I Have One Big Concern With The Dallas Cowboys | 2025 NFL Team Previews

I Have One Big Concern With The Dallas Cowboys | 2025 NFL Team Previews

the Dallas Cowboys finished the 2024 season with a 7-10 record and missed the playoffs for the first time since 2020 it was a very difficult season for the Cowboys as they entered the year with legitimate postseason aspirations i know a lot of people like to dunk on the Cowboys and their fan base is notorious for saying this is the year but to the Cowboys credit this was the only team from 2021 through 2023 to win 12 games in every season the Chiefs didn’t do it the Bills didn’t do it nobody else but Dallas did and unfortunately both injury and poor performance were the main reasons Dallas had a below 500 record for the first time since 2020 quarterback Dak Prescott was on pace for the worst season of his career as he had a career-high in interception percentage as well as a career low in completion percentage and the team was just 3 and five in the eight games he played in 2024 the Cowboys were eventually outscored a combined 68 to6 in weeks 10 and 11 by the Eagles and Texans which put them at 3-7 and with how loaded the NFC was last year as remember the seven seed Packers had 11 wins that essentially ended the Cowboys season they would go on to win four of their next five games to improve to 7 and 8 through 15 but eventually lost in week 17 and 18 to the Eagles and Commanders and Tre Lance actually started the week 18 game against Washington and in a lot of ways the Cowboys 2024 season is best forgotten but as we enter the 2025 season I have one big concern with the Dallas Cowboys and today’s video marks the start of the 2025 NFL team preview series and before we start if you could like the video I’d really appreciate it as there is a lot to break down in today’s video and without further ado let’s begin the format of the team previews will generally be offseason editions via free agency the draft and of course in Dallas’s case one big trade while also reviewing what went wrong during the 2024 season and within that we will also break down the structure of the roster and where this team internally thinks they are heading into the year so having said that we are starting today’s video by discussing what they did in free agency and I think the common theme with the Cowboys in free agency this year as weird as this strategy was was signing or acquiring a lot of former first round picks and generally when a player is referred to as a former first round pick they are usually a draft disappointment or in some cases a flatout draft bust and I have no problem with throwing a dart at a former first round pick to see if there’s anything there they signed multiple former first round picks and my favorite of the former first round selections they signed was veteran Dante Fowler Jr fowler is coming off of a 10 and a half sack season with Washington and is coming back to Dallas as he played for the Cowboys in 2022 and 2023 fowler had 44 pressures for Washington last year and that was the second most he had in his career as he had a 67 pressure season back in 2019 with the Rams which was the most in his career by far and generally speaking Fowler is a 35 to 40 pressure per year guy one of the reasons I like the Fowler signing was because of the message that we’re going to emphasize all throughout the 2025 team preview series and it’s that you can never have enough pass rush i really thought Sam Williams was going to take a step in 2024 and be a legitimate Robin to Mike as Batman but unfortunately Williams tore his ACL in July of last year and his season was over before it started i was also very high on their second round pick this year in Boston College pass rusher Donovan Asakraku and I think Asaraku was going to be in the league for a long time and I thought he was a firstround talent and that Dallas had a draft steel in the middle of the second round and the reason we bring those guys up with Dante Fowler is in some ways I hope Fowler has a minimized role in 2025 because it would mean that Sam Williams Donovan as a Rocku or even 2024 second rounder Marshon Neland all did their job or that one of them legitimately broke out and became the second pass rusher Dallas needs behind Micah Parsons but in the worst case and this is still a good worst case scenario to have Dante Fowler should be a solid player in his role solomon Thomas is a depth player and I was kind of surprised they gave him a two-year contract for who he is as a player at this point in his career but Solomon is a really good guy for the locker room and should have a sparing role he is not a very good player and ultimately there is a reason he signed for an average annual value of just $3 million he played under current Cowboys defensive line coach Aaron White Cotton with the Jets last year and Solomon should not be expected to be anything more than veteran depth at this point he misses a lot of tackles he gets washed out regularly in the run game but can occasionally get after the quarterback if Osa Diggizua goes down with injury and misses significant time this year then I really worry about the position Dallas is going to be in during the 2025 season they also gave Saints 2021 first round pick Pton Turner 2 million guaranteed and Pton Turner played less than 700 career snaps with the Saints in four years and has five career sacks with zero career starts he may make the roster due to the money they guaranteed him but with all of the guys ahead of him and especially the young talent Dallas has along the defensive line I really don’t expect much of anything from Payton Turner this year the two moves that kind of surprised me Dallas made was trading for both Kenneth Murray and Kier Elum kenneth Murray was a firstround pick back in 2020 with the Chargers and Murray is an extremely frustrating player to watch he regularly misses