Brett's Cowboys Corner

One of the greatest things about the NFL is optimism. Franchises that are complete dumpster fires, fans will still hold out hope during free agency and the draft. Until the reality sets in that their season isn’t going to be so great.

Fans can hold high expectations for their teams. The New Orleans Saints had two 40+ point victories to start the season, then went on a 7 game losing streak. Sometimes it takes longer, the 49ers were in the Super Bowl last year, and a 3-4 start wasn’t on their mind.

Regardless fans will be excited for the season, because there is a chance, just win your division. That’s what makes the NFL so exciting, 17 games…who knows what could happen.

As for Cowboy’s fans, they were deprived of that feeling. How could you lose optimism and excitement for a season in February? Surely that’s not possible.

The Dallas Cowboys are no strangers to spotlight, if anything the team’s Owner and General Manager Jerry Jones, loves the spotlight. He believes strongly in keeping the media talking about the team. No press is bad press. And as he said in the trailer of his new Netflix Documentary.

Now without a doubt the Cowboys are the most covered NFL team and all the headlines are about them. Turn on any ESPN show first thing in the morning and one of their first three segments, if not the first, is about the Cowboys.

The Cowboys care a lot about their marketability and making a huge spectacle about their franchise, which is amazing to see. This is why they are the most valuable sports franchise in the entire world at 10.2 billion dollars.

These things don’t happen by accident.

The Cowboys are unique, and don’t follow the same line as 31 other NFL teams, they are trailblazers. But sometimes when trailblazing, they create a more bumpier road for themselves.

Let’s take a look at the 2024 NFL Season, for the Dallas Cowboys:

January – March

To begin, we need to start at the end of the 2023 season. This is necessary in understanding the morale of Cowboys nation.

The Cowboys had a spiraling explosion to end their season, seeing the worst loss ever in AT&T Stadium, as the 2 seed they lose to a young 7 seed Green Bay Packer team. The game was over at halftime, and fans were in the dumps.

They called for the firing of, well everyone: McCarthy, Quinn, Dak. Just to name a few.

Two weeks later, Jerry Jones would be preparing for 2024 NFL Draft, in Mobile, Alabama at the Senior Bowl. A place where many GMs go, but they never really take on interviews during this time.

Not Jerry, he takes on the media all the time, and this is the first opportunity since the loss that the media could really talk to him. During the 20 minute interview, Jerry talks a little about everything. But one comment would highlight national television the next few days.

“We’ll be going all in…” Jones told the media, also mentioning that the team would not be building for the future, he doubles down…All In.

Well surely this gives fans optimism and hope that change is near for the Cowboys.

Well three days after this comment it is made official that Dan Quinn will be leaving Dallas as their defensive coordinator and joining division rival, the Washington Commanders as their new head coach.

Dallas later hires Mike Zimmer to be their new defensive coordinator. By the time March rolls around, it is understood that Mike McCarthy will operate on an expiring contract, as will the rest of his coaching staff. At this time, so will the starting QB Dak Prescott.

For other in-house contracts that could of been taken care of, the front office makes no major extensions, like Ceedee Lamb who is approaching his 5th year option.

The league new year hits, and NFL Free Agency is underway! Names start flying off the board. Cowboys players like Dorance Armstrong and Tony Pollard, are all leaving for new teams…and Dallas does nothing. Cowboys need a RB, Chase Brown is only $8 million dollars, Cowboys decide that’s too rich for them.

Fans were hoping for Derrick Henry. Not even a phone call.

On day 3 they make their first move. The resigned their Long Snapper, Trent Sieg. Nothing against the long snapper, but remember Sieg was already on the team, you could of extended him a month ago.

The Cowboys would lose 5 starters/rotational pieces before making their first signing. Eric Kendricks, who played under Zimmer in Minnesota. This would be one of two external signings they made the entire period. The other was Royce Freeman a month later.

April – June

The NFL Draft is the only time of optimism for the Cowboys, because it feels like the only time they do anything.

I still support the decision to trade back from the 24th pick to the 29th pick, they picked up Tyler Guyton, who they liked and got to select an additional 3rd round player, Cooper Beebe. Both offensive linemen would start as rookies.

