The Cowboys take on the Buccaneers in less than a month, and players on the roster will become a topic of conversation every week, but let’s ask ourselves, which player is flying under the radar that could surprise us, and who will be the biggest disappointment on the roster this season?
Two or three players might disappoint after this next season is over, but one player stands out when considering who needs a solid 2022 campaign, or it might be his last as a Cowboy.
The player I locked in on is Tyler Biadasz. I want to return to this post at the end of the season and bash myself for picking Biadasz, but to this point in training camp, he has not done much more after last season’s finish to change my mind, he looked good, and he got pushed around. He was just ‘okay’ a season ago.
2022 is a massive year for him. The Cowboys are looking for a long-term answer at the center position, and with a PFF grade of 65.1 last season, Biadasz landed in the backup category. That is not the grade teams are looking for when deciding who will control one of the most critical jobs on the offense. Next off-season, if he has not made a case to become the long-term answer, Dallas may be on the search again.
When it comes to a player that could fly under the radar, I looked up and down the roster time and time again in an attempt to dial in on a player who might open our eyes, surprising many of us week in and week out.
The player I came away with was Malik Hooker. His best football is ahead of him. Hooker was playing some of his best football at the end of last season. He’s battled some injuries and is back to the Cowboys on a two-year deal.
Jerry Jones spoke about Hooker, saying he gives him hope for this team. “I think he may be kind of the story of the team,” he said. I agree. Hooker will become a vital part of this defense, and he will slide into week one and make an impact.
Let’s see if these players fall into one of the two categories, or maybe someone else will take their place; September can’t come fast enough.
I’m going with Josh Ball. I think he is a bust.
I think he’s a RT only. That’s where they had him mostly before Waletzko’s shoulder started acting up.
With Waletzko likely to be redshirted (or at least playing at far below 100%) and Ball struggling to transition between RT and LT, they really need to bring in a vet that can play both sides as swing tackle, with a heavy emphasis on being able to play the LT side.
Unfortunately, there’re very few decent tackles available right now. Eric Fisher may be finally back to full health after an Achilles in late 2020 and coming back early in 2021 and looked to be serviceable at LT towards the end of the season. He made $8.4M last year with Indy, but that was a “prove it” deal due to his Achilles. At almost 32 years old and never living up to his #1 overall draft position, he shouldn’t expect much more than that this year. Not sure if he’d accept a backup/swing tackle position, though. But, he’d be my pick pending who gets released at cut down day.