have a way of bringing out the best in people.

Church has outplayed expectations but really could stand to be upgraded. I think an improvement at SS makes the entire defense better.

I am fine if all 4 are gone but it would require using some resources.

Leary leaving is probably not a big problem as we have his replacement in house.

WR 2 is not a huge issue to me either as there will be some quality receivers in the draft and there are usually some decent low priced FA's available for our needs. Worst case scenario is Butler is re-signed and he shouldn't be too expensive.

RB I would like to see Mcfadden re-signed but this might be his last chance to get paid so he might be looking for more than we can offer.

DE looks like an area that will definitely need to be addressed and possibly twice.

DT If DE is addressed then Crawford and even Irving can move to DT and it is resolved.

RT Chaz Green is the key. Do they think he is going to be ready? If not keeping Free one more year might be in the works as well as finding another RT via draft or FA. I personally would like to see us move on from Free.

QB I would like to see Moore re-signed as backup and he shouldn't break the bank.

LB let's hope Jaylon Smith is ready to go this year and he is what he was believed to be.

Will we be plugging in replacements or will we be upgrading? That is the key to this offseason. IMO!

The question marks are from fans who will complain to complain most of the time.

QB is locked down, even backup. Moore will come back and be that backup. Sanchez could be back
RB locked down.
WR dallas needs a guy, which most likely will come from the draft. Dez and Beasley and add in Witten its fine. Butler will most likely be back.
TE see WR with Witten, swaim and dont forget Hanna, and Gathers the team likes
OL is all fine. RT Dallas has Free and Green who should be ready to go. With all the success this team has doing what they wanted people complain,.

DE Dallas has alot of young players who came on as the season went on. Lawrence and Tapper being healthy should be a lift. But drafting a guy will be better.
DT Dallas has Irving Collins a healthy Crawford Thornton and Ash. Think Dallas should use its Cap resources to sign a difference maker here.
LB Lee Hitchens Wilson Nzeocha and Add in Jaylon. This LB core in 2017 is going to be the difference if u ask me. Jaylon and Lee.
CB Either Carr or Claiborne will be back to go with Scandrick Brown and McFadden. A rookie needs to be got here.
S Jones,Heath Frazier are locks. Heath was arguably Dallas best in turns of play making with Jones being the most consistent in coverage. Wilcox IMO will be back to fill out this group and Start.

Dallas has a couple of holes it needs to be filled but there are no serious questions about this team. They know whats the issue the thing is to fix those issues. You dont get to 13-3 with a team filled of uncertainty. Fans needs to stop the dramatics and enjoy seeing a young team being built for the long run not a team built for a yr or two window.

 

[Bluefin]

Tapper - Good upside is he remains healthy, but they should not count on him when making off-season decisions.

Bottom Line: If they could add a legit, well above average RDE, then all the other positions will likely work out fine. If they can't find a legit full time starting RDE, then they might need to consider a high quality pass rush specialist or even consider drafting a guy that plays both LB and DE similar to how Seattle used Bruce Irvin in the past.

Agreed on Charles Tapper.

Pretend he's just a training camp body and proceed to build the DL as if he isn't on the roster.

As for free agency, I'm not holding out hope to sign a well above average RDE. Will any such players even be available? Will Dallas be willing to pay the cost to sign such a player if he is on the market?

I'd like to sign a veteran RDE who has shown the ability to pressure opposing passers and be a 6 sack performer in the past.

Pairing such a player with Benson Mayowa would greatly improve the position.

 

[Killerinstinct]

The question marks are from fans who will complain to complain most of the time.

QB is locked down, even backup. Moore will come back and be that backup. Sanchez could be back
RB locked down.
WR dallas needs a guy, which most likely will come from the draft. Dez and Beasley and add in Witten its fine. Butler will most likely be back.
TE see WR with Witten, swaim and dont forget Hanna, and Gathers the team likes
OL is all fine. RT Dallas has Free and Green who should be ready to go. With all the success this team has doing what they wanted people complain,.

