The Dallas Cowboys are facing a number of distractions before starting training camp in Oxnard in a few days. Micah Parsons sparking unnecessary drama, revealing that he and DC Mike Zimmer have barely spoken since Zimmer was hired three months ago; the contract situations involving WR CeeDee Lamb and QB Dak Prescott…
Even with all the noise, this team has reasons to be optimistic heading into 2024. We know all about the stars of this team, but going through the roster you’ll find a hidden gem on both sides of the ball.
One of these guys you’ve probably heard about plenty, but it seems like he should be getting talked about more than he has.
TJ Bass
After being an undrafted rookie last year, TJ Bass played all 17 regular-season games for Dallas in 2023, including two starts where he looked anything but out of his depth. Bass looked like the best undrafted signing last season, but now some are saying he might not even make the roster.
The offensive line is tight outside of Tyler Smith and Zack Martin.
Bass may need to show he can be Dallas’ backup center to avoid getting squeezed out at final cuts. I find that hard to believe.
TJ Bass started 34 straight games throughout three seasons for the Ducks. He played over 2,000 snaps and earned first-team all-Pac-12 honors from the coaches in 2021 and 2022.
He was the only player to be named Pac-12 offensive lineman of the week multiple times.
At the very least, Bass appears to be a high-end reserve guard with the flex to be either side of center. He has a high ceiling.
If used the correct way, he, Cooper Beebe and Tyler Smith could very well be the future of this offensive line.
Justin Rogers
This will go one of two ways; either excellent or terrible. What I mean by that is, I am either going to hit a home run on predicting this or have a huge swing and a miss.
Dallas has a depth problem at defensive tackle, as only Mazi Smith, Osa Odighizuwa, and Carl Davis Jr. have NFL experience.
Rogers may very well be a great day-three pick for the Cowboys. He has a big body that can help plug some running lanes. He played his college ball at Auburn, and totaled 78 tackles, 7 tackles for loss, and 4 sacks, and took on the majority of double-teams as a college guy.
He is only 6-foot-2 and 330 pounds, but one thing he did do well was set the gap in the run defense everywhere he played.
He only had one sack, so he isn’t going to be stacking numbers up if he sees the field, but I don’t care. I want this team to be able to stop others from running the football.
TJ Bass was undrafted and Justin Rogers was a day-three pick. These are clearly just my thoughts on them and what I believe, but neither one of these guys is going to be the reason this team does anything special. They could help, that’s all.
Bass has more talent, but Rogers is more likely to see the field because of the style of play Mike Zimmer uses on defense.
They both bring something that this team needs and that is depth.
Heck, who knows; all it’ll take is an injury ahead of them on the depth chart to be asked to start for the rest of the year.
It will be interesting to see how things go over the month or so, but something has to give. I hate that we have to focus on more bad than good when it comes to the Dallas Cowboys.