Blogging The Boys
Marshawn Kneeland's progress in vital to the Cowboys defense.
It was a tumultuous season for the Dallas Cowboys when it came to injuries. Quarterback Dak Prescott and cornerback Trevon Diggs were shut down for the season with hamstring and knee injuries. However, the defensive end spot was hit extremely hard. Before the season began, Sam Williams tore his ACL, and All-Pro Micah Parsons had to miss four games with an ankle sprain.
However, the most significant injury came when veteran DeMarcus Lawrence went down for the year with a foot issue, something he's all too familiar with, and it happened the same game that Parsons was injured. Lawrence will be in year 12 of his career in 2025, and he will be a free agent in March. With his future in Dallas being uncertain, Kneeland is on the frontline.
When the Cowboys took Kneeland in the second round of the 2024 NFL Draft, he was looked at as the heir apparent to Lawrence even if the veteran hadn't gotten hurt. Kneeland is a similar style player in that he can set the edge against the run, which Lawrence has made a lot of money doing in Dallas during his career. It was a pretty decent start to this season for Kneeland as he got 58 % of the snaps in the Cowboys season opener against the Cleveland Browns and registered three tackles. After 28 snaps total during the next two games, Kneeland played 36 plays and produced three more tackles. However, his first bump in the road came the next week.
When Dallas traveled to Pittsburgh to play the Steelers, Kneeland logged two tackles, but he only played four snaps due to a non-contact injury to his knee. It was determined that he needed surgery to repair a torn meniscus. Kneeland would miss the next five games before returning against the Washington Commanders in Week 12. He was able to get 19 snaps, but he didn't register on the stat sheet.
Kneeland was inactive versus the New York Giants in Week 13. After that, he hit a bit of a rookie wall, so to speak, and his development became stagnant. He would only produce four tackles over the final five games. Kneeland did show some flashes of his power ability to move the pocket by getting five pressures and five hurries over that span with his best performances coming against the Tampa Buccaneers in Week 16, and the season finale versus the Commanders.
When analyzing the first year in the NFL for Kneeland, there's some positives to take away. His ability to set the edge and be a physical run stopper is there and will continue to grow with more reps. One of the next phases will be developing a pass rush plan to make him even more effective in passing situations. Of course, the injury to his knee wasn't ideal, especially for a guy in his first season on the pro level. However, the arrow is still pointing up...
