Wide Receiver group has a ton of unknowns

[GimmeTheBall!]

A lot of numbers at the wide receiver position, but a ton of unknowns and could look drastically different in 2025:

-Lamb has become a true #1 receiver in this league. Just a matter of when and how much they are going to resign him for.
-Cooks had somewhat of an disappointing 1st season with the Cowboys and won't be back after this season. You can make an argument that MM just doesn't know how to use him right. Dak struggled to get on the same page with him all last season.
-Tolbert is heading into a make or break season. 3rd rd pick who has yet to make an impact after 2 seasons.
-Brooks was drafted as a special teamer last year, but did look good as a receiver in a small sample size, can push for more snaps.
-Ryan Flournoy is an older prospect that plays the x position. With Gallup gone, he will be in competition to land that role.
-Turpin played well in limited snaps and has earned trust with the coaches, but his main role remains as our returner on special teams

What happens if Lamb goes down?

This is another position where adding a veteran makes a ton of sense with so many young prospects at the position. Really believe we are going to see a top three pick used next year to address this area. Huge pivotal year for Jalen Tolbert.

Tolbert is not the answer as a #2.

 

[Hawkeye0202]

I'll never understand why this gets posted when people know what happened his rookie year.

He made a big jump last year and will again this year.

I agree 100%.....for some reason, fans are stubborn with their trust in him. He admitted the gain was a bit too fast for him in his rookie year but he started slowing down last season. I know some will say he only caught 22 balls but that's a huge jump from only 2 his rookie year. In fact, he started taking snaps from Gallup last season which is a good indication Dak started trusting him more. By his admission, Cook spent quite a bit of time working with this season. He says we are going to see significant improvement this season. He has talked about the opportunity in front of him, so my guess is they have promised him more significant roles/snaps if he earns them. I know he has spent some time with Dak this offseason, just as he did the previous year. I expect him to make a huge jump to 2nd WR by the end of the year.

 

[big dog cowboy]

Did he really make a big jump? 22 catches isn’t much production at all

Do you watch the games? Read/listen to any reporting about the team?

It's very clear he was a different player.

 

[doomsday9084]

WR is pretty low on the list of Dallas' problems. As of right now, the team has one of the best #1's in football, a reasonable #2 and a bunch of solid prospects vying for #3.

I would say that RB, O line, interior D line, LB's are all bigger concerns.

 

[Coogiguy03]

Tolbert is not the answer as a #2.

with our "cap" situation they're going to sell it as it is

 

[TheMarathonContinues]

I just wish it wasn't an issue in Buffalo and San Francisco, where it looked like dog crap. A combined 287 yards passing with 1 TD and 4 picks. A little over 140 yards rushing combined. Outscored 73-20. Probably got the top 5 ranking because not everyone plays the Giants and Wash. 4 games.

When matters. Averages don't.

I'd like to be at least competitive against some of these better teams.

As would I but the players need to play better. I’m all for blaming certain things on the Jerry but the only thing I’ll say about last years team is they couldn’t run the football or stop the run. But specifically Dak needs to play better in those games as well.

 

[cnuball21]

I don’t think he is on that same level, Wilson was far more productive when healthy and was an excellent special teamer. Wilson was a legit #3 receiver before he left, Tolbert is more of a depth type thus far

Agree…Tolbert was a better prospect but at this point we’d be lucky if he turned into Ced.

 

[cnuball21]

WR is pretty low on the list of Dallas' problems. As of right now, the team has one of the best #1's in football, a reasonable #2 and a bunch of solid prospects vying for #3.

I would say that RB, O line, interior D line, LB's are all bigger concerns.

In comparison to the majority of the league yes.

In comparison to the legit contenders no.

 

[Flamma]

As would I but the players need to play better. I’m all for blaming certain things on the Jerry but the only thing I’ll say about last years team is they couldn’t run the football or stop the run. But specifically Dak needs to play better in those games as well.

We'll get chances again this year. At San Francisco, Baltimore. Hell, the whole AFC North might be tough. I'm worried that we're a 1 WR team without a run game. That's just me being a pessimist.

 

[visionary]

The issue with this FO is that the GM and Director of Personnel have no idea how to build a team or to evaluate talent. They pay someone a certain amount and then “expect” him to play at that level (eg Cooks). If that doesn’t happen they are lost and start throwing darts

 

[MikeT22]

I'll never understand why this gets posted when people know what happened his rookie year.

He made a big jump last year and will again this year.

