Grading the Dallas Cowboys top rookies of the 2020 season
By Connor Green
Neville Gallimore, Defensive Tackle
The Dallas Cowboys defense was plagued with injuries and poor play for much of the season. One of the only benefits of this struggle was that it allowed Dallas to give many of their young players’ considerable playing time. The Cowboys’ rookie defensive tackle Neville Gallimore was one of the beneficiaries of that fact.
The 23-year old defensive lineman was drafted from the University of Oklahoma in the third round of the 2020 NFL Draft. Gallimore started the season as a bench warmer who rarely got a chance to prove himself on the field. However, he finished his rookie campaign as a consistent presence for Dallas.
Through the first half of the season, Gallimore only managed to receive over 30 snaps once in the teams’ blowout loss to the Washington Football Team. However, the young defender managed to reach that mark each of his last eight games of the year.
Gallimore did not leave that big of a presence in the box score for most of his rookie campaign, but he did deliver some of his best performances at the end of the year. The 300-pound defensive lineman posted back-to-back games with a quarterback hit in the teams’ wins over the San Francisco 49ers and the Philadelphia Eagles. He also managed to accrue an important “half-sack” against the Eagles.
The young defender delivered an inspired performance in the teams’ critical win over the Eagles and oftentimes delivered big plays for Dallas throughout the season. Gallimore finished his rookie campaign with the sixth most tackles for a loss on the Cowboys with 4.5 despite only starting nine games.
While Neville Gallimore’s rookie season did not leave much of an imprint on the box scores he did make several important plays for Dallas at the end of the year. The 23-year old showed his heart and tenacity and slowly earned more playing time as the season progressed. Hopefully, he can build upon his progress in 2020 and develop into a consistent starter for the team in the years to come.