The latest in Q&A for the Cowboys
Every week, we take questions on X (Twitter) and Facebook about Dallas Cowboys players and other issues surrounding the team. So let’s get right into it.
“If you wanted Jerry Jones to give himself a New Year’s resolution for next season what would it be?”
(@Liam Woodward on Facebook)
Mike: Other than not making contradictory comments in the media, how about putting this team in a position to win some playoffs games? That would be a nice resolution to have. Until Jerry decides to change his strategy in the offseason and during free agency, it’s hard to get excited about the direction of the team. It would be nice to hear Jerry come out and say his New Year’s resolution is to change that policy, but that’s wishful thinking. So we’ll just drown our sorrows at the stroke of midnight with whiskey instead.
Dana: A great New Year’s resolution for the man in charge of it all would be a practice in relinquishing control, but that may not be a very attainable resolution. So for something a bit more realistic, Jerry Jones should work on taking a few more risks in free agency. It doesn’t need to be a drastic risk either, just a little bit more than last season would be nice. For example, an $8 million per year contract for one of the best running backs in the NFL shouldn’t be that big of a risk.
“What should be some Cowboys New Year’s Resolutions? Feel free to list and individual ones”
(@MrEd315 on Twitter)
Mike: Returning to my answer from the first question, I’ll say let’s make a resolution for this team to win playoffs games and get to an NFC Championship game. The next one would be to stop trading fourth-round picks. This team had some good players in the draft in the fourth round – Dak Prescott, Jake Ferguson, Tyler Biadasz, and Tony Pollard to name a few in recent history. But they’ve shipped their last two fourth-round picks for two players that have very little potential and for no reason other than because they could. It makes little sense so let’s make a resolution to stop that.
Next resolution should be to give Mike McCarthy an offensive coordinator to call the plays. He’s got so much going on on the sideline he needs someone to take the reins and help call the plays. This way McCarthy can concentrate on the strategy and get Dallas into a position to win games.
Last resolution – how about next season the team has less injuries and players stay healthy. It’s been a long time since we’ve seen a Cowboys team with so many starters shut down for the year and this week CeeDee Lamb is the next player to join that list. Crazy season.
Dana: Once thing that we’ve seen with this team the past few weeks is that they do not understand what the word “quit” means. This season has been filled with injuries and adversity at every single turn, but this team has fought through it all and never ever quit; something that cannot be said about some other teams in the NFL.
Their 2025 resolution should be to take everything that they learned this year and apply it to the 2025 season. The growth has been clearly visible within players like Micah Parsons and CeeDee Lamb and the hope would be that they build off of that in 2025 and only continue to grow.
“Getting this question in nice and early with you guys. Who do you hope Dallas take in the first round of the draft?
(@MrEd315 on Twitter)
Mike: We could go non-sensible here and mention prospects that are clearly out of reach where the team will be picking in the draft. Depending on how these last two weeks go Dallas could be making their selection anywhere from 12-18. In that range a personal favorite is wide receiver Luther Burden from Missouri. His yards went down this year but he’s scored 25 total touchdowns during his three years playing in college which cannot be overlooked. There’s a slim chance offensive tackle, Kelvin Banks from Texas makes it to Dallas if they are picking lower down in the rankings.
But then edge defenders are also a need this year so guys like Mykel Williams (Georgia), James Pearce Jr. (Tennessee) and Nic Scourton (Texas A&M) all have good value in Dallas’ range in the first round.
There will be a Michigan name on the defensive line that will pop up during draft season, so be prepared to hear Kenneth Grant’s name some analysts mention. For now I’ll restrain from talking too much about him, Cowboys fans have been through enough this season.
Dana: Right now the Cowboys are sitting at pick number 15 in the draft and a lot of big stars like Travis Hunter and Ashton Jeanty will likely not be available. Of course this answer could be quite different depending on what happens during free agency once we get clarity around which players the Cowboys re-sign and which positions become the highest need. Currently, the Cowboys could use some help at almost every position, however, targeting a WR to take some pressure off of CeeDee Lamb and open up the passing game a bit more could be a good way to go in the first round. Emeka Egbuka (Ohio) is one that could be on the board at pick 15 for the Cowboys. He is a very smart player with clean route running ability and could be a great addition as a weapon for Dak Prescott.