2024 Roster Review: Starting wide receivers – Part 5 of 17. Click here to view all articles in this series.
CeeDee Lamb is the clear WR1 in Dallas. His contract extension should be the top priority at The Star.
Which begs the question: Who will be WR2 for the Cowboys going into 2024?
It certainly isn’t Michael Gallup.
Dallas blundered badly by extending Gallup and trading away Amari Cooper after the 2021 season.
They haven’t had a consistent WR2 since.
Gallup is likely a cap-clearing, post-June 1 cut in a few months.
Brandin Cooks is signed for the 2024 season. But he is not a player best suited for the role.
After Gallup and Cooks the depth chart is very green.
The Kids
Of the remaining three wide receivers on the roster, KaVontae Turpin is the elder statesman in age at 28, which he’ll be when the new season kicks off.
But he will only be playing in his third NFL season this fall. And he is more valuable as a returner than a receiver.
In 2023 he had 12 catches for 127 yards and three touchdowns to go with 11 rushes for 110 yards and a touchdown.
And at just 5-9 and 153 pounds, he doesn’t have the size needed for a second wide receiver.
Jalen Tolbert will turn 25 later this month and he is 6-1, 195 pounds.
He has the size and will be playing in his third NFL season as well.
Last year Tolbert started six games and finished the year with 22 catches for 280 yards and two scores.
Thirteen of 22 catches resulted in a first down.
Of the three, he seems the more likely choice to take on WR2 on the depth chart.
Jalen Brooks was a seventh-round pick in last year’s draft. In his rookie year, he suited up for seven games.
He caught all six passes that were targeted at him for 64 yards.
A small sample to be sure.
But a 100% catch rate is not something to downplay.
The case could be made for Tolbert to move up to WR2, Cooks in the slot, and Brooks to continue to grow in 2024.
It would make the Gallup departure easier. But Dallas would still need to add a receiver to the roster.
And the only way they do that is in April’s draft or free agency.
The Draft Option
Thanks to earlier trades the Cowboys will enter the 2024 Draft with single picks in Rounds 1-3 and a pair of picks in the seventh round.
Dallas gets compensatory picks in the 5th and 6th rounds at the end of each round.
So, barring any trades, the Cowboys will get seven picks this year, but they need to make the first three count this year.
They did not do so in 2023.
As far as who they could get will depend on a lot of factors – namely, will there be an early run on the position that leaves the cupboard bare?
Depending on how the other teams draft I have my eye on two solid players that could be around in the second or third round.
Texas’ Xavier Worthy and North Carolina’s Devontez Walker.
Both players are 6-1 with Walker being about 25 pounds heavier than Worthy.
But both could step in and start across from Lamb on Day 1.
Free Agency
Mike Evans, Tee Higgins, and Michael Pittman Jr. are going to attract the most attention in the free agent market this spring.
But if I’m the Cowboys I have my eye on Calvin Ridley.
Yes, he’s 29 and had a major suspension disrupt his career.
But it was for gambling and I for one think the NFL is being hypocritical to hit players on this when they just held the Super Bowl in Vegas.
Not to mention how hard gambling sites advertise during NFL games. Or the fact that the odds are mentioned in game coverage all the time.
After missing two-thirds of the 2021 season and all of 2022, Ridley returned to the league with a new team.
For Atlanta in 2020, he had 1,374 yards and nine touchdowns on 90 catches.
In 2023 in Jacksonville, he had 1,016 yards and eight touchdowns on 76 catches.
In the last two years combined, Gallup has 842 yards and six touchdowns on 73 catches.
Despite support like that, Lamb has somehow strung together three straight 1,000-yard seasons.
He had 1,749 last year alone.
Can you imagine the damage he could do with a credible threat on the other side of the line?
Ridley could probably command $15 million a year.
He’d be worth every penny of it in Dallas.