Who is your biggest surprise player this year?

[jterrell]

DaRon Bland easily. I'm not sure Lewis gets his job back full-time.
Finding a starting nickel/slot as a rookie is insane value.
Even with good camp reports I thought he was a futures guy when they declined to pay for an outgoing FA DB.

Cooper has been rock solid but was rock solid versus Minny too. He really reminds me of Jason Garrett the QB.

Dante Fowler has brought lots of juice to the pass rush. Makes giving Micah a rest possible.

I was higher on Dorance than basically anyone but his play is def very impressive. 7 tackles, 3 sacks and a blocked XP. He's helping you in more than just 1 facet of the game.

 

[jterrell]

This is to help make up for "next man up" being a complete failure in the JG era.

Next man up works if you draft really well.
But the NFL is way short on talent so hard to plan for it so a lot of that is just pure dumb luck.
Felt like in the JG era we'd get the starter and the back up at same position hurt or lose a guy we could least afford to lose like say Tony Romo....
Probably just Eagles fans deal with satan working out, lol.

 

[CWR]

Next man up works if you draft really well.
But the NFL is way short on talent so hard to plan for it so a lot of that is just pure dumb luck.
Felt like in the JG era we'd get the starter and the back up at same position hurt or lose a guy we could least afford to lose like say Tony Romo....
Probably just Eagles fans deal with satan working out, lol.

Agreed, but with one monumental exception.

This staff actually adjusts, to the back up.

 

[jterrell]

Agreed, but with one monumental exception.

This staff actually adjusts, to the back up.

Offensively I felt like Garrett called offenses meant for a back up anyway.
Then Kellen was here with KG. So may some growth there but "feels" about the same.

Defensively, DQ is simply insanely good and we had nothing like him to be sure.
DQ is a major advantage.

 

[Doomsday101]

Hand down Cooper Rush, just about everyone here thought he was a waste of time and has been wanting him gone for several years now. He goes out and helps beat Minn last season and yet doubter said he was incapable to winning. Goes out and helps team to 3 wins. He is my surprise player thus far

 

[Jarntt]

So many surprise guys this year: Brown, Wilson, Rush, Tyler, etc. But I have to pick Maher. When the heck did it get to the point where I wasn't nervous at all when he came on the field and most haven't been chip shots

 

[CWR]

Offensively I felt like Garrett called offenses meant for a back up anyway.
Then Kellen was here with KG. So may some growth there but "feels" about the same.

Defensively, DQ is simply insanely good and we had nothing like him to be sure.
DQ is a major advantage.

I'd rather promote DQ than hire Sean Payton. I'm not sure about him as a HC, but losing his defense would be a major blow.

 

[32BellyOption]

Hands down Tyler Smith. When he was moved to LT I was really worried. He has exceeded my expectations by a mile. I don’t see how Tyron gets his job back.

 

[pete026]

How Cooper Rush’s name isn’t coming up in every post is beyond me. He’s been hands-down the biggest surprise player. He didn’t look very good at all in preseason. When he was waived some said good riddance and now he’s 3-0 as the starter this season and the toast of Cowboys Nation. Lol Second would be Noah Brown.

Cooper Rush is the obvious choice.

Some of us like to play "outside the box". Makes the topic a little more interesting.

At least that's my excuse.

 

[jujoboys]

I have several:

Cooper Rush - I was wanting him cut and was mad that we failed to upgrade our backup QB position - He has proven to be an adequate backup QB that gives us a chance to win.
Noah Brown - Thought he was too slow to make an impact at WR and was just mainly being kept around for his blocking ability - He has proven that he deserves to be the starting alongside Gallup and Lamb
Tyler Smith - When they moved him to LG and he was battling with McGovern to start my expectations for him lowered this year. However, he has far exceeded expectations by becoming the starting LT.
Donavan Wilson - Knew he could tackle and thump people - However, he seems to be taking a bigger step forward this year. He has become an impact player on defense - I thought he was just fade way to the competition of Kearse and Hooker and become more of a special teams player

 

[jterrell]

I'd rather promote DQ than hire Sean Payton. I'm not sure about him as a HC, but losing his defense would be a major blow.

I'd love to keep the status quo because that means we likely won a few playoff games or more.

If they do fire MM then I absolutely believe the top 3 options become Sean P, DQ and Lincoln Riley. --I don't think they'd go Riley but just interview his for the name cache and attention.

