Every time the offseason rolls around, Cowboys Nation gets all in their feelings about how the season ended.
This year is no different after the embarrassing home loss to the Green Bay Packers in the Wildcard round of the NFL Playoffs.
We all thought this season was finally the year our Dallas Cowboys were going to get over the hump and at least make it to the NFC Championship Game.
Instead, we watched first-year starter Jordan Love make every throw that his predecessor Aaron Rodgers would make to open a 27-0 first-half lead.
The end result was a 48-32 beatdown of America's Team that was not nearly as close as the score indicated.
Despite three straight seasons of 12 wins for the first time in franchise history, this offseason holds more questions than answers for the Cowboys.
The answer to those questions cannot be the same tired story rewritten with different players.
This year, the Cowboys' offseason strategy needs an overhaul.
Key Losses
The only players we can currently count as losses are those who have played their entire contract.
Players waived/released at this point in the offseason would be pure speculation, so any mention of those possibilities will be minimal.
Here is the list of key contributors who have had their contracts expire:
- LT Tyron Smith (starter)
- RB Tony Pollard (starter)
- CB Stephon Gilmore (starter)
- DE Dorance Armstong (rotational)
- S Jayron Kearse (starter)
- CB Jourdan Lewis (starter)
- DE Dante Fowler (rotational)
- DT Johnathan Hankins (starter)
- LS Trent Sieg (specialist)
- RB Rico Dowdle (rotational)
- C Tyler Biadasz (starter)
That's a total of seven starters and three rotational players whose snaps will be redistributed in 2024.
A good draft can patch a couple of those holes, but the rest will have to be taken care of through free agency or trades.
The usual way that the Cowboys have approached free agency over the past decade or so has not worked, and old habits will continue to die hard.
We Like Our Guys
Cowboys fans know this phrase well, and while it does have merit because of how well the team drafts, they can do more.
The problem is they choose not to, and the scapegoat for this strategy has been Stephen Jones.
His father Jerry Jones was known as sort of a loose cannon when it comes to free agency and trades, always after the shiniest toy in the toy box.
That strategy won the Cowboys one of their three Super Bowls in the '90s with the signing of star CB Deion Sanders but has not worked out well since.
Perhaps that's one of the reasons Stephen has seemed to reel in Jerry a bit in that department, famously blocking him from drafting Johnny Manziel over Zack Martin during the 2014 NFL Draft.
Has Stephen taken the pendulum too far in the opposite direction?
His argument could be the failed trades and signings over the years, starting with Joey Galloway and ending with the Brandon Carr contract.
Every year they like their guys despite concerns from everyone outside of the building, and every year the concerns prove to ring true at the end of the year.
Thrift Shopping
I love to walk into my favorite department store to see an entire section of items discounted to clearance prices.
Name-brand items at store-brand prices are always a plus, especially with a family of five like I have, where penny-pinching is sometimes necessary to make ends meet.
However, that's not the way I want my team to shop for the talent that will take the field during the season.
In a way I do agree with the strategy, but only to a certain point.
One of the reasons the Cowboys have had such a high success rate in the 1st round of the NFL Draft is because they enter the draft with no major holes on the roster so they can draft with a best player available strategy.
Stephen just hits the bargain bin of free agency with his one-year contract specials for established veterans who can act as a bridge for rookies to acclimate to the game.
The problem lies where the Cowboys fail to draft a replacement for those bargain bin signings, then blatantly refuse to address it in free agency.
Then comes our favorite phrase, “We like our guys”.
That strategy has repeatedly come back to bite them on their flank at the end of the season, usually being the reason they didn't have enough to advance in the playoffs.
For example, we all knew the Cowboys needed linebackers after losing rookie DeMarvion Overshown to injury in the preseason.
Veteran Bobby Wagner was there for the taking and actually ended up leading the league in tackles after his reunion with Seattle.
Meanwhile, the Cowboys got the ball run down their throats in the second half of the playoff loss to the Packers.
There needs to be more balance in that regard.
2nd Round Dart Throws
It wasn't until recently that I found out Cowboys Nation has actually named the Cowboys' 2nd round draft strategy the Blue Star Special.
Dallas has a propensity to take chances in the 2nd round of the draft on players who could have a myriad of different issues.
Character issues, injuries, or position changes on a player with 1st round talent are the usual sets of circumstances that Dallas likes to look for in that round.
Notable players that have fit that profile include LB Sean Lee, LB Bruce Carter, DE Randy Gregory, LB Jaylon Smith, CB Kelvin Joseph, and DE Sam Williams.
Last season's 2nd round pick didn't fit this profile, but TE Luke Schoonmaker was viewed as an unnecessary pick with Jake Ferguson and Peyton Hendershot already established as the top two tight ends.
Taking a chance so often on a top-60 pick is a dangerous behavior that is akin to playing Black Jack except Dallas has busted more than they've won.
What's the Solution?
Truthfully, there isn't one way to better this situation.
All I can say is the Cowboys need to go into the settings page of their offseason playbook and slide the bar further away from passive and more towards aggressive.
I honestly believe that a slight tweak could fix what has been ailing the team since they have such a good foundation of excellent drafting.
Jerry needs one last-ditch effort to use all of his strength to pull the checkbook from Stephen's hands a little more back in his direction to bring in some splash players.
Big names at needed positions are out there for the taking, but will Dallas be brave enough to really go all in?
The next few months will answer that question for us.
