Two things can be true at once: Brian Schottenheimer is clearly committed to rebuilding the trenches, and the trenches still need rebuilding. In short, the 2025 Dallas Cowboys odds are reliant on a pair of questionable units.
The moves made by the organization have clouded the expectations of some fans.
Yes, Dallas drafted Tyler Booker 12th overall, and he will make a strong impact, but they also lost Zack Martin to retirement. Yes, they paid Osa Odighizuwa and invested in the pass rush, but how proven is that unit?
On the offensive line, four out of five guys are either too young or too inconsistent to feel completely comfortable with.
Defensively, Micah Parsons is the only All-Pro caliber talent, and the defensive tackle room has plagued Dallas for years upon years.
We can be excited about new faces and a new culture, while also asking if the Cowboys odds are hindered by inexperience, a lack of depth, and unproven players in the trenches. It’s far too big a question to ignore.
The Offensive Line: High-Risk, High-Reward
Tyler Smith and Terence Steele are the only starting members of the Cowboys’ offensive line who have more than two years of NFL experience. This group is as young as it gets.
Steele, the highest-paid lineman in Dallas, is still battling through performance questions after an up-and-down 2024.
Booker, Beebe, and Guyton, the three youngest members of the unit, control its destiny. Without a step forward from their left tackle, continued development from the center, and a big rookie season at left guard, Dak Prescott will be under duress.
Starting #DallasCowboys offensive line in the season finale
Tyler Guyton
Tyler Smith
Cooper Beebe
Brock Hoffman
Terence Steele pic.twitter.com/7q7DsdrFGN— Tommy Yarrish (@tommy_yarrish) January 5, 2025
The Cowboys odds as a whole might fall on those three players alone.
It is a high-risk, high-reward strategy, as their collective inexperience could cause problems, but their ceiling remains as high as can be.
The Defensive Line: Are Parsons’ Supplements Enough?
Everybody knows Micah Parsons is the top dog on the defensive line; the way the Cowboys surround him is what matters.
It seems they have found their strategy for doing so, and they are sticking by it.
Dallas has one borderline Pro Bowler with a big salary beside him, selects pass-rushers high in the draft to add to the depth, and occasionally will throw money at low-cost free agents.
https://twitter.com/SleeperCowboys/status/1922460637818487085
This was done in years past with DeMarcus Lawrence, draftees Marshawn Kneeland, Mazi Smith, and Sam Williams, and now it’s Osa Odighizuwa and Donovan Ezeiruaku.
The front office also added guys like Dante Fowler, Payton Turner, Solomon Thomas, and Jay Toia to the room.
Is that strategy enough? It hasn’t been in years past, but the actual talent in the room now is better than what fans may be used to. It could finally be the year that this defensive line reaches its potential.
The Bottom Line: Questions Must Be Answered
The unfortunate truth for the Dallas Cowboys odds is that question marks pop up everywhere, and especially in the trenches.
Too young? Too low-cost? We simply won’t know until they get on the field.
What we do know is that there have been legitimate investments on both lines, like the selection of Booker and the commitment to Odighizuwa. You can respect the newfound attention to those areas, while also admitting it is far from a finished, Philly-esque product.
Specific players like Steele, Smith, and Williams have jobs to fight for, while Guyton is aiming to prove early “bust” allegations wrong.
There are just so, so many questions that come with this area of the roster; it is hard to envision growing pains not holding them back. If Schottenheimer can coach these guys above them, then they’ll really be cooking with gas.
Booker is a guard and guards simply do not move the ‘win the game’ line besides that he is not a superior athlete yet you used the 12th pick. Grant–331# defense tackle would have been far better choice to solve the big guy deficit.
There’s more than 1 guy on the offensive line that we can feel comfortable with!! You can’t tell me Cooper Beebe didn’t do enough in his rookie year to feel comfortable with him starting!? And he was playing at a completely new position and still did really good!! Between Tyler Smith and Cooper Beebe, I feel really comfortable with them 2!! It’s the other 3 that we shouldn’t be so comfortable with!! Even though I feel like Tyler Booker will prove to be worth the 12th overall pick in the draft, he is a rookie and hasn’t played an NFL game yet, so I can see why people won’t be as comfortable with him yet, but I think he’ll be fine!! The tackles are the biggest problems!! Steele hasn’t been good since the year he got injured!! He has gotten better as time went by, and he was even better towards the end of last year, but he got paid a lot of money and this year he needs to play up to what he was paid!! And Tyler Guyton was just bad last year!! His penalties killed a lot of drives for us last year!! I’m still mad about a few of them!! But I also understand that he was a raw rookie learning a new position, so I know it’s gonna take him a little time to get going!! But I think he’ll be better this year!! He’s taking the position switch more seriously now, and he’s even learning from one of the best to ever play the position in Tyron Smith!! So that should help him get a better feel for the position after learning from Tyron Smith and having more experience going into his 2nd year!! He really wasn’t all bad last year, he did show some promise at times, he just needs to be more consistent with the good things he does and cut down on the penalties!! I don’t think he’s gonna be a pro bowl player in his 2nd year, but I do think he’ll make strides that’ll show he’s gonna be the one at LT!!
And as far as the defensive line goes, I agree with you on that, this group is more talented than what we’ve had in the past!! Plus we will have Mazi Smith getting to play at his normal weight for the 2nd year in a row, so I think he’s gonna make a big jump this year, and I’m probably more excited about Jay Toia than everybody else is! /he’s a really good DT, and he’s only known for stopping the run and taking on double teams like it’s nothing, so I can’t wait to see what he can do for us!! And I think Osa will be even better this year cause he’ll actually have somebody to come in and give him a breather every now and then, with Solomon Thomas!! And Solomon Thomas is a really good DT too, so we shouldn’t lose too much ground with him coming in for Osa!! And I’m not even gonna get into all of the edge rushers we have!! But I can say that we’ll have plenty of talent there to give everybody breathers and still good players on the field at all times!! I think we’ll be fine with any duo of edge rushers we put on the field at a time!! We have Micah Parsons, Dante Fowler, Sam Williams, Marshawn Kneeland, Donovan Ezeiruaku, and Payton Turner!! I’d be comfortable putting any 2 of them on the field together while giving others breathers!! This is the best pass rushing group we’ve had in years!! I can’t remember the last time we’ve had that much talent in that group!! I’m ready to see what they can do!! I think they’ll be the best part of our team!! But that’s just my opinion!!
a Dallas Cowboys fan, since the 70’s the Cowboys will have a young offensive line and a young defensive line because all most everybody leaving through free agency and retirement