Yet to be seen

 

[buybuydandavis]

A lot of numbers at the wide receiver position, but a ton of unknowns and could look drastically different in 2025:

-Lamb has become a true #1 receiver in this league. Just a matter of when and how much they are going to resign him for.
-Cooks had somewhat of an disappointing 1st season with the Cowboys and won't be back after this season. You can make an argument that MM just doesn't know how to use him right. Dak struggled to get on the same page with him all last season.
-Tolbert is heading into a make or break season. 3rd rd pick who has yet to make an impact after 2 seasons.
-Brooks was drafted as a special teamer last year, but did look good as a receiver in a small sample size, can push for more snaps.
-Ryan Flournoy is an older prospect that plays the x position. With Gallup gone, he will be in competition to land that role.
-Turpin played well in limited snaps and has earned trust with the coaches, but his main role remains as our returner on special teams

What happens if Lamb goes down?

This is another position where adding a veteran makes a ton of sense with so many young prospects at the position. Really believe we are going to see a top three pick used next year to address this area. Huge pivotal year for Jalen Tolbert.

Gallup leaving and Cooks disappointing should leave WR snaps wide open after Lamb.

Brooks. I liked the cut of his jib.

Turpin will play more. Produced well, per touch. And he's the only speed on offense, particularly after Pollard was replaced by the Ewok.

If Lamb goes down the offense will score in the single digits. No run game, no pass game. Ferguson is our offense. I like Ferguson, but he'd have to play like Gronk for our offense to not entirely flatline w/o Lamb.

 

[buybuydandavis]

We'll get chances again this year. At San Francisco, Baltimore. Hell, the whole AFC North might be tough. I'm worried that we're a 1 WR team without a run game. That's just me being a pessimist.

The power of accurate observation is called pessimism by those who don't want to face the truth.

 

[TheMarathonContinues]

We'll get chances again this year. At San Francisco, Baltimore. Hell, the whole AFC North might be tough. I'm worried that we're a 1 WR team without a run game. That's just me being a pessimist.

We very well could be. There’s no proof of it based on last season but it very well could be that way. A 1 Wr with no run game or offensive line could be dangerous. I hope that’s not the case.

I have no faith in anyone outside of Lamb and I think Cooks is better suited as our 3.

Linebacker group will be better but the interior might be worse than last season of the defensive line. It’s hard to even take them serious how they decided to build this team.

 

[Flamma]

We very well could be. There’s no proof of it based on last season but it very well could be that way. A 1 Wr with no run game or offensive line could be dangerous. I hope that’s not the case.

I have no faith in anyone outside of Lamb and I think Cooks is better suited as our 3.

Linebacker group will be better but the interior might be worse than last season of the defensive line. It’s hard to even take them serious how they decided to build this team.

It reminds me of when we ran it back after 2016 without doing much in the offseason, if anything. Similar circumstances except we had a good run game minus the Zeke suspension. But no matter what flaws this defense has, it was better than the one we had in 2016.

 

[TheMarathonContinues]

It reminds me of when we ran it back after 2016 without doing much in the offseason, if anything. Similar circumstances except we had a good run game minus the Zeke suspension. But no matter what flaws this defense has, it was better than the one we had in 2016.

It’s moronic. When teams are close they get aggressive and take advantage of that small window. This team gets complacent. It just sends a terrible message to your team and fans.

 

[blueblood70]

Ofc but we are talking WRs.

Actually, it's pertinent it matters because it's called having targets to a quality person who can move the chains so the wide receiver group can be mixed in with tight ends when you're talking about how are we gonna move the ball through the air... We have a better wide receiver core than the Kansas City Chiefs had the last two years yeah they just drafted one of my college teams players in his savior worthy but he's an unknown no one knows how he's going to adapt to the NFL and I realize they have Patrick mahomes but let's just stop acting like we have no depth at wide receiver when we have one of the best wide receivers in the league in a very good capable #2 everyone can keep dogging on raining cooks but for this year this team has a solid wide receiver core and when you add in the tight ends the wide receiver group did not need a repair this year they had too many other things to worry about...

So let's see how this group grows this year with the younger guys, I think Turpin needs a lot more snaps they need to bring in deuce Vaughn to take a lot of the special teams away from Turpin and do some of the things Turpin did behind the line of scrimmage and let Turpin be a wide receiver..

I'm sure in next year's draft it will be more of a focus to get another wide receiver in here probably in the first three rounds hell I'm thinking even could be first rounder or second rounder that way you're not paying a guy just coming off an injury everyone keeps talking about zay Jones got lowballed apparently his original team cut him they didn't want to pay him three other teams didn't sign him he signed with the Cardinals apparently he got lowballed by a lot of people since everybody thinks they know everything around here we don't know that that guy would be better than tolbert or Turpin..