DE Dallas has alot of young players who came on as the season went on. Lawrence and Tapper being healthy should be a lift. But drafting a guy will be better.
DT Dallas has Irving Collins a healthy Crawford Thornton and Ash. Think Dallas should use its Cap resources to sign a difference maker here.
LB Lee Hitchens Wilson Nzeocha and Add in Jaylon. This LB core in 2017 is going to be the difference if u ask me. Jaylon and Lee.
CB Either Carr or Claiborne will be back to go with Scandrick Brown and McFadden. A rookie needs to be got here.
S Jones,Heath Frazier are locks. Heath was arguably Dallas best in turns of play making with Jones being the most consistent in coverage. Wilcox IMO will be back to fill out this group and Start.

Dallas has a couple of holes it needs to be filled but there are no serious questions about this team. They know whats the issue the thing is to fix those issues. You dont get to 13-3 with a team filled of uncertainty. Fans needs to stop the dramatics and enjoy seeing a young team being built for the long run not a team built for a yr or two window.

I didn't see any complaining. What I saw was a recognition of having so many FA's as a chance to upgrade the roster. And a hope that will happen.

 

[GimmeTheBall!]

With the large number of free agents and the Romo issue this is shaping up to be an extremely important offseason.

3/4 of the starting defensive backfield could be gone and one key contributor as a backup
Starting LG could be gone.
WR2 and his backup could be gone.
Unless Morris is kept, or Mcfadden re-signed backup RB is an issue
DE is a sore spot
DT might need an addition.
RT might be an issue
Who will be the backup QB?
Jaylon Smiths uncertainty makes the LB position not set in concrete.

I like to view these question marks as an opportunity to improve the team in most cases.

Carr, Claiborne and Wilcox. None of these guys have lived up to their potential but amazingly all 3 showed some glimpses of what they are capable of. Contract years have a way of bringing out the best in people.

Church has outplayed expectations but really could stand to be upgraded. I think an improvement at SS makes the entire defense better.

I am fine if all 4 are gone but it would require using some resources.

Leary leaving is probably not a big problem as we have his replacement in house.

WR 2 is not a huge issue to me either as there will be some quality receivers in the draft and there are usually some decent low priced FA's available for our needs. Worst case scenario is Butler is re-signed and he shouldn't be too expensive.

RB I would like to see Mcfadden re-signed but this might be his last chance to get paid so he might be looking for more than we can offer.

DE looks like an area that will definitely need to be addressed and possibly twice.

DT If DE is addressed then Crawford and even Irving can move to DT and it is resolved.

RT Chaz Green is the key. Do they think he is going to be ready? If not keeping Free one more year might be in the works as well as finding another RT via draft or FA. I personally would like to see us move on from Free.

QB I would like to see Moore re-signed as backup and he shouldn't break the bank.

LB let's hope Jaylon Smith is ready to go this year and he is what he was believed to be.

Will we be plugging in replacements or will we be upgrading? That is the key to this offseason. IMO!

Excellent post, aggrieved youth!
Yet, keep in mind all teams have this many or more question marks and the mysterians.
Yes, distilled, the defence is our challenge.
I say package Romo and Gathers for a veteran DE or a No. 1 (long shot) or No. 2 (more reasonable).
Presto, lad. An instant upgrade to our defence!!
But our scouts, perhaps, know more than us. So we're shall see.
Have faith, steady there lad. This spring, perhaps, will be our finest hour.

 

[GimmeTheBall!]

I don'r know how that happened but the body of this post is my response and not what xwalker said.

Maybe the mods are having fun with you. They are a jolly mirthful lot. We love them a lot.

 

[thisiscowboyscountry]

Every team has holes or areas they can improve. You bring up a lot of maybes, but I dont think theyre that uncommon for teams coming off a good season. We certainly lost some players in the 90s in Stepnoski, Maryland, Norton, Marion, Harper, Brown just to name a few. However we still remained very competitive. Outside of Leary, Williams, and Church I dont think most of our free agents will garner big multiple year deals to resign them.

