Every team at this stage of the offseason has questions about the roster. A month out from training camp, with a few months still to the start of the regular season, the Dallas Cowboys look content with where they’re at heading into training camp in July. They’ll make some adjustments to the roster as they make their cuts to 53 and sign players released by other NFL teams. Still, with a month off until the Cowboys open training camp in Oxnard, California, certain questions are floating around the team that shouldn’t really be questions.
1. The Coaching Staff
For a head coach that’s won a Super Bowl, a defensive coordinator that has run the league’s top defense, and an offensive coordinator that’s run a top offense, the Dallas Cowboys coaching staff has been under scrutiny this offseason. Bleacher Report’s Kristopher Knox believes that the Dallas Cowboys’ biggest question mark heading into 2021 is the coaching staff.
Mike McCarthy is the favorite to get fired first at several betting sites, which is strange for a head coach entering his second season. Most notably coming off one that was as injury-plagued as you’ll see in the NFL.
Things didn’t go perfectly from a coaching perspective in 2020 for McCarthy. He was at times a tad overaggressive. He made mistakes. However, when the defense is as bad as the Dallas Cowboys defense was in 2020, you have to look for ways to compensate. Like fake punts and going for it on fourth down.
Arguably, McCarthy’s biggest mistake was bringing in Mike Nolan to run the defense. Changing the defensive scheme during COVID, when teams were required to meet more virtually, and OTAs and minicamp were nonexistent, was a mistake. In a year with so much uncertainty, the Cowboys needed something on the defensive side to remain stable. Their defense wasn’t perfect in 2019 and at times had become predictable, but that stability would have helped in a year when there was very little stability.
McCarthy is a good head coach. Despite the results last year and the poor calls, he’s a good head coach who will win many games in 2021 and beyond. You don’t get to a Super Bowl or four NFC Championship games just because of your quarterback. To have sustained success in the NFL, it takes both good quarterback play and good coaching. Mike McCarthy was a part of that equation in Green Bay and he’ll be a part of that equation in Dallas.
2. The Safety Position
Damontae Kazee is coming off an injury, and Donovan Wilson’s first year as a starter had some up and down moments. Still, the Dallas Cowboys’ safety spot looks pretty solid heading into 2021.
Both Kazee and Wilson have shown a penchant for creating turnovers in their NFL careers. Kazee had seven interceptions back in 2018 and three more in 2019. Wilson had 3.5 sacks, three forced fumbles, and two interceptions.
Kazee’s biggest question surrounds the injury. He was a full participant at OTAs and minicamp, and the team doesn’t seem to have any lingering questions about him moving forward. His experience with Dan Quinn’s defense will help solidify the secondary that is experiencing some turnover and may have to play a rookie at cornerback in 2021.
If you were looking for a position group on defense to be more concerned about, it’s the cornerback spot.
Trevon Diggs was solid in his rookie season but still has room to grow. Anthony Brown looks to be leading the way to start opposite Diggs, and we’ve seen Brown have both good and bad play throughout his tenure with the Dallas Cowboys. Everyone’s favorite slot corner, Jourdan Lewis, may get an opportunity to play significant snaps in 2021, but like Brown, his career has been a roller coaster of turnovers and poor coverage.
3. Player’s Health
Dak Prescott looks to be back and ready to go in 2021. Tyron Smith and La’el Collins are healthy and will be ready to go when the Cowboys line up to play the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in week one of the regular season. Leighton Vander Esch is healthy again, and Blake Jarwin is coming off of his ACL injury.
To win a Super Bowl, it takes a lot of luck. On the field and in the training room, teams have to have things go their way. In 2020, very little went the Cowboys’ direction on the injury front. That’s just the way things go sometimes.
Dak Prescott has emphatically stated that he’s ready to go, and he’s ready to “bury the injury.” Tyron Smith had neck surgery to correct an issue with stingers he’s been dealing with for a long time. Collins has dropped weight, which will help his hips and provide him with more quickness and agility at the right tackle spot.
There’s no way the Dallas Cowboys will lose as many games to injury from as many important spots as they did last year.
Right?
According to Football Outsiders’ Adjusted Games Lost, the Dallas Cowboys had the third most games lost, which is weighted toward expected performance from its starters. As it notes, the Cowboys lost games were concentrated along the offensive line and at quarterback where Smith, Collins, and even Zack Martin missed time for the Cowboys. At tackle, the Cowboys were down to playing their fifth option, Terence Steele, after 2020 free agent signing Cam Erving suffered an injury as well.
Only two teams lost more games to injury in 2020 than the Dallas Cowboys, the New England Patriots, and the San Francisco 49ers. While injuries are a part of football, and teams have to figure out a way to adjust, the Cowboys were absolutely decimated by injuries, and there shouldn’t be a repeat of that in 2021.
The Cowboys won’t likely skate through 2021 injury-free. No team does. However, the Cowboys should return to the mean of adjusted games lost and won’t have the same injury bad luck they had at their most important positions.
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