When covering the Dallas Cowboys during a season like this, you’re often asked how things have fallen apart so dramatically. Many have pointed to stories about sun impacting the players during home games or fan tours at the team headquarters causing distractions during the week. Some believe it’s because team owner and general manager Jerry Jones talks too much to reporters.
Those stories are great for headlines. They’re unique to the Cowboys. When things are going poorly, it makes sense why they are highlighted. But they are not the reasons a Cowboys team that has won 12 games each of the last three seasons — while those same things mentioned above were happening — is on pace to go 5-12 this year.
The biggest reasons are as follows.
They didn’t do enough in the offseason
When other teams filled roster holes through free agency and trades in March and April, the Cowboys did very little. Their March consisted of signing veteran linebacker Eric Kendricks to a one-year, $3 million contract. There were no trades like a year ago when they moved fifth-round picks for proven veterans like cornerback Stephon Gilmore and wide receiver Brandin Cooks. In August, they traded for CB Andrew Booth and defensive tackle Jordan Phillips and signed DT Linval Joseph and running back Dalvin Cook. Their two biggest misses were not upgrading more at running back (more on that later) and not doing more at defensive tackle.
Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy is used to working in a draft-and-develop program from his time in Green Bay. But it’s clear there were not enough gaps filled in the offseason.
“It’s hard to do it every year because you’ve got the whole financial realm over here that’s critical to the process of putting together a roster,” McCarthy said earlier this month. “You try to make sure through veteran free agency you have spots full or at least you know you can go play a game today if you had to in April. And then you’re not drafting for need. You try to stay away from drafting for need. But some years it’s not practical. Have been there even in a draft-and-develop program for 13 years. We said we were BPA, best player available, all the time, but there were times we were not. So that happens.
“I personally as a head coach … when you’re signing veterans in camp and you’re doing things at the end, I think that’s a pretty big challenge. Because that’s happened more this year that I haven’t been exposed to as much. If you can have everybody here in April, when that draft’s over and you line up and you’ve got that 90-man roster, if you can get to work on continuity and consistency, I think that’s a huge factor in the start of your season.”
The offensive line has significantly underperformed
This area has been a strength for the Cowboys for the past decade. That has been the majority of right guard Zack Martin’s time in the league. But the team went through a transition period this offseason as it didn’t re-sign starting left tackle Tyron Smith or starting center Tyler Biadasz. The Cowboys replaced them with first-round pick Tyler Guyton and third-round pick Cooper Beebe. Guyton, who has started eight games this season, is ranked 63rd out of 77 offensive tackles by Pro Football Focus. Smith, now with the New York Jets, is ranked 21st. Beebe, who has started all 10 games, is ranked 22nd among 39 centers. Biadasz, now with the Washington Commanders, is ranked 13th.
Left guard Tyler Smith has been Dallas’ best offensive lineman, ranking 24th among guards. He was 11th last season. Right tackle Terence Steele is 49th among tackles. The biggest drop-off has been Martin. The nine-time Pro Bowler and seven-time first-team All-Pro is 37th among guards. Between 2014 and 2022, he was never ranked outside of the top 10.
Pro Football Network recently ranked the Cowboys’ offensive line 22nd in the league, and that might be too high.
Running back by committee was a mistake
The plan was to move on from Tony Pollard, Dallas’ leading rusher in 2022 and 2023 at just over 1,000 yards per season, and go with a group approach. It sounded sketchy after the draft when they didn’t use a single pick on the position. It didn’t look any more convincing after training camp and the preseason. Pollard signed with the Tennessee Titans on a three-year, $21.7 million contract.
The Cowboys countered by re-signing Rico Dowdle and then signing free agents Royce Freeman and Ezekiel Elliott. Those three contracts were all one-year deals and totaled about $4 million. Freeman didn’t make the final roster. Dalvin Cook eventually filled his spot.
The Cowboys are averaging 82 rushing yards per game, second-worst in the NFL. They averaged 113 yards per game last season and 135 in 2022. Dowdle has recently taken over the lead back role. He’s on pace to finish the season with 715 rushing yards. That would be the lowest a Cowboys lead back has finished with since DeMarco Murray’s 663 in 2012.
Injuries
It’s not an excuse. Every team deals with them. But the Cowboys have dealt with more than usual, especially in regard to top players. Franchise quarterback Dak Prescott (hamstring) is going to miss over half the season. Defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence (foot) has played in only four games and there’s no clear timetable for when he could potentially return. Star pass rusher Micah Parsons (ankle) missed four games. Pro Bowl cornerback DaRon Bland (foot) hasn’t played this season. Cooks (knee) has missed the last six games. Rookie DE Marshawn Kneeland (knee) has missed the last five games. DE Sam Williams (knee) had his season ended early in training camp.
CeeDee Lamb holdout
One of the league’s best wide receivers deserved to be paid accordingly. And he was. But it didn’t happen until late August. He missed all five weeks of the training camp portion in California.
That contributed to Lamb and Prescott taking longer to get on the same page early in the season. Jones was fine with Lamb not being at camp because it prevented him from suffering an injury. But getting that deal done before the start of camp would’ve put the offense in a much better position to hit the ground running in September.
No home-field advantage
How does a team go from being the NFL’s best at home over a two-year period, winning 16 in a row, to being the league’s worst team at home? No one has been able to explain how the inexcusable wild-card loss to the Green Bay Packers happened in January. But it has definitely had a lasting impact.
Not only have the Cowboys lost all five home games this season, but also none have really been close. Dallas has scored only five touchdowns at home. The New Orleans Saints scored six touchdowns at AT&T Stadium in Dallas’ home opener. The Detroit Lions scored five in a 47-9 win over the Cowboys in Week 6. Dallas’ three other home opponents (Ravens, Eagles, Texans) each scored four.
There are plenty of reasons to question and criticize Jones for how he conducts business differently from the other 31 teams. But this season, these six things top the list of why the 2024 Cowboys have been a disaster.
(Top photo of Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb: Kevin C. Cox / Getty Images)