Its likely the Cowboys will resign atleast two of Claiborne, Carr, Church, and Wilcox. This will be important in not creating immediate needs in the secondary. Frankly, I would try to resign them all, but regardless I think you see Dallas target a CB through the first 3 rounds.

Provided we dont create holes in the secondary I think we all agree RDE is the biggest need. I wouldnt be shocked to see Ware back as a part time player, paired with a rookie.

WR2 is really our 4th receiving option behind Bryant, Beasley, and Witten. I initially didnt think we would have a shot at retaining Williams, but the market is flooded with veteran receivers which may push down his value. The Cowboys are very likely to let him test the market, knowing there are other solid options. Regardless at some point we'll likely draft a WR.

 

[FuzzyLumpkins]

Yay another person speaking in absolutes.

Just off the top of my head, Seattle had some very good teams but had to begin dismantling their OL and skill positions to pay Wilson.

Denver just won a SB a year ago and lost their QB and FA on both lines. Traded away their star TE rather than pay him.

Carolina was in the SB and the started suffering the talent drain too.

Frankly very few of the FA we have were our best players. TWill and McClain are the best of the group and they are hardly stars or cornerstone players. Guys like Fred Tyron Dez Zeke Dak Martin Jones Irving and Lee are under team control for at least the next two years. Those are the stars and cornerstones.

The OP seems to have an unrealistic expectation of roster construction in the modern NFL. It is a short term league with non guaranteed contracts and free agency after 4 years of service. You cannot nor should you want to have 53 guys under long term contracts. You want to draft well and keep those guys around while they are young which is what we have been doing.

We are in a better position than most teams because we have a lot of young stars all under contract. We have very little dead money before we jettison Romo and when we do we are going to have a lot of cap room available for the next three years because we are paying our starting QB about 5% of the going rate.

Remember when Russell Wilson was in his first offseason and the Seachickens were able to sign multiple impact players on defense and go on their run? That is where we are right now. We don't need to be paying a Marshawn Lynch $12m either.

If you want to whinge about the Joneses being incompetent and how they are going to screw it up then fine but to pretend that we are not in one of the league's best positions from a cap and roster situation is just ignorant.

 

[haleyrules]

Excellent post, aggrieved youth!
Yet, keep in mind all teams have this many or more question marks and the mysterians.
Yes, distilled, the defence is our challenge.
I say package Romo and Gathers for a veteran DE or a No. 1 (long shot) or No. 2 (more reasonable).
Presto, lad. An instant upgrade to our defence!!
But our scouts, perhaps, know more than us. So we're shall see.
Have faith, steady there lad. This spring, perhaps, will be our finest hour.

Package Romo and Gathers for a 1st pick...hahah..good luck!

 

[JoeKing]

Romo issue? More like a b/u QB issue and it's not going to effect the team unless something happens to Prescott. We will re-sign a good number of our free agents and the holes will be filled so relax and stop the panic talk. The draft will be good to this "13-3" team.

 

[lukin2006]

The only way to immediately make this defence better is to gamble on some FA, just because the last big name FA (Carr) didn't work out as well as some would have liked is no reason not to gamble on trying to land a solid DE and DT. This team and FO is not New England, yes the last offseason we had an excellent draft, that's also rare for this organisation since Johnson left. And we may have hit big by finding a franchise QB in the 4th round but let's not kid ourselves that was purely by accident...Unless you are the Patriots or Steelers (always competitive most years), the window to win is short 4-5 years...so I think our best chance to fix this defence comes through FA, the Giants fixed their defence in a single offseason, just think where we'd have ended up with their defence...

 

[KJJ]

We're entering the offseason with the same issues we had entering the offseason last year, having to find a solid backup QB and adding a pass rusher/rushers. If we're going to get over the hump we have to fix the defense by adding at least one solid pass rusher that has to be accounted for and at least one playmaker in the secondary.

