Switching to a 17-game schedule has somewhat ruined breaking down the season into quarters. But the Dallas Cowboys have played four games, and that’s close enough for us to do a quarter-of-the-season evaluation. We decided the best way would be to rank the position groups from strongest to weakest through Dallas’ 2-2 start.
While putting this list together, it was obvious that only one has a reason to stick out its chest. A lot of underperforming in the other 10 spots.
1. Special teams. Brandon Aubrey alone could carry this group to the top spot. He’s been the best kicker in football, missing only one field goal and no extra points. He’s 5-for-5 from 40-49 yards and 6-for-7 from 50-plus yards. He’s been the lone bright spot in multiple games this season. He’s well on his way to making All-Pro for consecutive years and no one would be surprised if he set the NFL record for longest field goal this season. The current mark is 66 yards. Punter Bryan Anger is top five in average at 51.5 yards but they are giving up too many punt return yards. KaVontae Turpin has the NFL’s only punt return touchdown this season.
franchise record 6️⃣5️⃣ yard FG from @Brandon_Aubrey!
📺: #BALvsDAL on FOX
📲: Stream on NFL+ https://t.co/LvklCbYJ1e pic.twitter.com/yV3HTB2yFC— Dallas Cowboys (@dallascowboys) September 22, 2024
2. Quarterback. Many will look at this and say Dak Prescott hasn’t played nearly as well as he did last season. And they would be correct. But this just lets you know how unimpressive the rest of the team has performed through four games. Prescott had his best game Thursday night against the New York Giants, completing 22 of 27 passes with two touchdowns, no turnovers and a 125.5 passer rating. His play appears headed in the right direction. As long as Prescott stays healthy, quarterback will be one of the team’s highest-rated positions.
3. Defensive end. This group has not performed as well as it has in the past. The Cowboys are averaging two sacks per game. That number was at 2.7 last season and 3.1 in 2022. And now they could be without their top two edge rushers, Micah Parsons and DeMarcus Lawrence, for multiple games. Parsons hasn’t been ruled out for this week with a high ankle sprain, but it’s the type of injury that could sideline him the next few weeks. Lawrence’s foot injury will likely keep him out at least a month. So an underperforming group now needs significant contributions from players like rookie Marshawn Kneeland and veterans Chauncey Golston and Carl Lawson. This group is also part of an extremely poor run defense that is allowing opponents to rush for 146 yards per game.
4. Linebacker. This position has made the most improvement from last season. The addition of Eric Kendricks has been a big help, but so has the play of DeMarvion Overshown, who missed all of his rookie season with a knee injury, and rookie Marist Liufau. Damone Clark has received the fourth-most defensive snaps of the linebacker group, and he has the highest Pro Football Focus grade among the team’s linebackers, ranking 27th in the league entering Sunday. They have obviously also contributed to the poor run defense, but there is some notable upside with this group. They should be looked at as a bright spot going forward.
5. Cornerback. Not having DaRon Bland has been a noticeable setback. Rookie Caelen Carson has had up-and-down moments filling in at Bland’s starting outside spot. He didn’t play Thursday night because of a shoulder injury but he’s expected to be back for this week’s game against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Bland should be back in the next few weeks. Trevon Diggs and Jourdan Lewis have been solid. As a whole, they’ve probably been a middle-of-the-pack group. They really didn’t need to be tested much in Dallas’ two losses because the New Orleans Saints and Baltimore Ravens were easily getting what they wanted on the ground. The Cowboys averaged one interception per game last season and they’re on that same pace this year.
6. Offensive line. There have been up-and-down moments for the entire starting five. Left guard Tyler Smith has been the most consistent. Right guard Zack Martin would be next. Rookie center Cooper Beebe would probably be third. The offensive tackle play hasn’t been great. Rookie Tyler Guyton has certainly had growing pains in his first season on the left side. Dallas’ run game has been one of the worst in the league, so obviously the offensive line deserves its share of the blame. As long as this group stays healthy, the more reps together, the better they should perform. But keeping that same five healthy just hasn’t happened throughout Mike McCarthy’s time as head coach.
7. Tight end. Jake Ferguson’s knee injury set this group back a little bit. The Cowboys were fortunate that he only missed one game. This position kind of goes as he goes. He’s the clear No. 1 guy in the group and the No. 2 most productive pass catcher behind CeeDee Lamb. According to PFF, Luke Schoonmaker is the highest-graded Cowboys tight end through four games, getting positive scores for his receiving and run blocking. He has seven catches on eight targets.
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8. Wide receiver. Maybe this group should be a little higher, but they’ve underperformed through four games. Lamb is PFF’s highest-rated Cowboys wide receiver and that’s outside the top 40. He’s had flashes of the player he’s been but he hasn’t put together an entire game this season. The offense generally goes as Lamb goes, so they certainly need more from him. Brandin Cooks and Jalen Tolbert have performed more like No. 3 and No. 4 wide receivers rather than the No. 2 and No. 3 spots they currently hold in Dallas’ offense. Cooks is only averaging 23 receiving yards per game.
9. Safety. Poor tackling has stood out most from this group. They need more from Malik Hooker and Donovan Wilson. Neither ranks among PFF’s top 50 safeties. No Cowboys defender has played more snaps than Wilson’s 260. Hooker has the third-most snaps at 255. No other safety has more than 21 defensive snaps.
10. Defensive tackle. Mazi Smith deserves credit for his play Thursday night in what had to be his best game as a Cowboy. Maybe that will give him a spark. Dallas certainly needs it because the position is one of the worst in the league. The issues with stopping the run start right here. It looks like it will be Smith, Osa Odighizuwa, Linval Joseph and Carlos Watkins at this point.
11. Running back. The offensive line could be better, but nothing here appears like it’s going to all of a sudden provide over 100-yards-per-game production. Dallas didn’t use a draft pick in the first five rounds of either of the last two drafts on a running back and it shows. The loss of Tony Pollard has been an issue. Dalvin Cook should see some opportunities in the near future, but there’s no telling if that will provide a noticeable improvement. The last two spots on this list are exactly where most expected them to be entering the season.
(Top photo of Rico Dowdle: Matthew Pearce / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
