With the 2024 season ending on Sunday, you already know we need to start diving into all the huge questions as this football team moves in 2025, and what I am going to dive into will be a big one.
If we al thought the Dallas Cowboys offense struggled with playmakers going into the 2024 season, the wide receiver group could be a lot uglier as they enter 2025.
If you didn’t know, when Brandin Cooks was traded to the Dallas Cowboys in the offseason of 2023, he had two years left on his deal, and now he’s spent those final two seasons on the contract with the team and is set to hit the open market.
He was the no. 2 guy behind CeeDee Lamb. Think about this for a moment. Regardless if he was not a stat-stuffer while with the Cowboys, teams still had to make a gameplay for him.
I have no idea what the plans are for Cooks, but if he reties or signs elsewhere, this passing attack might get worse, and I am not sure anyone thought that would be possible.
Early Projection/NFL Draft
Just looking at the surface, three days after the season ended, this team would be looking at Jalen Tolbert, a guy who put up 610 yards, seven touchdowns on 49 catches.
For a third option, those are solid numbers, but if he moves into a bigger role, the guy behind Lamb, those numbers would need to grow significantly.
After losing the 2024 season finale to the Washington Commanders and finishing the 2024 season with a 7-10 record, the Cowboys will select 12th overall in the upcoming 2025 NFL draft.
Along with their first round selection, the Cowboys own their second (44th overall), third, fifth, and sixth round picks in the 2025 NFL draft.
Now, if Aston Jeanty is there for Dallas at 12, no chance Jerry Jones passes on him, but Once again, Lamb had at least 56 more catches and 682 more yards than any other wide receiver on the Dallas Cowboys roster.
The gap would have almost certainly been larger had Dak Prescott not suffered a season-ending hamstring tear.
Emeka Egbuka from Ohio State, who you can watch still playing in the college football playoffs, is a guy a would keep an eye on to help fill this gap that is about to be for Dallas.
Egbuka is a chain-moving pass-catcher who meshes well with the skill set of Lamb. Dak is going to need another guy to throw the football to. If Rico Dowdle is the back next season running the rock, that is fine, he would have had way more than the 1,079 he had.
They tried a running back by committee for two months and once he was given the job, he was good enough.
I would be happy if they could get a one-year deal done with Brandin Cooks and bring him back and still draft another playmaker on the outside in the first round.
That is what you need to win in this league, and if you don’t have enough firepower, you aren’t going to win many games.
Jerry Jones is now playing games with Mike McCarthy and his status. The Bears requested to interview him on Monday, and Jerry still has not granted access when Sunday he said he would let him do so.
Like Mike or not, Jerry is playing with his job, and I don’t think that is cool. If McCarthy does not return in 2025 that means they will be looking for a new head coach and offensive play caller which could slow the wide receivers down even more.