The Dallas Cowboys have entered the home stretch of their schedule. Before the season, fans pointed to the final six games as the stretch that could define Dallas' season. Well, they sit here at 10-4 with a chance to win the NFC East if they go 2-1 over their final three games and the Eagles lose one more game.
By and large, it's been a successful Cowboys regular season. Several players are in the midst of career years, including Dak Prescott, Micah Parsons, CeeDee Lamb, DaRon Bland, and Osa Odighizuwa.
Others haven't performed on as high of a level, however. These players have shown flashes of promise, but have been too inconsistent to garner praise. With a strong three games, though, they can get back in fans' good graces and potentially earn another season with the organization.
3. Terence Steele
It's impossible to explain Dallas' rationale behind giving big-time contracts to players coming off major injuries. The returns for Jaylon Smith and Michael Gallup detrimental to the team, and they turned around and did the same with Terence Steele in the form of a five-year, $86 million deal with $50 million guaranteed.
Like Smith and Gallup, Steele has endured a fall from grace post-ACL surgery.
Steele's 45 pressures allowed are the fifth-most among tackles who've played at least 250 pass-blocking snaps, per Pro Football Focus. He's also allowed, the 10th-most hurries, second-most QB hits and seventh-most sacks.
Steele has allowed just one sack over the last six games, but he's allowed 17 pressures during that span. While nobody would argue that sacks are more consequential, pressures are disruptive in that they throw off a QB's timing. It's why pressures and pass-rush win rate are held in a higher regard than sacks when analyzing edge rushers.
Steele's coming off arguably his best game of the season in Buffalo and now gets to tango with the Dolphins and Lions' talented pass rush units. Cowboys fans are having second thoughts about Steele's contract, but that could change if the RT puts together a strong finish to the season.
2. Tony Pollard
Cowboys fans have seen a new version of Tony Pollard over the last month. Whether it was Pollard still feeling the effects of offseason ankle surgery or the offensive line not blocking well for the run game, Pollard was wildly inefficient to start the year; so much so that his numbers looked similar to Ezekiel Elliott's final year in Dallas.
Over the last four games, Pollard's 84.2 rushing grade is fourth among running backs, per Pro Football Focus. He's ninth in rushing yards (258) during that span, seventh in yards after contact (193) and has the eight-most missed tackles forced with 12.
It's anyone's guess if the Cowboys will retain Pollard. They probably don't want to invest heavily into another RB after the Elliott debacle, but he could earn himself a big pay day in free agency if he shows up big over the final three games.
As great as Dak Prescott has played, Polalrd's been one of the league's most explosive backs for a month and Dallas would be smart to continue feeding him against the Dolphins, Lions and Commanders.
1. Jayron Kearse
Jayron Kearse has been one of the Cowboys' most disappointing players this season. That's a surprise because Kearse had been a steadying presence on Dallas defense over his first two seasons with the franchise. He led the team with 101 tackles in 2021 and finished third in that department last season.
On top of being a force against the run, he adopted the "tight end stopper" moniker. He's worn multiple hats for Dan Quinn, but 2023 has marked a significant step back for the veteran safety, whose 47.3 coverage grade from PFF pales in comparison to the 70.2 and 76.8 marks he earned in 2022 and 2021, respectively.
He already has more missed tackles this season (7) than he had in his previous two seasons combined (6). The same can be said for penalties, as he's been flagged eight times compared to seven combined in 2022 and '21. He allowed a 69.7% completion rate when targeted over his first two seasons. That number has jumped to 80% this year.
No matter how you slice it, Kearse has been a disappointment. If the Cowboys go 3-0 and win the division with Kearse playing well, he could earn himself another contract in free agency. As of this writing, though, the decision to let him walk (should) be an easy one.