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Gil Brandt knows a thing or two about building a Super Bowl winning organization, and he likes the chances of his former organization adding to their championship pedigree over the next few years. In fact, Brandt feels that only one other team has a better opportunity to hoist Lombardi Trophies over the next few seasons, and that team is not the one coached by the hoodied one.
He gives the Cowboys a four-year window with Dak Prescott and Ezekiel Elliott leading the way. The only team to top Dallas was Atlanta.
Youth has a lot to do with Brandt’s assessment but he also credits additional factors into why he expects Dallas to contend in the upcoming seasons.
"But the coaching staff is staying together, while Tyron Smith, Travis Frederick and Zack Martin are all under contract through at least 2018 (with Smith and Frederick locked up well beyond that), and Dez Bryant should continue to be a premier weapon. The bottom line is, Offensive Rookie of the Year candidates Dak Prescott and Ezekiel Elliott are just scratching the surface. History tells us guys improve a lot from Year 1 to Year 2, and hard as it might be to believe, Prescott and Elliott could be even better going forward."
Optimistic views, such as the one related by Gil Brandt, are all well and good, but there also reasons for the pessimistic outlook. Tim Cowlishaw provides a counterpoint to the article linked above.
I think the flaw in what Stephen Jones has been saying -- assuming he believes it -- is that that Cowboys have figured out the formula. Draft is good, free agency bad. OK, that works to an extent but you can't draft everyone. And when your team is good, free agency is a great way to supplement it at a fairly high price. The Cowboys can't lose to the Giants twice in 2016 and walk away with the attitude of "free agency doesn't work." Those things don't mix.
While things are not as rosy as Brandt believes, they are likely not as dire as Cowlishaw predicts either. The trick is going to be finding the point in the middle where things meet.
Cowboys D-line Rumors from the Senior Bowl - Charlie Campbell, Walter Football
Campbell picked up some chatter at the Senior Bowl about the Cowboys, but we'll have to wait and see whether this is anything more than specualtion at this point:
The Dallas Cowboys figure to have an interesting offseason with how they approach their defensive line. Defensive tackle Terrell McClain is entering free agency, and the Cowboys want to bring him back. However, they plan to let McClain test the market and see what offers he gets before bidding on his contact. The Cowboys like McClain's steady and hard-working presence in their defensive line room. With some problem children already in there, they like McClain's grounded approach. Sources say to keep an eye on the Seahawks as a suitor that could target McClain. The Seahawks would like an interior disruptor.
Dallas is also faced with breakout defensive end David Irving as an exclusive rights free agent. The Cowboys would like to sign him to a cheap multi-year contract, but sources say that Irving will reject that and play under the 1-year tag to work his way to unrestricted free agency with the hopes of securing a lucrative market-value contract extension.
With the suspension issues of Randy Gregory and Demarcus Lawrence, the Cowboys also could target a defensive end late in the first round. Irving will return to Dallas, but bringing back McClain would help give them more flexibility in the draft.
Cowboys corners were solid but there could be changes in 2017 - Todd Archer, ESPN
One of the areas that Cowlishaw identifies as a potential problem is also weighing on the mind of Mr. Archer. Dallas does have a pair of corners who will be eligible to take their services somewhere else this off-season, and the team will also have an opportunity to potentially upgrade its talent level at the position.
Archer puts on his prognosticating hat and speculates on what might transpire at the position over the next few months.
Last year the Cowboys looked into veterans in free agency, including Leon Hall, Patrick Robinson and Nolan Carroll. They thought they had a deal with Robinson, but he opted to sign with the Indianapolis Colts. There could be some big-name corners available, but the Cowboys won’t get into the game the way they did with Carr in 2012.
Carr has more value to the Cowboys than perhaps to other teams, so a deal could be struck. He is a solid presence in the locker room and he doesn’t miss games.
But the Cowboys have to think about the future. Carr turns 31 in April. Scandrick turns 30. They showed last year they can find a cornerback in the draft with Brown. This year they might have to find two corners.
The future is now, at least as far as NFL personnel men are concerned. The questions asked above start finding their answers at the Senior Bowl. Bryan Broaddus has been in Mobile checking out the incoming crop of players that will be featured in the NFL’s version of a livestock auction later this year and he gives us his rundown on what scouts and front office personnel have seem this week. An excerpt:
Watching Villanova pass rusher Tanoh Kpassagnon run the "Circle Drill" with a backside chop on the quarterback's arm, you notice there is some stiffness to his game. He has rare height and length, but you don't see that natural bend that the great edge rushers have. He's a quicker rusher when he can go inside than when goes on the outside. That was opposite of his film, where it appeared that he needed to be lined up wider in space than the inside. I have him in the third round currently, but he will likely be over drafted and go earlier.
The Colts once drafted their young quarterback’s favorite college target to serve as one of his receivers in the NFL and now the Cowboys are showing interest in doing something similar to benefit Dak Prescott. The Boys have been talking with Mississippi State WR Fred Ross.
Ross, Prescott's favorite target in college and a close friend, said he's met with Cowboys scouts twice this week at Senior Bowl practices.
Ross (6-0, 203) is a projected mid-round pick. In Prescott's final two seasons at Mississippi State, Ross totaled 118 catches for 1,496 yards and 10 touchdowns.
Prescott seems to be in favor of the pairing. Ross has been visiting his friend and former teammate and the quarterback made certain that he arranged some interaction between the team and his old teammate.
Just as Dez Bryant does ‘Dez Things’, Ezekiel Elliot does ‘what Zeke does’ and we mere mortals watch in admiration. Now that the 2016 season has concluded, the Cowboys rookie running back reflects on what happened during one of the best first seasons a running back has ever experienced in the National Football League.
"Sometimes I have to step back and really look and see what I did this year because I have had such high expectations for myself," Elliot said. "When I think about the season, I'm like 'man I wanted to be in that Super Bowl. I wanted to be there.' But then I have to realize what I have done this season, the honors I have gotten and how special that is. At least I try to. But I'm a perfectionist so I'm definitely not satisfied."
He also looks forward to what lies ahead and how he plans to overcome the disappointment of the way the Cowboys season ended.
Ezekiel Elliott Eliminates AFC In Dodgeball, DallasCowboys.com
It may not be the victory that he had in mind, but Zeke did have a little fun while leading the NFC to a win in the dodgeball competition at the Pro Bowl. Sometimes you take your wins where you find them.