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The Dallas Cowboys might lastly be able to make a critical push for the Tremendous Bowl following the … [+]
As cliche as it could sound by now, the Dallas Cowboys might lastly be prepared for that Tremendous Bowl push.
Though the Cowboys haven’t made a Tremendous Bowl look because the 1995 season — in truth, they haven’t superior previous the divisional spherical of the playoffs since then — the 2023 season might lastly characterize the turning level for the underachieving franchise.
Whereas the Cowboys haven’t made any main signings via the primary week of free company, they’ve made two large underrated trades in buying veteran huge receiver Brandin Cooks and a former Defensive Participant of the Yr in cornerback Stephon Gilmore.
And in doing so, the Cowboys might have their finest staff that’s suited to a Tremendous Bowl push since Troy Aikman was taking snaps for the franchise.
In buying each gamers whereas giving up little or no, Dallas addressed their two largest positions of want by buying and selling for veteran gamers who’ve expertise in large video games. Cooks has largely served as a No. 1 receiver since coming into the league in 2014, posting six 1,000-yard seasons since 2015. He’s additionally appeared in six postseason video games, together with back-to-back Tremendous Bowl appearances in the course of the 2017 and 2018 seasons.
“I couldn’t be extra hungry,” Cooks stated shortly after the commerce, via Charean Williams of NBC Sports. “The final three years is what it’s, however I inform you whenever you step right into a locker room like this and a company, and you bought these three years underneath your belt like that, I imply, that gasoline is simply positively fueling the fireplace to have the ability to come out right here and simply present up and assist my staff win. I can’t wait. I really can’t.”
So far as Gilmore is anxious, the five-time Professional Bowler stays one of many high gamers at his place, having began 16 video games final season whereas posting a career-high 66 tackles and managing to appear in 99% of the defensive snaps in games he appeared in. Secondly, he has a Tremendous Bowl ring from his days as a member of the New England Patriots and has seven postseason video games — two Tremendous Bowl appearances — to his identify.
Dallas merely gave up a 2023 fifth-round draft decide and a 2024 sixth-round draft decide to amass Cooks from the Houston Texans. Not solely will the Texans pay $6 million of the $18 million that was initially owed to Cooks for this season, the Cowboys have since restructured his contract to learn the staff’s wage cap scenario. Cooks’ cap hit will solely rely $6 million in the direction of Dallas’ wage cap this season and he has a base wage of simply $8 million for the 2024 season.
In the meantime, Gilmore was acquired for a fifth-round decide on this 12 months’s draft. Like Cooks, the 32-year-old can be seemingly a short-term rental, due for a cap hit of just under $10 million. That makes Gilmore simply the Fifteenth-highest paid cornerback within the league.
In a matter of days, the Cowboys acquired a respectable No. 2 receiver — who has starred as a No. 1 for almost all of his profession — to pair alongside CeeDee Lamb and a No. 2 cornerback to star reverse of two-time Professional Bowler Trevon Diggs.
This isn’t to say the Cowboys are with out their flaws. They clearly should discover a strategy to exchange Dak Prescott’s favourite security blanket in tight finish Dalton Schultz following his signing with the Texans. Moreover, they nonetheless need to signal a workhorse operating again to take the stress off of Tony Pollard following his fractured fibula harm and the discharge of Ezekiel Elliott.
Moreover, nearly as good as Cooks is, he matches extra into the star class relatively than the famous person one. Buying Arizona Cardinals huge receiver DeAndre Hopkins would have been much more expensive, however it could have been an absolute game-changer. Buying Cooks lastly provides the Cowboys a respectable choice, nevertheless it doesn’t precisely make them the staff to beat within the NFC over the Philadelphia Eagles.
With that being stated, the NFC seems to be even weaker coming into the 2023 season than it did final 12 months. The NFC South is an afterthought with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers out of contender mode following the retirement of Tom Brady. In the meantime, the Inexperienced Bay Packers are making ready to commerce longtime quarterback Aaron Rodgers out of the convention and the San Francisco 49ers are nonetheless attempting to determine who their beginning quarterback shall be on opening day.
That mainly means the largest roadblock for the Cowboys in relation to a Tremendous Bowl LVIII look will seemingly be their largest division rival, the Eagles.
Whereas the Eagles have been clearly the very best staff within the NFC in the course of the 2022 season, we by no means noticed a good matchup between each groups. Cowboys backup quarterback Cooper Rush began throughout Dallas’ Week 6 loss to the Eagles, whereas former Philadelphia backup quarterback Gardner Minshew began in the course of the staff’s loss to the Cowboys in Week 16.
The Eagles — who shall be pressured to interchange a number of key starters from final season’s staff — seemingly gained’t be as sturdy as they have been this previous season, after they went 15-1 with Jalen Hurts because the beginning quarterback.
That’s merely excellent news for the Cowboys, as they’ll seemingly need to beat the Eagles to win a Lombardi Trophy.
The Cowboys are usually not a lock for a Tremendous Bowl look in New Orleans. Nonetheless, this season is shaping as much as be their finest probability at making an look in many years.
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