 

[Killerinstinct]

Yay another person speaking in absolutes.

Just off the top of my head, Seattle had some very good teams but had to begin dismantling their OL and skill positions to pay Wilson.

Denver just won a SB a year ago and lost their QB and FA on both lines. Traded away their star TE rather than pay him.

Carolina was in the SB and the started suffering the talent drain too.

Frankly very few of the FA we have were our best players. TWill and McClain are the best of the group and they are hardly stars or cornerstone players. Guys like Fred Tyron Dez Zeke Dak Martin Jones Irving and Lee are under team control for at least the next two years. Those are the stars and cornerstones.

The OP seems to have an unrealistic expectation of roster construction in the modern NFL. It is a short term league with non guaranteed contracts and free agency after 4 years of service. You cannot nor should you want to have 53 guys under long term contracts. You want to draft well and keep those guys around while they are young which is what we have been doing.

We are in a better position than most teams because we have a lot of young stars all under contract. We have very little dead money before we jettison Romo and when we do we are going to have a lot of cap room available for the next three years because we are paying our starting QB about 5% of the going rate.

Remember when Russell Wilson was in his first offseason and the Seachickens were able to sign multiple impact players on defense and go on their run? That is where we are right now. We don't need to be paying a Marshawn Lynch $12m either.

If you want to whinge about the Joneses being incompetent and how they are going to screw it up then fine but to pretend that we are not in one of the league's best positions from a cap and roster situation is just ignorant.

Absolutes? Unrealistic expectations?

All I did was point out that we have a larger number of FA's than normal and state that we can either Upgrade those positions or fill them in with some stop gap type of signings and express a desire to do the former.

I am well aware of the fact that we are in a better position than most and I will state the reasons.

1. The F.O. has found the formula to beat the cap. Draft offensive lineman with premium picks. Design their contracts in a way that they can be restructured year after year. Eventually those restructured 2nd contracts will turn into extensions with more restructuring. This is going to prove to be highly effective for years to come because offensive lineman don't often bust out once they prove to be exceptional. They have longer careers than most before hitting the wall and they miss less time on average than other position players due to injury.

2. Once we rid ourselves of Romos contract we will be in a truly enviable position in that our QB position is taking up little cap room for the next 3 years. On most teams this is the biggest chunk of cap.

3. We have superstars at several of the "important" positions.

4. I would even say that this being the last year of Wittens contract is a positive as his cap hit exceeds his value even though he is very valuable.

The future looks great.

All I am saying is this is the opportunity to upgrade some positions instead of simply filling needs and expressing a desire to do so.

 

[xwalker]

Agreed on Charles Tapper.

Pretend he's just a training camp body and proceed to build the DL as if he isn't on the roster.

As for free agency, I'm not holding out hope to sign a well above average RDE. Will any such players even be available? Will Dallas be willing to pay the cost to sign such a player if he is on the market?

I'd like to sign a veteran RDE who has shown the ability to pressure opposing passers and be a 6 sack performer in the past.

Pairing such a player with Benson Mayowa would greatly improve the position.

I would look at a guy like Nick Perry (Packers).

 

[LatinMind]

I didn't see any complaining. What I saw was a recognition of having so many FA's as a chance to upgrade the roster. And a hope that will happen.

Upgrade what exactly? The point is this team has its core set up.

There will be maybe 2-3 new starters maybe. But i think theyre already on the team

DT 1 tech
SS
ILB

I think thornton will end up starting at the 1tech. A the end of the yr he will actually playing really good.

DE SDE will be either Crawford or Irving. WDE i think can be a new starter but i think Lawrence will be back and ready to go

Collins and Thornton inside played good when they played together. Dallas led the league in sacks per game in the final 4-5 weeks if im not mistaken. Just because GB got away with holding diliberately in the final game of the yr doesnt mean this team needs to scrap what they built.