After the draft concludes, the Cowboys missed out on rookie running backs, mainly because their 4th round pick belonged to the 49ers for Trey Lance. The Cowboys make a huge singing, Ezekiel Elliott makes his return to the Cowboys…in his college number ’15’ instead of the ’21’ that he wore in Dallas…how fun.

During Mini-Camps fans were concerned about the lack of interaction between Micah Parsons and Mike Zimmer initially, though they picked it up come training camp.

Also Ceedee Lamb is no where to be found…surely that won’t be a problem.

July – September

The Cowboys are at beautiful Oxnard, California for training camp.

Everyone’s happy, Trevon Diggs is back from his ACL injury. The rookies are getting some good reps in.

A weird beeping noise can be heard in Oxnard. That would be the fire alarm, as one of the buildings in the complex has a small fire causing a fire drill, man what a bad omen.

Wait where’s Ceedee Lamb?

He’s not here…Lamb is practicing a routine procedure, he’s holding out of training camp until he gets a contract extension.

As the media begins to stir about the Lamb’s contract. Preseason comes and goes, there is no contract. People are concerned if Lamb will even play week one.

Ceedee Lamb would sign a week and half before week one, after missing 30 days of offseason training with the first team offense. Which hurts the timing and flow of the Cowboys offense to start the season.

I don’t blame Ceedee Lamb, I instead ask…if you were going to sign him anyways, why not put all resources in getting it done sooner than later?

During August, the Cowboys begin their free agent shopping. This is like when my Aunts go shopping for Christmas items a week after Christmas. Everything is half the price and stores want to get rid of it.

Players who hadn’t found a team and have missed a majority of training camp. Testing how bad they want to play football that season, the Cowboys will sign you…for real cheap.

One addition was quite positive, they added Carl Lawson, who would not play the first few weeks but made some big plays near the end of the season and finished with 5 sacks.

They trade a super late pick for Jordan Phillips who would be off the team a few games into the 2024 season, because of a wrist injury…though he said his wrist didn’t hurt.

Speaking of injuries, the Cowboys 2024 season is filled with them and they started early.

Starting Defensive End Sam Williams tore his ACL in camp and at the very end of camp, DaRon Bland had a stress fracture in his foot and began the season on IR.

Now it’s time to play real NFL football.

On the day of the season opener, Dak Prescott becomes the highest paid NFL player, 4 years and 240 million dollars.

The Cowboys dominate the Browns and are riding high to AT&T Stadium to play the Saints.

The Saints destroy the Cowboys 44-19. And again at AT&T Stadium, the game is over at halftime. They can’t stop the run and the offense can’t move the ball.

They repeat it next week against the Ravens.

A Thursday Night Win, beating the Giants. But that win comes with a different loss. A huge slate of injuries. Diggs, Martin, Ferguson all banged up. Parsons would be out a few games and Dallas loses Lawrence for the year.

October – December

A win against the Pittsburgh Steelers, they ran the ball well and defended the run just as good. If anyone had any hope for Dallas, this was the last bit of joy for them.

The Cowboys would be blown out by the Detroit Lions and the panic button was set off.

Former Cowboys QB and Hall of Famer, Troy Aikman criticized McCarthy’s play calling and the effort of the wide receiver room.

The Cowboys were receiving criticism from all corners…fans, national media, players, and even local media.

Though during the team’s bye week, it didn’t seem like Jerry Jones was okay when the criticism was too close to the team.

On Jerry’s weekly radio visit, yes the Owner/GM does a weekly radio show…no, none of the other 121 North American Pro Sports General Managers does a weekly radio show.

Jerry did not like some of the questions about critiquing him as a GM, the questions were things fans wanted to know but Jerry did not take them as such. He began interrogating the radio host, who’s station is the official radio station of the Dallas Cowboys.

“Listen, let me tell you what I’ll do about it, I will let us sit down and look at the decisions we’ve made over the last several years. OK? I’ll look at it,” Jones said Tuesday on 105.3 The Fan in Dallas. “Now if you think I’m interested on a damn phone call with you over the radio and sitting here and throwing all the good out with the dishwater, you’d have got to be smoking something over there this morning. I’m not. And I really don’t … and I don’t even want our listeners listening to me talk about. This is not your job. Your job isn’t to let me go over the reasons that I did something and I’m sorry that I did it. That’s not your job.

