Dallas Cowboys: 6 winners from the cancelling of preseason games

Connor Williams (guard) and Joe Looney (center)

All offseason long, Cowboys observers have been salivating at the coming roster battle for two starting spots on the offensive line – left guard and center.

Drafted in the second round of 2018, Williams has started for the past two years, but has underwhelmed. He hasn’t been terrible, but he hasn’t been dominant either. And let’s face it. This is the Dallas offensive line. Dominance is expected.

Looney is in a similar position. With All-Pro center Travis Frederick out injured in 2018, Looney started, and wasn’t bad. But he wasn’t great either.

Since then, Dallas has drafted guard Connor McGovern in the third round of last year’s draft, and center Tyler Biadasz in the fourth round of this year’s draft. Though drafted outside the first two rounds, both players were very good in college and fell to lower spots than expected.

McGovern was described as a “blinking light” at his position in the draft by then-head coach Jason Garrett, according to the Dallas Morning News. Biadasz was projected as going as high as the first round had he declared for the draft a year earlier. With this much competition along the O-line, there was expected to be a pretty epic clash of the titans this year in training camp.

But once again, with a curtailed training camp and no preseason games, the Cowboys might just decide to go with who they already know, at least to begin the season. Though it’s possible both McGovern and Biadasz might prove better in the long run, both Looney and Williams have started competently for the team already.

And those who know offensive line play always say repetition is key. Overall play tends to improve once the starting five have played together before. Advantage Looney and Williams.