A quick guide through the Dallas Cowboys 2021 free agent list

With over twenty free agents to be decided upon, here is a quick look into which players the Dallas Cowboys should keep and who should leave

The 2020 Dallas Cowboys won just six games, a far cry from expectations heading into the season. Whenever teams underperform, there are likely three reasons: a lack of talent, issues with coaching, or injuries.

The Cowboys experienced all three. The splits on those three, however, will largely determine how the 2021 roster will be shaped.

Injuries were, undoubtedly, the biggest contributor to a lack of success for the Dallas Cowboys in 2020. Losing one of their top three players at the most important position in the game was easily the biggest blow to their fortunes. There is no doubt that if quarterback Dak Prescott played more than 4.5 games, this team would have been a playoff team.

Of course, missing starting right tackle La’el Collins for the entire year, starting left tackle Tyron Smith for 14 games, and starting tight end Blake Jarwin for all but two quarters of one game was not exactly helpful either. Defensively, tackle Gerald McCoy was knocked out for the year before the year even started. Linebacker Leighton Vander Esch missed six games and multiple defensive backs missed five or more games.

As it pertains to coaching, while the offensive schemes and production seemed to hold up fairly well given the talent missing, the defense was, yet again, a hot mess. The idea to change schemes in a season where offseason implementation was severely limited due to a pandemic was troublesome.

Players clearly never “bought-in” to whatever their roles were supposed to be in the new defense. All of this has led to the first significant change for 2021 as defensive coordinator Mike Nolan has been replaced by former Atlanta Falcons head coach Dan Quinn.

Lastly, we have the talent to evaluate. Just how “good” are the Dallas Cowboys from a talent standpoint? Do they have a few really good players at key positions with the majority of the roster being subpar? Is the talent necessary to win a championship already in place with just some tweaking of the roster needed to get over the hump?

I will definitely dive into the roster, piece by piece, in the coming weeks but I thought I’d start by addressing the free agents on this team. Heading into 2021, the Dallas Cowboys have 23 free agents on the roster that will require a decision as to whether or not they return. Since I plan on breaking down the roster in future segments, today will split those 23 into three basic categories with more detailed breakdowns on a few coming soon.