I'll give two each, basically because I couldn't decide on my two negatives. Overall, I'm more of a homer, but there are a few concerns I have.
Positives:
Skill on Offense
I think we have some elite talent at our offensive skill postions. In the passing game, Romo is a top QB. Dez and Austin are a top 5 WR tandem if not higher, Witten is a HOF TE. and we are deeper at WR and TE than we've been in years with Harris, Beasley and Hanna. I like our rookies too, but guys like Williams and Escobar haven't played an NFL down so I can't truly count them yet. We've all seen great prospects crash and burn before so, even though I have high hopes, they we'll really have to wait and see for now.
New D Scheme
I'm excited about our new defense. While it's normally a difficult thing to transition to a new style (as seen in our stuggles switching over to the 3-4). I think that we are actually moving to the 4-3 BECAUSE someone finally looked at our roster and noticed that we have the players that would be better in that scheme than they would be in the existing 3-4. I think Kiffen/Marinelli were brought in not just because they were available, but because the players we have fit that particular defense so well. I have always felt that Ratliff has been hindered by having to play in the 3-4, and to some degree, I think Spencer has been held back as well. Both these guys could have career years ( or close to ). Lee and Carter are also as close to the prototypical WLB and MLB in this D as you can get. As far as Ware, Hatch, Crawford, Lissemore go, I think this change is a positive as well. Our CB's are still a strength, although it will be interesting to see how they will be used. My guess is that we won't be seeing traditional tampa 2 stuff on our secondary. The Safety position, well, that will be interesting to see. I fell strangely hopeful that we've got some good players there, and I'm looking forward to seeing which guys will rise up. I'm more optimistic about the Safety spot now than I have been since Woody was around. (although this may be one of my less rational thoughts.)
Negatives:
I'm still concerned about our OL.
I like that we got Franklin, but as with the other rookies, there's no way to know until he really plays. I'd love to see him be the next Mangold (who we passed on for Bobby Carpenter by the way (sorry) ), but we need to be better than average on the line to really make our O click. I was ok with Livings and Bern coming in last year I got burned because of it. It's one of those "fool me once" things and I'm just not confident that those guys can 1) stay healthy and 2) be good enough. I personally hope we get a good sophomore jump from Leary and can get some continuity on the line.
Health. Health. Health.
The absolute worst part of watching the 2012 Cowboys was watching us get ravaged by injuries. Opening day, I was so looking forward to getting to see Lee and Carter start a new era of dominating defense. Barry Church is suddenly and surprisingly playing really really well at safety. After what felt like only a few weeks, we have holes all over the place. Then it just kept getting worse. THe amount of guys starting from off the couch on D was unprecedented. Then on the offensive side, we lose Murray just when I'm starting to think we could have a running game again. Then Austin is banged up (even when playing, there's a gear missing). Our O line was sketchy to begin with but we end up with a guy in Cook that wasn't even on the roster 3 days before opening day. Who knows how many games we lost because of a lack of continuity there. I don't know if we had training issues, injury prone players or just bad luck. But I really don't want to have to have to watch that kind of season again. I don't have the slightest idea of how to prevent that, but hate having the anticipation of getting to see a player break out to become one of the leagues best (see Lee, Carter, Church) cut short by injury.
