Jimmy Johnson delivered two Super Bowl wins, set up a third, and is both a member of the Dallas Cowboys Ring of Honor and the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Now, after retiring from FOX as studio analyst after last season, and with a successful college and NFL coaching career on his resume, Johnson is still keeping an eye on the Cowboys.
Johnson, who spends most of his days on the water and his nights at his Florida Keys restaurant, sees two key issues for Dallas this fall.
Stay Healthy
Johnson’s first key is the team staying healthy throughout the season. Something they clearly could not do during last year’s disastrous 7-10 campaign.
“I think it’s probably more important for the Cowboys to stay healthy for a couple reasons,” Johnson explained to dallascowboys.com writer Nick Eatman recently. No. 1, they’re top-heavy salary wise. And so their 53-man roster may not be quite as talented at the bottom as some of these other teams.”
The Cowboys have been shelling out huge contracts to Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb, and another looming soon for Micah Parsons.
Johnson sees difficulty for the Cowboys in building up quality players down the depth chart when so much of the cap is being eaten up by three players.
With Dallas paying top dollar to those three, it is vital that they play as close to a full season as possible. Prescott played in just eight games in 2024. He has played only two full seasons in the last five.
A Tough Stretch
Another reason for keeping the team healthy and the starters starting every week, in Johnson’s view, is the 2025 schedule.
“The other thing is, they have a very difficult stretch there toward the end of the season,” Johnson added. “So if they’re not at full strength when they’re playing those top teams – the second half of at the end of the season, it’s going to be a problem. So staying healthy is the No. 1 key.”
Starting on Nov. 23rd at home against the Eagles and ending on Week 17’s Christmas Day game at Washington, the Cowboys will play six straight games against 2024 playoff teams.
Those games include matchups against the two Super Bowl teams in back-to-back games and just four days apart.
During his time in Dallas, Johnson’s Cowboys went 14-7 in December games. In the three playoff seasons – 1991-93 – Dallas was 12-1 in the final four weeks of the regular season.