gaps or opportunities to make plays and he is the definition of a good athlete but not great football player for reference he tested in the 89th percentile in the 40 back in 2020 as well as the 86th percentile in the vertical and even the 95th percentile on the bra jump he’s a tremendous athlete but does not have the instincts other linebackers do and it shows up regularly i don’t want to completely kill this move and say that it’s awful because Dallas can cut him at any time for minimal financial implications and if he works out then you swapped a couple of day three picks and got a starter for it which is a trade any team would make at any point i also think it’s worth noting that the Cowboys defensive coordinator is Matt Eberloose and while Eberloose may be remembered most for the Thanksgiving Day blunder against the Lions last year he is back where he’s most comfortable which is being a defensive coordinator dallas also finished 31st in points allowed per game last year as well as 30th in rushing yards per attempt against and dead last in rushing touchdowns allowed and I do think Dallas’s defense will be significantly improved from where they were in 2024 the Cy Elim trade was another late round pick swap and Dallas’s defense heading into 2025 on paper is a really solid unit i really like the corner room and Trayvon Diggs Don Bland and rookie Savone Rall and even Cer Elim for depth the biggest thing for Dallas in 2025 is going to be able to consistently stop the run which is what got them in trouble a lot during the 2024 season and ultimately this is where they’re going to need 2023 first round pick Mazy Smith’s step up for most of Mazi Smith’s first year and a half he looked like the interior defensive line version of Taco Charlton and looked like a draft bust now I don’t think Mazi is on the path to becoming a pro bowler but I do want to acknowledge that he showed some improvement down the stretch of 2024 and we often talk about how it takes trench players time to develop because of the transition phase from going against collegiate players in the trenches to legit grown men in the trenches every single week and I do think in a lot of ways this is a now or never year for Mazy Smith in terms of situations around a said player not just with Mazy Smith but with a lot of other players along this defensive line these guys are all set up for success micah Parson’s presence helps out a lot of guys and as simple as this idea and concept is it’s ultimately on Mazy Smith and the interior defensive line to not get pushed around the way they did at times last year we will talk about seventh round pick Jay Toya a little more during the rookie portion of the preview but I do have some hope for him and think he can contribute a bit in his rookie season despite being a seventh round selection now there are a few things to note within the Cowboys run defense in 2025 that I think will naturally limit how good they can be and the big thing or two big things is that they play in the same division as the Eagles and Washington Commanders and having a near quarter of your schedule against two elite running teams is going to hurt your chances of being a top three or top five run defense period but despite finishing the year seven and 10 last year the Cowboys had several blowout losses and obviously in a blowout loss the opposing team is going to run the football which happened in every game they were down and not surprisingly Dallas allowed over 140 yards rushing in every game they lost by 10 or more last year and the biggest concerns I have with the Cowboys defense entering 2025 is the linebacking play outside of Demarian Overshon who we of course hope comes back healthy as he unfortunately tore his ACL MCL and PCL last year i’m not a doctor i don’t claim to be a doctor but I really hope Overshon can come back and play at full strength technically you could also add him to a concern with the Cowboys linebacking play especially if he doesn’t come back healthy but for the sake of this team preview and for the sake of Deari Venovershown we are hoping he comes back healthy i did want to acknowledge the possibility of him not coming back healthy but you get the point the linebacking core outside of him is really thin and I also have concerns at Nickel as Jordan Lewis signed with Jacksonville in free agency who played over 600 snaps in the slot last year what Dallas’s goal is defensively is to stop the run early on first and second down to set up third and long situations and to have guys like Michael Parsons Donovan Rocku Dante Fowler and Sam Williams get after the quarterback and have the ball hawking corners and Trayvon Diggs and Don Bland jump routes and play an aggressive style of defense and when it works they really pounce on teams and we saw that in 2023 as they had several wins by double digits i expect the Cowboys to work out a contract with Micah Parsons at some point and unfortunately Don Bland and Trayvon Diggs only played a combined 18 of 34 games last year but if this defense can stay healthy then they are going to be a force to be reckoned with they finished fifth in points allowed per game in 2023 and 31st in points allowed per game in 2024 and while some changes on the roster have been made over the past 2 years this team is far too talented to be 31st in points allowed per game and to allow 27 points of nine of 17 games the way they did last year and if you were wondering Dallas was 0 and9 in those games [Music] for the 2025 NFL team preview series we will be doing a rookie impact for every team and not every team received the draft grade the Cowboys did i gave them an A draft grade as I really liked what they did with their first three selections by bringing in Alabama guard Tyler Booker Boston College pass rusher Donovan as a rocku and ECU corner Savone Revel i will go ahead and get ahead of one thing that I did have