While there isn't a full season's worth of data yet, it's hard not to be bullish on the Dallas Cowboys' 2025 draft class. Tyler Booker and Donovan Ezeiruaku look like future Pro Bowlers, and Shavon Revel has impressed since returning from injury in an unfamiliar scheme.
The 2024 draft class is a much different story, unfortunately. Cooper Beebe and Ryan Flournoy look like great picks, but the jury is still out on whether first-round pick Tyler Guyton is the answer at left tackle.
That said, Marist Liufau has arguably been the class's biggest disappointment. It might be time for the Cowboys to accept that he just isn't going to pan out.
Cowboys' Marist Liufau pick looks increasingly worse with each passing week
It's easy to be tantalized by Liufau's energy and propensity for laying the wood. His catalog of hits is right up there with any defender in the NFL in terms of violence. He'll make the occasional splash play on special teams, but he still hasn't learned to play under control.
The former Notre Dame star frequently takes himself out of a play by overpursuing. That might be what's preventing him from getting on the field consistently. Cowboys fans saw a clear example of that when he had Lions quarterback Jared Goff dead to rights on a blitz last Thursday. He didn't control his pursuit, and Goff easily stepped out of the way.
Goff is one of the more immobile QBs in the league. No defender, let alone a supreme athlete like Liufau, should be getting juked out by him.
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Liufau has only played 172 defensive snaps this season, and yet he ranks as one of Pro Football Focus' worst linebackers, ranking 92nd out of 101 players with a 41.1 defensive grade. His 72.8 run-defense grade is quite impressive, but that is buoyed by a 91.0 mark in Week 4 against the Jets when he forced a fumble on running back Breece Hall.
The second-year pro has clear playmaking ability. A better defensive coordinator would potentially know how to accentuate his skill set. Matt Eberflus' stubbornness is well-documented. He's notorious for trying to fit square pegs into round holes (drafting Revel, a press-man corner, to play in a zone scheme).
But a lot of the onus is on Liufau to harness his recklessness. He can morph into a key player if he learns to trade the "cracking heads" mentality for more down-to-dow consistency. But we're almost two full seasons into his career. At some point, you are who you are.
Hopefully, he proves us wrong.