Inside The Star
As we all should know by now, this 2025 Dallas Cowboys team could and should look a lot different from the last few seasons.
With a new coaching staff under first year head coach Brain Schottenheimer, this team has over 20 pending free agents. That is a huge problem. It means that guys who are on the back burner may get a chance to play more than they should.
I am not even sure if Jerry will try and bring back guys like Jourdan Lewis or Osa Odighizuwa, but he should, because guys like that will not be easy to replace in the draft. Although that is exactly what Jerry Jones wants to do, just draft a cheap replacement and hope it hits.
With that said, it will mean some players who are currently under contract are going to have to possibly see the field more than they do, or just flat out need to play better!
The first name is obvious, Mazi Smith has to play like his first round status for more than 3 games a season.
There was a point in the 2024 season where some, including myself, thought that maybe he got it figured out.
As encouraging as that was, he still ended his second season far short of the expectations Dallas had when they made him a Round 1 pick in 2023.
Smith finished with 41 tackles and one sack. As a first round pick, those can’t be your numbers in your second full season. I don’t care about the sacks, but really?
His numbers were far superior to what he recorded as a rookie but he was still ranked 117th out of 118 defensive tackles by Pro Football Focus. Yes, second to last!
Dallas needs to find a nose tackle who can give them more snaps because Smith isn’t ready to be the full-time starter.
We have to call it like we see it, Donovan Wilson did not have a good year a season ago.
Wilson signed a three-year extension for $21 million before the 2023 season, and he earned it.
The year before, Wilson had his best season as a pro with 101 tackles (seven tackles for loss), five sacks, an interception, two pass breakups, two forced fumbles, and a fumble recovery.
Wilson is a player that could have just had a bad year in 2024, but Matt Erberflus, recently named defensive coordinator, plays a fairly straight forward brand of football.
He values consistent, disciplined play by his defenders, being a stickler for run fits and demanding reliable play in coverage. It doesn’t particularly fit Wilson’s brand of play since he’s at his best crashing downhill with a certain aura of reckless abandon.
We have to be honest with ourselves here, this team is going to be asking Jalen Tolbert, Jalen Brooks or Jonathan Mingo to be a productive wide out in 2025.
That is just brutal.
Brandin Cooks is going to be...