And the icing on the cake was the final quote, “That’s not your job or I’ll get somebody else to ask these questions, men. No, no. I’m not kidding.”

A bizarre reasoning was later explained which Jones said that they shouldn’t be the ones to ask those kind of questions. That should be done by the fans or people who actually know about football, not ‘his’ people. Though no one on the station works for the Dallas Cowboys.

Well all that was just a little bit ‘stirring the pot’ which is something the Cowboys like to do.

There would be plenty of non-football things happening during the football season causing distractions during the football season.

ESPN did a ‘gotcha’ story about the Cowboys holding tours of their practice facility, which can happen while the players are in the building. Although the tours of The Star having been going on since the buildings inception, on a down year is the best time to hold it under fire.

Tours are under strict rules and offer absolutely no ‘player to fan’ interaction. Some players were asked about them and some came out to say they were completely misquoted in the article. The distraction wasn’t the tours itself, but all the questions that came after.

The week before the San Francisco game, Brandon Aubrey would have the ultimate distraction. Missing a week of practice for Jury Duty.

Other incidents would include, Trevon Diggs coming out the locker room moments after a game to lash out on a reporter who made a comment about him on Twitter (X), with the ultimate quote, “You can talk about these nuts.”

The week of the Eagles game, at AT&T Stadium, Lamb would miss a touchdown catch and point to eyes, implying he can’t see…he couldn’t. The setting sun was blaring into the large endzone windows.

When asked about the possibility of putting curtains up, like the stadium does for every other event. Jerry Jones replied, “We do know where the damn sun’s going to be at our own stadium,” before adding, “Well, let’s just tear the damn stadium down and build another one. You kidding me?”

Though his 136 million dollar receiver lobbied “1000 percent” for curtains to be added.

Ezekiel Elliott would be asked to not join the team on their trip to Atlanta, due to disruption and violating team rules. He was not released from the team, instead Jerry Jones went on a spiel about how great of a locker room guy and leader Zeke is.

Speaking of Atlanta, if the Cowboys season wasn’t over…it would be now.

Dak Prescott would have a tendon avulsion, effectively tearing a piece of his hamstring and needing season ending surgery.

The Cowboys would add a laundry list of injuries through the rest of the year. Losing players like Zack Martin, Ceedee Lamb, Brandin Cooks, and Trevon Diggs. At one point over 50% of the Cowboys salary cap was on injured reserve.

And somehow a Monday Night Football game Cowboys vs. Bengals, animated as the Simpsons wasn’t the weirdest thing to happen to us in 2024.

One of the biggest tragedies, DeMarvion Overshown coming off an ACL injury had an amazing year, he suffers multiple tears in the other knee and may not get to play in 2025.

The Cowboys had some success near the end, seeing some great play from the defense, who figured things out just a little too late. Rico Dowdle was fed the ball more and finished a 1k rushing season. Dallas would win a few games near the end and push the draft spot out of the top 10.

They end the year allowing a game winning TD pass against the Commanders and claim the 12th pick of the NFL Draft.

Finishing with a 7-10 record, and the 29th consecutive season without a NFC Championship appearance.

So Now What?

Well those were just a few things that made this football season exhausting for Cowboys fans…and somehow I probably forgot a story.

What will they do from here?

Well they now have 24 impending free agents, so they will have their hand forced to do something as they need 53 people to field a team next year.

But first, HC Mike McCarthy contract expired today…so that will be a big decision as well.

Currently all signs point towards a reunion, and the only real sign was Chicago requesting to interview Mike McCarthy and after a day, Dallas decided to deny their request.

Dallas holds exclusive negotiation rights with McCarthy until January 14th, after that McCarthy can go interview where ever he wants.

Nothing happened today, you would think by Friday, there will be some sort of comment made that he is signed or in the process of being signed. But the Cowboys are once again, dragging their feet on this.

A lot of fans wanted McCarthy gone, that likely won’t be the case. I am not sure if having the 12th pick in the draft is enough to bring the rowdy Cowboys fans back…there needs to be a change of philosophy.

A few months ago, I thought it would come in January with a coaching search…but now, it might need to happen in March. With a big free agent.