Have the Dallas Cowboys really improved since the end of last season?
Save for a few possible bargain-basement deals, the Dallas Cowboys are done with free agency and have turned their attention towards the NFL draft.
Certainly, they remain in talks with quarterback Dak Prescott on a contract extension. But his place on the 2020 squad is secure, thanks to the exclusive franchise tag.
So with all the comings and goings over the last three weeks, the question is are the Cowboys better than they were at the end of last season when they finished 8-8, out of the playoffs, and forced team owner Jerry Jones to fire coach Jason Garrett and hire Mike McCarthy as his replacement?
If you let the odds makers at sportline.com tell it, the Cowboys are already much improved with the primary additions of defensive tackles Gerald McCoy and Dontari Poe, safety Ha Ha Clinton-Dix and kicker Greg Zuelein to offset the losses of seven starters from 2019, including tight end Jason Witten, receiver Randall Cobb, cornerback Byron Jones, defensive end Robert Quinn, defensive tackle Maliek Collins, safety Jeff Heath and center Travis Frederick
Sportsline has given the Cowboys 12-1 odds to win the Super Bowl next season, fifth-best in the league behind only the Kansas City Chiefs (4-1), Baltimore Ravens (13-2), San Francisco 49ers (7-1) and New Orleans Saints (11-1).
Of note, they are in front of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (16-1) and new quarterback Tom Brady, the Philadelphia Eagles (17-1), who won the NFC East last season ahead of the Cowboys, the Seattle Seahawks (17-1) and the Green Bay Packers (18-1).
Clearly, that speaks to the vast improvement that’s expected of McCarthy. On paper, it’s the best thing they have done so far to improve the team.
But as far as on-the-field personnel is concerned, the Cowboys are still lagging and lacking.
The biggest moves the Cowboys made were locking up Prescott and receiver Amari Cooper, who received a new five-year, $100 million deal. But they were on the team in 2019 so that is not an upgrade.
It can be said that increasing the role of tight end Blake Jarwin in place of Witten, who left to continue his playing career with the Las Vegas Raiders, is a positive. Jarwin is a downfield threat and should give them more big-plays from the position. The Cowboys also added tight end Blake Bell to handle the blocking in the run game.
But the team still hasn’t replaced Cobb, who left for the Houston Texans, as the third receiver and that was before being rocked by the sudden retirement of center Travis Frederick. The Cowboys have options to replace Frederick, but no definite answer to equate or upgrade the play of the five-time Pro Bowler.
Defensively, the additions of McCoy and Poe give the Cowboys much-needed size up front. Both are a step forward from what they played with a year ago in performance and experience. A new scheme under defensive coordinator Mike Nolan should also help.
McCoy, who has had five sacks in each of the last eight seasons and has a career high of 9.5, steps in for Collins, now with the Raiders, who has batted injuries and has had five sacks just once, as a rookie in 2016.
At 6-foot-3, 346-pounds, Poe is likely the stoutest defensive lineman in team history and will be in rotation with the smaller-and-quicker Antwaun Woods at nose tackle, giving the Cowboys increased production from the position.
Clinton-Dix has a relationship with McCarthy from their days together in Green Bay and he makes plays on the ball — a much-needed quality for a Cowboys secondary that had five interceptions in 2019. He is an upgrade over Heath, another new Raider.
The biggest issues remaining for the Cowboys, as they are currently constituted, are they have yet to replace their two most productive defensive players from 2019 in Quinn and Jones.
Quinn turned his team-high 11.5 sacks into a five-year, $70 million contract with the Chicago Bears in free agency. And the Miami Dolphins made Jones the highest-paid cornerback in the NFL with a $82.5 million package over five years.
Tyrone Crawford is currently the replacement at right end opposite DeMarcus Lawrence but he is coming off surgery on both hips and is more of a run defender. The Cowboys may get Randy Gregory off the suspended list, but he has played just 16 games since 2016 and has seven career sacks.
This is a position they must and will target in the draft, just like cornerback.
The team signed Maurice Canady and his four career starts in free agency to go with holdovers Anthony Brown, Chido Awuzie and Jourdan Lewis. None have shown Jones-like consistency or coverage ability.
Zuerlein, as well as the addition of special teams coach John Fassel, should also make the Cowboys better in the kicking game, a decided weak link that cost the team games in 2019.
Clearly, improvement is in the eye of the beholder and a being Super Bowl favorite is still the stuff of a Jerry Jones dream after going on 25 years since their last title in 1995.
McCarthy and upgrades to the coaching staff certainly give the Cowboys a leg up.
But the roster still has massive holes to fill in the draft, where defensive end, cornerback, receiver and safety are the team’s top four needs.
