The time for the Cowboys to prepare for 2016 is now

We will discuss why the time is now for the Dallas Cowboys to start preparing for the upcoming 2016 NFL season.

After the roller coaster ride of emotions thus far, it finally looks as if the Dallas Cowboys 2015 season is officially over.

Yes, statistically they still have a chance to make the playoffs but we all know that the season is over and as it stands now the Cowboys are probably looking at a top-five draft selection in the 2016 NFL Draft.

With just a few games left on the Cowboys 2015 schedule, the time is now to start the process of looking ahead to the 2016 season.

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Personally, if I am starting to turn my attention to the 2016 off-season I’m going to start by evaluating players over the last few games of the season. I would want to know what positions need to be addressed, what players are leaving in free agency or might need to be re-signed, where upgrades might be needed, and many other questions that need to be answered for the evaluation process.

First off you have to start by getting some of these players playing time so that there is some game film to study and evaluate. A player such as Chaz Green, who the Cowboys selected in the third round in the 2015 NFL Draft with the hopes of replacing veteran right tackle Doug Free. Also, someone like quarterback Kellen Moore to see if he could become the backup quarterback next season.

These are players you want to know whether or not are ready to step up and can be depended on in the near future or whether or not you need to go another direction as a team.

This is also a time to evaluate not only the younger players, but the aging veterans that might have started to show that they are at the point in their career where their physical playing capabilities has started to decline or maybe they have inflated salaries that need to be addressed.

For instance, is this the last year will see cornerback Brandon Carr in a Cowboys uniform or would they be willing to bring him back on the a drastically reduced salary?

If I’m being completely honest, this is the part of the football season that I truly enjoy paying close attention to and speculating about.

I really enjoy wondering what’s going on behind the doors at Valley Ranch and what kind of decisions need to be made to help the overall team for the upcoming season. This is where we all get to play general manager for little bit and speculate about what we would do if we were the ones in charge.

We all had hopes that at this point in the season we would be preparing to watch the Cowboys start their second consecutive trip to the playoffs, but unfortunately things have drastically gone the other direction to the point where the organization could be looking at having one of the highest draft selections in the Jerry Jones era.

The evaluation process is extremely important because the team has to figure out what direction they need to go as a team moving forward, and where their focus might need to be once the draft rolls around.

At this point they don’t know exactly who will be available in the upcoming draft because not all of the underclassmen have announced whether or not they have decided to enter the draft. Once this happens the scouting department will be able to start coming up with their draft grades for individual players and then determine which player should be available in each round of the draft.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t think we will see the Cowboys draft Tony Romo‘s heir apparent in the first round. I just think that everyone within the Cowboys organization believes that Romo has a lot of good football ahead of him and that this was just an unfortunate season where injuries were the key component to their disastrous downfall.

To me, I could see where the Cowboys workout a trade to move down a little bit of the draft and come away with two first-round draft selections. I think I would even go as far as saying that is far more likely to happen then the Cowboys drafting a quarterback in the first two rounds.

Of course, this is all just speculation and there’s really no way of determining which direction they could be leaning towards because there are still a lot of unanswered questions and that is why the evaluation process is so important.

So, with just a few more games left in the 2015 season the time is now to start the evaluation process and get some film of players that you want to learn more about against teams that could still be fighting for their season and their own shot at making the playoffs.

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It’s time to see how these players perform once they’re playing under the bright lights of the NFL.

Let me hear your thoughts and opinions in the comments section below and what types of things you would like to see the Cowboys organization paying close attention to for the rest the season.

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