Tyler Booker at player 35 on my big board and they selected him at player 12 so there is a minus 23 value difference there but I did have Donovan Asaraku at spot 17 on my big board and they selected him at 44 so if you kind of want to do the mental adjustment of hey just picture Ezrau as their first round pick and Booker as their second by all means go for it but I really like the fit with all three players and especially Booker and Earaku booker is a player that I don’t want to say is set up for failure because that’s really strong wording but I think he’s inevitably set up to kind of let fans down at least initially because he has a job that is going to be difficult for anyone let alone a 21-year-old rookie and that is to replace future Hall of Famer Zack Martin zack Martin was a seventime first team allpro including a first team allpro in his rookie year back in 2014 and for any Cowboys fans out there expecting that hey this is going to be a very smooth transition this is basically going to be the Stefon Diggs to Justin Jefferson of the guard position please do not expect that because that is inevitably setting Tyler Booker up to let you down tyler Booker is a really good guard prospect or he was a good guard prospect and I think he will be a good player for the Cowboys in the long run but what is important to note is he is a player that needs to play within a phone booth if you will if he were to ever kick out the tackle that would not be good for Tyler Booker as I do have questions surrounding his foot speed but positively I do want to say that a lot of Alabama players compared him to the Will Anderson of the offense from a leadership standpoint and anytime you have a player that is viewed as a leader a guy to look up to in the locker room to me is only a positive and I do think Tyler Booker will be a starter for the Cowboys for not just a year or two but really for the next four or five years and potentially even longer he is a 21-year-old rookie so there will undoubtedly be times where he’s getting seasoned in the NFL especially if he has to play Jaylen Carter or Dexter Lawrence early on and especially if they give him one-on-one situations where there’s no help inside that would be a tough draw for Tyler Booker but that’s the reality of playing in the NFL ultimately I really did like the Booker landing spot and a lot of the time that’s what it is in the pre-draft process is marrying a position of need with a player that fits the value along the board and I thought the Cowboys did a sufficient job with that with Tyler Booker donovan as a Rocku going to Dallas was one of my favorite landing spots in the entire draft because I looked at this as a firstround pass rushing prospect going to be the Robin to Michael Parson’s Batman and I’ll be honest I would not be surprised at all barring playing time of course because if he can’t beat out Dante Fowler or Sam Williams or Marshon Neland then that is an entirely different discussion but I would not be surprised at all if Donovan as a rocku isn’t the defensive rookie of the year conversation i really think there’s a reality where he has a 35 or 40 pressure type season maybe even more depending on how many pass rushing snaps he receives and has 6 and 1/2 or 7 and 1/2 or eight sacks as a rookie in 2025 which to me would put him in the defensive rookie of the year conversation i love Azaraku i think his ceiling is as high as he wants it to be and he is in a tremendous situation for himself because of having Michael Parsons and even Osa Adigisua along the defensive line meaning that he will never be the priority in terms of getting after the quarterback and he will be set up with a lot of one-on-one situations which he destroyed the competition during his final year at BC in 2024 savone Revel was a 24year-old corner coming off of a torn ACL so naturally he was not going to be for everyone but he’s 6’2″ 195 lbs and can jam receivers at the line and I really love the idea of having a physical corner at the line of scrimmage in this defense especially with the emphasis that Dallas has on pass rush outside of the first three selections I wasn’t the biggest fan of what Dallas did in the 2025 draft and with Jaden Blue and Phil Mafa I thought there were better running backs available and ultimately that what to me was one of the biggest positions of need for the Cowboys entering the 2025 draft and I don’t think Jaden Blue and Phil Mafa are going to be the answers and I didn’t really like the Phil Mafa selection in particular because I liked Damen Martinez a lot who was selected earlier in the seventh round and if you were going to select a running back in the seventh round why not select a better player in Damen Martinez now again I’m not going to sit here and kill Phil Moff as a prospect because he was a seventh round selection that ultimately I liked a player that I had in my top 100 in Damen Martinez who went to Seattle but the point was is I thought Dallas could have handled the running back position better in the draft than they did now for Jay Toia the defensive lineman from UCLA he is a big body defensive tackle and I really like the idea of having him and Mazi Smith both along the interior defensive line and early downs and basically saying to opposing offensives “Good luck trying to run on us and you’re going to have to run the ball outside if you want to get anywhere against this defense.” Which was much needed especially after what the Cowboys defense went through in 2024 overall I thought the Cowboys did a tremendous job in the top 100 of the 2025 draft and I do have some questions with the rest of their draft class but whenever you can walk out of a class with what were to me three top 41 players in a class you were doing a tremendous job as an organization and I think there’s a very real reality that Dallas walked out of this class with at least three starters in Tyler