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To some degree, every year is Super Bowl or bust for America's Team. Dak Prescott and the Dallas Cowboys fell short yet again in 2022. Now the fanbase begins the long plod of the offseason, slogging their way through the draft, free agency and trade season until training camp begins, wondering all the while what went wrong and how the Cowboys can fix it in 2023.
A couple of moves have already been made. Dan Quinn is back once again to lead the Cowboys defense, but his offensive counterpart Kellen Moore will call plays for Justin Herbert this year while Mike McCarthy takes over the offense in Dallas.
Both of those could end up being positive developments, but they won't be enough to win the Cowboys the sixth ring they have been chasing for decades. The Cowboys have work to do to reach the Super Bowl. This is how they can get there.
Extend Dak Prescott
That's right. Dak Prescott, the player that drew the ire of thousands of Cowboys fans for his unsavory performance against the San Francisco 49'ers in this year's divisional round, needs to be extended.
An extension might not be the first thing that comes to mind when some fans think of what Prescott's future with the franchise should be, but it's a good move in more ways than one for the Cowboys.
Dak Prescott is arguably a top 10 quarterback in football. Extending a player of that caliber is a good thing as long as the money is right. An extension would also be a good thing because it creates the opportunity to spread the largest contract on the team out over a longer period of time.
Adding years to Prescott's contract would help the Cowboys create some badly needed cap space. This is important because, while Prescott is a top 10 passer in the league, he is not in the elite tier of signal-callers.
Winning a championship in the NFL without a top five quarterback is not impossible, but it takes an extremely talented roster. The odds of a top five quarterback falling into Dallas' lap any time soon are astronomical.
The franchise needs to do everything they can to surround Prescott with as much talent as possible to find a way to win without a top shelf player under center.
The Los Angeles Rams did it last year with Matthew Stafford and the Philadelphia Eagles have a chance to pull it off with Jalen Hurts in the Super Bowl on Sunday night. The Cowboys can do it too with Prescott, but they need to maximize their ability to surround him with assets. Extending Prescott would be a big step towards doing that.
Franchise Tag Tony Pollard
This one comes with a few stipulations. If the Cowboys tag Tony Pollard they have to let Ezekiel Elliott go completely. No pay cuts, just move on from that contract entirely. Tagging Pollard should also take Dallas out of the running to draft Texas Longhorns star runner Bijan Robinson at 26 in this year's draft.
If the Cowboys franchise tag Pollard, he has to be Dallas' first and only commitment at running back. Dallas has too many other areas of need that will be more expensive and harder to address than running back.
As long as the Cowboys limit themselves to that one commitment though, tagging Pollard would be an extremely valuable use of the cap.
2023 was another banner year for San Francisco 49ers star running back Christian McCaffrey. The Stanford product averaged 4.8 yards per carry, 8.7 yards per reception, scored 13 total touchdowns and broke off 33 runs of 10 yards or more this past regular season. He also plays under a contract with an average annual value of over $16 million.
Now compare his production to Pollard's. Pollard averaged 5.2 yards per carry, 9.5 yards per reception, scored 12 touchdowns, and had 35 runs of 10 yards or more this season. If the Cowboys franchise tagged him in 2023 he would cost somewhere around $10 million.
Yes, running backs are easy to replace. Easier than most other positions at least. But the draft just isn't full of players that put up numbers like McCaffrey and Pollard are capable of producing. Keeping that level of production on the roster for another year would be a fantastic use of $10 million in cap space.
It would also allow the Cowboys to move on from the Robinson debate in the first round and use that pick on a more premium position. Rumors have already started to swirl this offseason that Pollard could be the subject of the franchise tag in 2023. Those rumors proving true would be a positive sign for the team's direction this offseason.
Address the interior defensive line through free agency or trades
One of Dallas' few weaknesses in the defense last year was at defensive tackle. Neville Gallimore showed flashes of prominence, Johnathan Hankins was a positive addition when he was on the field, and Osa Odighizuwa proved that his outstanding rookie year was much more than just a fluke. However, the entire unit still needs to be improved.
Dallas was near the bottom third of the league in terms of stopping the run last season. That isn't all on the defensive line, but a topflight run-stuffer in the middle of the defensive front would really help address that weakness.
The Dallas Cowboys do draft well relative to the rest of the league. They deserve the benefit of the doubt when drafting at some positions like offensive line.
Picks like Tyler Smith, Tyler Biadasz, and others have given the Cowboys enough of a track record for fans to trust that they know what they're doing when drafting at that specific position.
Dallas hit on Odighizuwa in the third round of the 2021 draft. Before that selection, the last three defensive tackles Dallas used a third-round pick or higher on were Gallimore and Trysten Hill. Not an awful track record, but not a very impressive one either.
Add in the fact that this year's free agent class is ripe with proven talent at defensive tackle and it's clear that the best move for Dallas to address their needs at that position is not through the draft.
The Cowboys should not take a risk on an unproven player at a position they don't draft particularly well at when players like Javon Hargrave, Da'Ron Payne, Hassan Ridgeway, and others are available in free agency.