And ultimately, I agree with you that if we can keep Kellen and promote him to AHC, hire DQ and bring in a better QB coach type as "passing game coordinator", I'd be all for that.

 

[J-man]

So many to choose from:
T Smith would have to be up there. Not that I didn't expect him to be good, I just assumed there would be a much larger learning curve than we've seen thus far. Rush, Barr, Fowler and Armstrong are all ahead of expectations too. I would also say Bohanna and Gallimore have both been good so far.

But the 2 equally biggest surprises to me have been Donovan Wilson or Noah Brown. Both have exceeded my expectations for them thus far.

Now for the surprise players who haven't lived up to expectations:
Shultz, Tolbert, Turpin, Farniok, Cox, Lewis and dare I say Pollard? Only because we all thought he'd be a deadly weapon, but that hasn't happened, yet.

 

[CWR]

I'd love to keep the status quo because that means we likely won a few playoff games or more.

If they do fire MM then I absolutely believe the top 3 options become Sean P, DQ and Lincoln Riley. --I don't think they'd go Riley but just interview his for the name cache and attention.

And ultimately, I agree with you that if we can keep Kellen and promote him to AHC, hire DQ and bring in a better QB coach type as "passing game coordinator", I'd be all for that.

Yeah me too, but I believe if that happens and MM is retained DQ will get a HC job somewhere. I know he decided to stay this year, but I don't think he will remain a coordinator much longer. He's going to get a lot of offers if he continues to do so well.

 

[KJJ]

Cooper Rush is the obvious choice.

Some of us like to play "outside the box". Makes the topic a little more interesting.

At least that's my excuse.

Many on this board think way too far outside the box. I’m not an outside the box thinker.

 

[pete026]

Many on this board think way too far outside the box. I’m not an outside the box thinker.

Some. Yeah, I would have probably guessed that about you. We need both to a certain extent but we can't be taking trips to Pluto.

 

[KJJ]

Some. Yeah, I would have probably guessed that about you. We need both to a certain extent but we can't be taking trips to Pluto.

If you think that I think outside the box then you must not follow my posts very closely or don’t agree with anything I say.

 

[pete026]

If you think that I think outside the box then you must not follow my posts very closely or don’t agree with anything I say.

I was responding to your thoughts sequentially. Maybe you aren't as inside the box but I was vague.

"True" was to your comment "many here think way outside the box".
"I guessed that about you" was me agreeing with you saying "you weren't an outside the box thinker".

And I agree with some stuff you say and some, I don't. Probably our biggest difference from my perspective is you are more of a "Black and White" type thinker; I am for some stuff but dabble in grays at times.

 

[TwentyOne]

For me, Noah Brown has been a big surprise. I expected Tolbert to slide into the role of temporary starter until Gallup returned, and be the 3rd receiver going forward. But Noah Brown has definitely earned time on the field for more than just special teams and blocking.

I cant decide.

Cooper Rush:
Just because QB is such an important position. But then he already had that Minnesota game where we all could get a feel for what he is able to do.

Noah Brown:
Of course. The guy looks really good. Now that he has a QB who can find him and throws him the ball.

DFlaw:
Well. I am a bit surprised. But then also not so much. You can see what elite talent can do to an average player. Our DTs and Parsons giving him the one on ones he needs to leech a tackle or two.
Well, at least he showed up for two quarters against the Giants. For the 4 games we played thats more than you can ask from our Hot Boi.


I am not so much surprised by Wilson. I liked him from the beginning (I don't wanna sound like "i told you so" - because i didn't. I tend to keep valuable secrets to myself ;-)). But the guy has a good feel for the game and is a hard hitter. Whats not to like about those safety traits ?! Well, he has to work on his coverage skills.

I am still out about our new LT. I am surprised by his quality blocking. But then lets give DCs some time to find out about his weaknesses. The guy is raw and uses a lot of his power to his advantage. If he still looks (that) good in week 10 then i will change my mind.

 

[FaSho]

Isn’t Armstrong in the final year of his contract? If so he will generate interest on the free agent market.

I think we signed him to a long-term deal in the offseason, after missing out on Gregory and Von z Miller.

Edit: Just checked, and we signed him to a 2-year deal, so we have him through next season.

 

[black label]

rush