Booker Donovan and Savone Revel now I do think the Cowboys defense will be significantly improved in 2025 but there is some concern with the offense as the Cowboy transition from Mike McCarthy to Brian Shottenheimimer i wasn’t the biggest fan of this hire and hope to be proven wrong but I do have a lot of concerns with this team ceiling and ultimately just how good the offense will be in 2025 due to not only Brian Shottenheimimer but the personnel they have on the offensive side of the ball too now if you are watching this video thinking to yourself that there’s been a lot of praise for the Cowboys despite having one big concern with this team the big concern is the run game this team finished 30th in yards per carry last year and whether the quarterback is Dak Prescott who as Cowboys fans know takes a lot of flack from the media or anybody else the reality is is there’s always going to be a ceiling if your team is going to finish 30th in yards per carry as a team and that’s not setting your quarterback up for success i also have a lot of concerns with the offensive line really outside of Tyler Smith and while I do believe in Tyler Booker and especially Cooper BB I really worry about the tackles in Tyler Gayton and Terence Steel as over the last two years Terrence Steel has allowed a combined 90 plus pressures as well as had over 13 penalties in over the last two years and that’s combined certainly not in each season by the way my concern for the Cowboys entering the 2025 season is entering the year with running backs of Javvante Williams My Sanders and Jaden Blue and hoping that it’s going to work out and I am a firm believer that anytime you enter a year and you are hoping that a position is going to work out you are already behind the eightball and you’re fighting an uphill battle from the start can Javvante Williams work out and become the player that he was supposed to be coming out of UNCC back in 2021 yes but unfortunately he’s dealt with a fair share of injuries and if he does I will be the first to acknowledge that hey I was wrong projecting Javvante Williams in 2025 but I think there is a clear ceiling with this football team and it’s going to start with both the run game and ultimately the offensive line as at this point I think there’s more questions than answers with the Cowboys offense entering the year while I admittedly do not think Dak Prescott is a top five quarterback in the NFL and several others don’t either I do think it’s fair to acknowledge that a quarterback leading a team that’s going to finish 30th in yards per carry and 32nd in rushing touchdowns as the 2024 Cowboys had six rushing touchdowns over the course of the entire season i also think it’s fair to say that that is setting your quarterback up for failure whether that player is Dak Prescott Josh Allen Patrick Mahomes Lamar Jackson or whoever and unfortunately for Dak Prescott whenever you are not only the quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys but whenever you sign a 4-year $240 million contract and you have the average annual value of your contract be at $60 million per year which as of now is by far the highest of any player in the NFL then you are going to be the subject of a lot of criticism fair or not i do think it’s fair to say that the Dallas Cowboys underperformed in 2024 and Dak Prescott did too dak had an MVP caliber year in 2023 and I do think we will see more of that player in 2025 as I think it’s going to come down to a lot of the time CD Lamb George Pickkins and Dak you guys are the big three of the offense go out and make something happen if we have to put up 30 plus points in every game to win then that’s what we’re going to do and I do think that there is a very real chance that the Cowboys have not just one but two,00 receivers in the offense this year those of course being Cedarian Lamb and George Pickins george Pickins is in a contract year and George and everyone else for that matter knows if you ball out in the contract year that you are going to receive quite the contract the following off season now it will be determined whether or not that contract is from Dallas although I do think Dallas’s front office in the grand scheme of things is smarter than they get credit for and I think there’s a very real reality where we have CD Lamb and George Pickins be the top two receivers for this franchise for the next couple of years and like we said I do think they both go for over a thousand yards this year assuming both of those guys and Dak Prescott stay healthy i also think that Jake Ferguson is a kind of underappreciated tight end he had a really good 2023 season and he and pretty much everyone else for that matter had a down 2024 season and that kind of was what it was the 2024 Cowboys season like we said in a lot of ways is best forgotten but I think there’s a very real reality that Brian Shottimer’s first year with the Cowboys is going to be a team that finishes top seven in points per game and with a quarterback in Dak Prescott that throws for 30 touchdowns yet again and has two 1000yard receivers in Cedarian Lamb and George Pickins ultimately I think this team is going to win anywhere from 9 to 11 games and at maximum be a divisional round exit i think they are a very limited team because of the run game and because of the offensive line but ultimately I would welcome being proven wrong i also think there are some limitations defensively specifically at the linebacking and the nickel position and that in some ways this is a very topheavy roster that’s all we have for today’s video i hope you enjoyed the first team preview of the 2025 offseason and please like the video and subscribe if you did enjoy and until next time please be safe and have a great day love you guys

I Have One Big Concern With The Dallas Cowboys | 2025 NFL Team Previews

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