The Dallas Cowboys have begun the 2024 season with a record of 3-4 and have looked worse as the season continues, raising questions about what happened to the team that won 12 games last year.
Dallas sits third in the NFC East and will likely be competing for a wild card spot at the end of the season, but this team has also shown little to prove that they would be able to bounce back following multiple disappointing losses.
Although some of the blame can be cast on the many injuries suffered by players on each side of the ball, that is a very common occurrence for any NFL team by this portion of the season.
With injuries being ruled out as the reason for the slow start, two major pieces can be looked at for reasons why this team has failed to consistently pick up wins.
Dragging Feet On Extensions
Dallas entered the last offseason with two main priorities regarding rostered players: re-signing Dak Prescott and Ceedee Lamb to long-term contracts.
Although the franchise signed both players to new contracts that will keep them in Dallas for the foreseeable future, the process could have been handled much smoother to allow for additional free agency moves.
One of the most common moves made by NFL franchises is to re-sign players to long-term contracts early, which opens up additional cap space and keeps the player locked into a contract for a cheaper price than if their peers had been paid first.
Rather than paying Prescott and Lamb early, the Cowboys chose to drag their feet and avoid paying either player until the last second, resulting in the organization paying more than necessary in the contracts and failing to open up cap space during the offseason.
Entering the most recent offseason, the Cowboys were roughly $3 million over the NFL salary cap of $255.4 million, meaning the team would have to manage some contracts to get back into the green, according to the Dallas Cowboys.
The smartest option for the Cowboys in this situation would have been to re-sign both Prescott and Lamb early in free agency to keep their future cap hits lower while also immediately opening up cap space.
Although the exact numbers would not be the same due to a likely different contract structure, Prescott’s extension saved the Cowboys roughly $11 million in cap space while Lamb’s contract opened up roughly $9 million in cap space, per Cowboys Wire.
As a result, the Cowboys could have been an estimated $17 million under the cap, which would have left them with room to add more players to the roster while also retaining some of those who opted to sign with opposing franchises.
Instead, Dallas chose to make life difficult and wait until just days before the season began to sign both players.
This decision depleted the current Cowboys roster while also committing to both Prescott and Lamb for a higher cost in the future, which will likely have an impact on the team’s ability to construct a roster in the future.
Poor Draft Pick Management
The Cowboys have a history of selecting players in NFL drafts who later become meaningful contributors, but the organization has struggled in recent years to manage their draft assets.
NFL teams, especially contenders, often rely on young players to fill the gaps as the seasons continue and injuries begin to become more common for older players.
However, the Cowboys’ poor draft selections have created a lack of talent on the roster to step into roles previously filled by veterans.
The most notable issues arose during the 2023 draft, when the Cowboys spent early selections on defensive tackle Mazi Smith, tight end Luke Schoonmaker, linebacker DeMarvion Overshown, and edge rusher Viliami Fehoko.
Smith, Schoonmaker, and Overshown have each played significant snaps for the Cowboys this season, but only one of these players has proven to be impactful when he is on the field.
Smith has become one of the most disappointing first-round picks by the Cowboys in recent years, though Dallas has been forced to keep him on the field due to a plethora of injuries suffered by the defensive line.
Through the first seven games of the season, Smith has recorded just 16 total tackles with zero sacks, resulting in Pro Football Focus ranking him as the worst defensive tackle in football.
Schoonmaker has also been disappointing to begin his professional career, collecting just 16 receptions for 121 yards and two touchdowns during the first 24 games of his career.
The second-year tight end has shown very little ability to find space in the open field and make plays with the ball in his hands, resulting in the coaching staff using him as a blocking tight end for the majority of his snaps.
Although Schoonmaker has shown that he can contribute to a team, a second-round draft selection is expected to be one of the most meaningful players on the team within a few seasons.
The only high-impact player selected during the 2023 Draft was Overshown, who made his Cowboys debut this season and has already recorded 49 total tackles, two sacks, and one forced fumble in seven appearances.
In addition to the failures of the 2023 Draft, Dallas had an opportunity to solve some of their roster concerns during the 2024 Draft.
The most recent draft class featured multiple players at the running back position who could have stepped in and become immediate starters on the team, yet Dallas was unable to select any of these players for various reasons.
Cowboys Owner and General Manager Jerry Jones opted to openly discuss Texas running back Jonathon Brooks before the team’s second-round selection, saying that he was “high, high, high” on the team’s draft board, per Todd Archer.
Opposing teams must have felt the same way about Brooks, as the Carolina Panthers selected him before the Cowboys could move up to make the selection.
Similarly, the Cowboys could have selected a running back with the 124th overall draft selection, but the team no longer had that pick available after Jones decided to trade that selection for quarterback Trey Lance last season.
Running backs Bucky Irving, Ray Davis, and Isaac Guerendo were selected by teams shortly after the 124th selection and have shown in limited playing time with their current teams that they would be the best running backs on the Cowboys.
Lance has also yet to play any meaningful snaps for the Cowboys and is unlikely to see the field anytime soon due to Prescott’s extension, meaning that fourth-round draft selection was used on a player who may never see the field and is listed as third on the depth chart.
Although many of the Cowboys’ struggles to begin the 2024 season have come due to injuries and off-the-field issues, the franchise must also look within to recognize that many of these wounds are self-inflicted.