LIke i said and been saying this team has built a young core of players they are going to run with them and sprinkle in a couple rookies to continue to grow.

Fans get upset because teams dont do what THEY want them to.

 

[NickZepp]

To me only real question mark is defensive line. LBs should be pretty good. DBs are probably a top 5 in the league unit. Need some defensive linemen.

 

[Bluefin]

I would look at a guy like Nick Perry (Packers).

He picked a good year to explode.

Nick Perry had 12.5 sacks heading into this season and responded with a career high 11 QB drops in 2016.

Perry had a production ratio (sacks + TFL / # gms played) of 1.64 this regular season, which is very good.

But Green Bay has a ton of salary cap space available and may get him locked up prior to the start of free agency.

Mario Addison has been a key reserve for Carolina the last three seasons while always logging more than 6 sacks each year.

He also saved his best for the final year of his contract, hitting 9.5 sacks despite the Panthers having a losing record.

Addison had a production ratio of 1.46 this season.

Carolina has bigger fish to fry among their own free agents and Addison might make for a nice addition to our Rushmen.

It wouldn't be a headline grabbing signing the way a Perry would be, but it would be a positive move that wouldn't cause eyes to start bleeding when looking at the contract numbers.

Addison and Benson Mayowa (1.07 production ratio) would combine for 10+ sack potential in a rotation next season.

 

[Killerinstinct]

Upgrade what exactly? The point is this team has its core set up.

There will be maybe 2-3 new starters maybe. But i think theyre already on the team

DT 1 tech
SS
ILB

I think thornton will end up starting at the 1tech. A the end of the yr he will actually playing really good.

DE SDE will be either Crawford or Irving. WDE i think can be a new starter but i think Lawrence will be back and ready to go

Collins and Thornton inside played good when they played together. Dallas led the league in sacks per game in the final 4-5 weeks if im not mistaken. Just because GB got away with holding diliberately in the final game of the yr doesnt mean this team needs to scrap what they built.

LIke i said and been saying this team has built a young core of players they are going to run with them and sprinkle in a couple rookies to continue to grow.

Fans get upset because teams dont do what THEY want them to.

Who's upset?

Upgrade what?

Instead of resigning some of the run of the mill FA's and bringing in low priced FA's from the outside I would like to focus on really upgrading some of the positions. I would prefer signing one major FA at a position that would have a large impact than signing a few that are stop gap measures. I would target Eric Berry if he becomes available.

You can say Thornton played well but I think he is the perfect example of signing a lower level FA and then finding out he is not all that great. I would let him go. Along with Wilber, Morris and Free. Draft a DE with a premium pick and move Crawford back to DT.

We can re-sign Carr or Claiborne or both or we could move on and use a premium pick at the CB position. This is what I would prefer. This looks like a great draft

We can keep Free for another year and watch him kill double digit drives with holding penalties and blown blocking assignments or we can replace him and have an offensive line that no longer has a weak link.

We can hope DLaw puts it together and Tapper is healthy and Mayowa builds on last year and Irving continues to progress(All of which I think is possible). But using a premium pick at the position would result in an upgrade.

We can re-sign Church or Wilcox or both or we can upgrade the position. I have already mentioned I would prefer one major signing to a few stop gap middling players.

This is what I mean by upgrading. It can be done. It can all be done. In one offseason. Let's assume we get a 3rd rd pick for trading Romo. Let's sign one major outside FA player instead of a few middling types.

Eric Berry FA
draft
1. Takk Mckinley Upgrade the DE position
2. Jourdan Lewis Upgrade the CB position
3. Rasul Douglas Upgrade the CB position again
3.. Carlos Henderson Upgrade the WR and KR position in one pick
4. Taylor Moton Upgrade RT

Or we could just keep the same secondary we have and wonder why Rodgers picks us apart.

This is what I don't want to see. Resign most of our FA's. Bring in a couple of outside Jags to we can go into the draft with the usual plan.

