These Cowboys need more playing time, others need to go

Ten games into what has become a nightmare season for the Dallas Cowboys, there are some absolute certainties:

The season is a total loss

There are players currently on the roster who should not be back in 2025

The players from the last two drafts need to start the rest of the way

At 3-7, and four games out of the last wildcard spot with seven games left, the 2024 season is all but officially done. It’s time to look ahead.

Who Needs To Go

Personally, I would start at the top and Dak Prescott.

This is the third year out of the last five that Prescott will play less than 75% of the games. And he isn’t getting any younger.

Unfortunately, the ill-advised contract signed hours before the season began has painted Dallas into a corner.

He’s on the books, overpriced, and no other team will be foolish enough to take him and his bloated contract.

So, for the next four years, Prescott is Dallas’ starter at quarterback. His eventual replacement needs to be discovered.

His back-up, Cooper Rush, needs a ball-control offense in which to thrive. He’d be better off elsewhere in 2025.

The Ezekiel Elliott experiment should also come to an end in January.

Along with Dalvin Cook and Deuce Vaughn in the running back room.

Neither Jalen Brooks, nor Jalen Tolbert, should be in a Dallas uniform after this year. Brandin Cooks should probably start packing too.

Rounding out the offensive side of the ball, Luke Schoonmaker and Terence Steele should be cut this week. But Dallas is so shorthanded they’ll need to stay around for seven more weeks.

Zack Martin deserved a better ending to his career than what he’s getting.

Even if he shakes off the injury suffered against Houston on Monday night, his run is done.

On the defensive line, DeMarcus Lawrence and Linval Joseph are at the end of the line. Mazi Smith should be shown the door too.

He seems more interested in fighting than he does tackling the opposing running back anyway.

Micah Parsons needs to be traded. He needs a fresh start elsewhere and the Cowboys need the draft picks and salary cap space his departure would bring.

Donovan Wilson will be 30 next year.

Let him start his next decade somewhere else too.

The 2023 And 2024 Picks Need To Step Up

Aside from linebacker DeMarvion Overshown, the 2023 Draft Class has been a gigantic bust.

The undrafted free agents – T.J. Bass, Hunter Luepke, and Brandon Aubrey – have outshined that entire class of draftees.

Brooks, Smith, Schoonmaker, and Vaughn have all cemented their places as draft pick misses. Both Villiami Fehoko and Eric Scott were waived in the preseason.

It’s time to see what Asim Richards can do as a starter, preferably at left tackle with Tyler Guyton at right tackle. If Richards doesn’t show anything in the next seven games, then he goes too.

Guyton, Dallas’ top pick in 2024, has struggled at left tackle. Moving him back to the position he played in college might salvage this pick.

Assuming the injury he suffered isn’t more serious than the damage to his pride in giving up a sack, that resulted in a fumble that he recovered and then promptly fumbled away.

An impressive feat to accomplish all in one play.

Second-round pick, Marshawn Kneeland, remains on IR. Assuming he returns this year he’ll be hard-pressed to show much in so short a time back, so he’ll get one more season to prove himself.

Marist Liufau should be starting the rest of the way alongside Overshown and Eric Kendricks.

The Cowboys need to know if their third-round pick is going to pay off or not. Liufau only saw 23 snaps on Monday but still collected three tackles.

Like Overshown in 2023, Cooper Beebe continues to be the lone bright spot out of the 2024 class.

Beebe has started in all 10 games and has taken every snap at center. This is one of the few areas that Dallas needn’t be concerned about.

Fifth round pick Caelen Carson has been good, when he has been able to suit up and play.

He played in only his sixth game of the season on Monday. But he only saw action on special teams, and it was the first time he played but was not a starter.

Sixth round pick Ryan Flournoy was targeted three times and had two catches for 19 yards.

He needs to start at least a few weeks so Dallas can see if he has a long-term future with the Cowboys.

Nathan Thomas was the seventh-round pick and has not been active for any of the 10 games. He seems destined to follow Fehoko and Scott’s destinies.

Undrafted free agent Brevyn Spann-Ford needs to be Jake Ferguson’s back-up at tight end the rest of the way.

While Schoonmaker is averaging eight yards a catch, Spann-Ford is over 10 yards per reception and he’s a better blocking tight end. He had four catches for 42 yards on Monday.

You Traded For Them Now Play Them

The Cowboys have traded away consecutive fourth round picks – in 2024 and 2025 – and need to find out in the next two months what they got in return.

After Cooper Rush gets gob smacked by the Commanders on Sunday, Lance needs to be the starter for the last six weeks.

It is time to find out what Lance can do as QB1 in the regular season after working with the starters full-time.

Instead of coming into a decided game when the defense knows he’s going to be passing. At the very least, Lance’s legs are so much better than Rush’s are.

Jonathan Mingo was recently acquired from Carolina for next year’s fourth round pick.

In his first game in Dallas, he was targeted four times. He finished with goose eggs across his stat sheet for the game.

Mingo needs to start, along with Flournoy, and CeeDee Lamb to find out what the Cowboys have right now and what they’ll need to draft for in April.