But the point of the tight ends once again we only have so many targets to go around in the passing game and yes they count in the passing game so it's pertinent to this conversation as we saw then go very lean with the Kansas City Chiefs at wide receiver it was a wide receiver by committee there was no true #1 the last two years and why did they do that ohh that's right because they have Travis Kelsey as a premier tied in they didn't need a true number one wide receiver in their minds again I realized they had Patrick mahomes...

I think this is a giant exaggeration we have a top 10 minimum wide receiver core when you include the tight ends for a passing game that was very effective last year because somehow Prescott was second team all pro and he was in the MVP discussion and we led the league in touchdowns and I think we were top five in total passing yards maybe even higher than that so this exaggeration as usual people are gonna come on to these posts and say yes in 2025 like the original poster said we're gonna need to address this right now I don't feel there's a problem and if we do lose lamb to an injury they will have to trade for a guy I'm sure but I believe Brandon cooks is probably a better number one than a #2 but he's also going into his second year in this new offense Prescott and cooks are gonna be more on the same page but this is not a 2018 situation by any means..

 

[Flamma]

It’s moronic. When teams are close they get aggressive and take advantage of that small window. This team gets complacent. It just sends a terrible message to your team and fans.

Do you remember the old Cowboys message board on the actual cowboys site? I went on a curse filled rant due to our lack of offseason initiative. That was not the Cowboys I knew. I think I got some warnings. I was shocked we came off a 13-3 season and did nothing to get better. I stupidly expected some big moves to take us over the top. I know a lot of people blame Dak. Sometimes rightfully so. But this front office doesn't make it easy. Garoppolo, Purdy, Hurts, none get to the SB on the Dallas Cowboys. Mahomes, Rodgers, or Peyton Manning, maybe. But not Dak. He needs much more talent around him.

 

[blueblood70]

Do you remember the old Cowboys message board on the actual cowboys site? I went on a curse filled rant due to our lack of offseason initiative. That was not the Cowboys I knew. I think I got some warnings. I was shocked we came off a 13-3 season and did nothing to get better. I stupidly expected some big moves to take us over the top. I know a lot of people blame Dak. Sometimes rightfully so. But this front office doesn't make it easy. Garoppolo, Purdy, Hurts, none get to the SB on the Dallas Cowboys. Mahomes, Rodgers, or Peyton Manning, maybe. But not Dak. He needs much more talent around him.

Whether I completely agree with that or not because I'm not going to go back there BUT you did mention up there about 2017, you act like Ezekiel Elliott being suspended didn't affect that year it did and we never had a good backup behind Emmitt Smith either imagine losing Emmitt Smith in the season which you thought you were going to improve from the year before you were thirteen and three for seven games or however it was long he wants to hurt and the very reason that Prescott won rookie of the year,

in my opinion I think you're Elliott was the best back in the league his rookie year and should have been OROTY, you didn't realize that it was top five all time rookie seasons by an NFL running back?

literally would have built on that and I believe he would have had three straight rushing titles coming right out of college after back-to-back 1800 yards, it was a huge loss 2017 didn't go well because Ezekiel you were gone because the games, he did play he led the league in yards per game they were like over 100.. Roger Goodell not only ruined Ezekiel Elliott season in the Cowboys season,

I believe that affected zeke a little bit mentally and physically he seemed a bit down, and he came right back though and got a rushing title in 2018 and then started dropping off a little bit but don't act like it's a big deal..

I don't remember the Dallas Cowboys ever playing well missing Emmitt Smith because he never was missing but if you take him off that team for seven games they would have had a losing season as well because Troy Aikman wasn't that good he was never asked to carry a team and I've never seen a running back that was behind Emmitt that was any good either...

I don't know many teams that can replace their number ones and not have a drop off and have the expectations that are healthy Ezekiel Elliott type or someone else on the team is gonna be suspended because they knew the whole entire story that there wasn't enough proof the NFL investigator said do not suspend zeke and that is why Jerry Jones what's find $1,000,000 for interfering and doing all this other stuff because he felt zeke was being done wrong and that this team lost a key cog he was the identity of the Dallas Cowboys offense it was a huge loss...

 

[rambo2]

I'll never understand why this gets posted when people know what happened his rookie year.

He made a big jump last year and will again this year.

He shows potential of being a decent receiver especially if the others are producing.