1. OJ Howard - Witten is going to leave someday so why not use premium pick no 4 on his eventual replacement.
How about we wait until next year and give Swaim, Hanna, and Gaethers a chance to show if one of them can take over.

2. OT - We can sit him on the bench for a year behind Free to be his eventual replacement. After all the only reason he is still on the board is he is injured and going to need a red shirt year. He would have been a 1st rounder otherwise.

3. SS - Small school RB that we are going to convert to safety.

3. DE - He is the no 50 best pass rusher in the draft but we are going to coach him up.

4. CB - since we resigned Carr or claiborne we can sit the guy on the bench and hope he pans out next year.

Anyway, we talk about the same positions every year. DE, SS, CB, RT

We can bring back Carr, Claiborne, Church, Wilcox, Free and the current DE rotation. Maybe even sprinkle in a low priced FA or 2 as part of the rotation.

Or we can move on from the dead weight and upgrade the team.

I heard forever about how Carr's contract was keeping us from upgrading the position. Here is our chance.
I have heard forever about how Free was the weak link in the line. Here is our chance to move on.
I have heard forever about how the Claiborne pick set us back. Here is our chance to move on.
I have heard forever about how Twill can't catch and Lucky is a bad returner. Here is our chance to move on.
I have heard forever about how Church and Wilcox are liabilities on the defense.
I have heard forever about how Crawford is a much better DT than DE.

Here is our chance. Yes it means stepping out of the self imposed box of not signing big name FA's. Berry is a known commodity. He will not come here and suck all of a sudden. A legit SS will improve our defense tremendously. Much more so than spending the same amount of money on 2 or 3 middling players that do nothing to upgrade the defense.

Here is our chance. Draft a couple of CB's that can actually get the occasional turnover.
Here is our chance. Get an edge rusher that can actually apply some pressure to the opposing QB.
Here is our chance. Replace Free with someone that doesn't kill double digit drives per year with penalties and blown assignments.

That is all I am saying.

 

[FuzzyLumpkins]

Absolutes? Unrealistic expectations?

All I did was point out that we have a larger number of FA's than normal and state that we can either Upgrade those positions or fill them in with some stop gap type of signings and express a desire to do the former.

I am well aware of the fact that we are in a better position than most and I will state the reasons.

1. The F.O. has found the formula to beat the cap. Draft offensive lineman with premium picks. Design their contracts in a way that they can be restructured year after year. Eventually those restructured 2nd contracts will turn into extensions with more restructuring. This is going to prove to be highly effective for years to come because offensive lineman don't often bust out once they prove to be exceptional. They have longer careers than most before hitting the wall and they miss less time on average than other position players due to injury.

2. Once we rid ourselves of Romos contract we will be in a truly enviable position in that our QB position is taking up little cap room for the next 3 years. On most teams this is the biggest chunk of cap.

3. We have superstars at several of the "important" positions.

4. I would even say that this being the last year of Wittens contract is a positive as his cap hit exceeds his value even though he is very valuable.

The future looks great.

All I am saying is this is the opportunity to upgrade some positions instead of simply filling needs and expressing a desire to do so.

Roster turnover is not rare in the modern NFL. Most teams turnover almost completely every 5 years nowadays. You can only reasonable have a core of less than a dozen players you keep longer term.

The difference is that now we have talented a roster and the guys that are released or hit FA are sought out by different teams. A few years ago when Sims, Lawrence, Lemon, Moore, Nevis, McCray, Pellerin, Sims, Spurlock, Wilson, Wynn, Vega, CLutts, Conner, Frampton, Peprah, Poppinga, Schaefering, Coe, Cook, or Silva was released you just did not care.

The bottom third of the roster is just better.

 

[windward]

The word is out that the Cowboys will let all the DL go except two. The draft and UDFA will be the DL this year. I mean, how bad can that be when last years DL could not put pressure on the other teams QB? Same results but younger. What do you say?

All the Dl except 2? Okay. That's not even realistic