After a disappointing 7-10 finish in 2024 (their first losing season since 2020), the Dallas Cowboys are staring down a critical turning point.
A franchise once viewed as a perennial contender is now trying to climb back to relevance.
With Mike McCarthy gone and Brian Schottenheimer promoted to head coach, the tone around the team is one of urgency.
Training camp is where that climb begins, but before the Cowboys can think about competing in the NFC, they have five major questions to answer in Oxnard.
Who Are the Best-5 on the Offensive Line?
The Cowboys made a bold move last year when they drafted Tyler Guyton to replace longtime blindside anchor Tyron Smith, and the rookie showed promise.
Now, with future Hall of Famer Zack Martin having retired, Dallas enters camp with serious questions in the trenches.
Tyler Smith is a foundational piece, and Guyton is seemingly locked in at left tackle, but the right side is a work in progress.
Cooper Beebe, drafted to be the long-term answer at center, may still be transitioning, while rookies and mid-round picks like Asim Richards and T.J. Bass will compete for time at guard.
It’s not clear yet who the starting five are, or if the team even knows. Without a strong, cohesive line, it’s hard to imagine this offense bouncing back.
Can Matt Eberflus Fix the Run Defense?
After years of being gashed by opposing ground games, the Cowboys handed the defensive reins to Matt Eberflus, who returns to Dallas after his stint as Bears head coach.
Eberflus’ scheme is based on discipline, tackling, and sound gap responsibility, something the Cowboys lacked in 2024 when they allowed over 130 rushing yards per game.
The front seven has talent, with Micah Parsons still a dominant force and DeMarvion Overshown possibly returning from injury.
However, the defensive tackle rotation anchored by Osa Odighizuwa, Mazi Smith, and a group of journeymen hasn’t proven it can hold up over four quarters.
Linebacker play remains a concern too, now manned by a mix of veterans and young, unproven players.
If Eberflus can’t stabilize the middle, the defense may remain frustratingly incomplete.
Who Will Seize CB2?
With Trevon Diggs working his way back from an ACL injury and Jourdan Lewis now in Jacksonville, the Cowboys face a murky situation at cornerback.
DaRon Bland has one side locked down, but the competition for the other outside spot is wide open.
The current options include former 1st-round pick Abram Elam, Israel Mukuamu, second-year cornerback Caelen Carson, rookie Shavon Revel, and perhaps a free-agent veteran to be signed late in the summer.
If Diggs isn’t 100% by Week 1, the secondary becomes one of the most vulnerable groups on the roster.
Bland can’t do it all, and Eberflus needs someone to emerge quickly.
Who Emerges to Lead the Backfield?
Rico Dowdle is gone. The Cowboys’ running back room is almost completely overhauled. That leaves a wide-open competition going into camp.
Veteran Javonte Williams appears the favorite, with fellow veteran Miles Sanders also in the mix, but each come with their own question marks.
Rookie Jaydon Blue brings speed and vision, and if he shows he can pass protect, could become the featured back.
With no clear #1, Schottenheimer may lean into a committee approach, but someone needs to emerge as the guy who can keep the offense balanced and help take pressure off QB Dak Prescott.
Can They Stave Off the Injury Bug?
Injuries derailed the Cowboys’ 2024 season, with Dak Prescott, Trevon Diggs, and multiple offensive linemen missing extended time.
After an exodus of players in the offseason, the team is thinner than it has been in years. That makes a healthy training camp essential.
Schottenheimer will need to balance physical preparation with injury prevention.
The depth simply isn’t there to withstand multiple blows again, especially in the defensive trenches and secondary.
A clean bill of health through camp would go a long way toward stabilizing the roster for a bounce-back campaign.
After the worst Cowboys season in half a decade, 2025 needs to be a reset, and it starts in Oxnard.
With key holes on both sides of the ball, and a new head coach trying to establish a culture, how the team answers these five questions will define whether Dallas can return to contention or spiral further into mediocrity.
So, other than pass blocking, run blocking, running, stopping the run and stopping the pass…the team is set. Yet, this site predicted a 14-3 season and SB win. Right…..
I’m not sure what the question is about the offensive line!! Everybody knows who will start on the offensive line!! It’ll be Tyler Guyton, Tyler Smith, Cooper Beebe, Tyler Booker and Terrence Steele!!that’s easy!! I don’t see the question for that!!
And as far as Matt Eberflus fixing the run defense…. That’s one of the things he’s best at!! I have no doubts about him fixing the run defense!! And with Mazi Smith getting to play at the same weight for the the 2nd year in a row, I think he’ll look more like the player he was drafted to be!! And he’ll have Jay Toia to be the backup too, and even though he’s a 7th round pick, he’s still a beast when it comes to stopping the run and taking on double teams!! And another thing is, I don’t see how there’s a concern about the LBs, we have a good group of LBs and it’ll be even better when Overshown gets healthy!!
And there’s no question about who will be the CB2 either!! Diggs should be ready to go by week 1!! So Bland will be the CB2!! And even if Diggs has to miss the first game or 2, we’ll have KAIIR Elam to start opposite of Bland and we’ll have Revel ready to play, and Mukuamu will be a good player for us too!! So we have plenty of options for CB2 and whatever other corner spot that needs to be filled!!
And as far as our running game goes, I think a lot of people are worried about it for nothing!! We have some really good RBs on the team Javonte Williams should be back to his normal self now that he’s going into his 3rd year after his major injury!! Everybody seems to think that a player should return to normal after coming back from a major injury like that, but it don’t work that way with a lot of players especially the RB position, where they have to do a bunch of cutting and stuff like that!! It takes a few years to get back to normal for them, and I think Javonte will be back to normal this year!! And then we have Miles Sanders, and even though he didn’t do much in Carolina, I think he showed he still has it when he balled out in his last game in Carolina last year!! And he’s looked really good in OTAs and mini camp too, so I think he’ll be a good player for us too!! And then we have Jaydon Blue…. A mixture of Alvin Kamara and Devon Achane….and a RB who was a better prospect coming out of college than Tony Pollard was!! So I don’t see why people are so worried about it, we’re gonna be a lot better than most people think!!
The only thing you mentioned that mite be something to worry about is the injury bug!! But even that I’m not too worried about!! It’s rare for a team to go through as many injuries as we went through last season!! And it’s rare for a player to miss time for an injury in back to back seasons!! Plus we did a better job of signing backup players this year, so even if we do deal with injuries, we’ll have some good players on the bench ready to go!! They may not be elite players, but there’s no team gonna have elite players sitting on the bench!! But the players we have to be backups, I feel comfortable with if they had to jump in and play!! So I think we’ll be fine in that department too!!
I think fans should be excited for this team this year!! We have a really good team right now and I think we’ll at least make it to the playoffs!!