5 broken pieces the Dallas Cowboys must stop ignoring
By Brad Austin
After a disastrous season filled with blown opportunities, the Dallas Cowboys can’t ignore five broken pieces that caused their failure.
Heading into the season finale on Sunday, the Dallas Cowboys are one win away from fulfilling a worthless prophecy. The only feat they can accomplish is exactly matching my own preseason prediction.
2017 saw the Cowboys worst use of free agency in years. After such careless roster management, nine wins and missing the wildcard seemed about right. The season’s results clearly unveiled five broken pieces many identified before Dallas played the first snap.
1) 88 IS A MAJOR LIABILITY
Everybody will be talking about this for the next several months because it’s true. Dez Bryant has become a very damaging liability. Bryant ranks 24th in receiving yards (815). In 2016 he ranked 51st (796). Even worse his catches per targets percentage was just above 50% both years.
After costing the cap $17 million this season, he’ll absorb another $16.5 million next year. Only Antonio Brown and Larry Fitzgerald will cost more. Brown has 718 more receiving yards this season, Fitzgerald has 286 more yards and caught 68% of his targets.
Bryant is being paid like a weekly game breaker and he’s nowhere near that. His vocal demands for more touches stress Dak Prescott into bad decisions. A June 1st release would save $12.5 million off the 2018 cap. Money that would be much better spent on two high quality starting defenders.
2) FIND A LEGIT SWING TACKLE
Left tackle Tyron Smith missed four games this year and the results were disastrous. He also missed three games last season and has chronic injuries.
With a run first offense that must convert on passing to move the chains, tackle can not be left in the hands of awful pass blockers.
The ideal move here is to draft a tackle who can also play guard in the first three rounds. One way or another the Cowboys must find a competent swing tackle.
3) IGNORE SAFETY AT OWN PERIL
Many Cowboys fans love to argue that Jeff Heath is a good safety. It’s simply false. He’s a worthy back-up with a knack for making huge plays after playing out of position most of the game.
It’s no knock on Heath as he provides quality depth and ace special teams play. In 2017, Dallas dropped from 1st to 11th in run defense. There is an undeniable connection to replacing Barry Church with Heath at starting safety.
This is one area the Cowboys need to open up the free agency checkbook. Safeties are less expensive and Dallas needs a physical field general to hammer the run.
4) REPLACE THE STALE PLAY CALLER
Offensive coordinator Scott Linehan has done some nice things since taking full control of the offense in 2015. Clearly he lost his way in 2017. The biggest example is slot weapon Cole Beasley going dark. 519 fewer yards, 35 less targets, and 39 fewer catches than 2016.
More importantly Linehan facilitated the Packers and Seahawks losses by abandoning the run late in the game near the goal line. The one thing Dallas excels at. It was absolutely inexcusable in both cases. These horrendous play calls plus absurd predictability on early downs have earned a pink slip
5) BALANCE THE OFFENSIVE ATTACK
By balancing the attack I’m not talking about an even split of run and pass plays. As 2017 proved, the Cowboys are turning into a one-trick pony. Without Ezekiel Elliott they can’t compete with good teams.
Since the same is true of losing a quarterback, that leaves Dallas’ chances of offensive success dependent on the health of two key players. It’s too much risk and needs to be alleviated by improving the pass weapons.
Next: 5 moves to fix the Cowboys Wide Receiver corps
One way is to add a game breaking receiver that can produce the numbers Bryant did before 2015. Another is to sign a dangerous second tight end and run 2-TE sets with Witten. Either way, Dallas must add a major receiving weapon to diversify the attack.