Any Cowboys’ player that emerges is great for the team, but some players are more helpful than others.
With more and more football activities ramping up, the time is coming for us to start identifying some of our training camp crushes. Yes, we want all players on the Dallas Cowboys to work out, but it’s inevitable that we migrate to our favorites and start buying tickets to the hype train.
There can be several reasons that we take a particular interest in a player. Perhaps it was a draft prospect we once touted, and we are now looking to confirm some priors. Maybe a player attended our favorite college. Or, perhaps we just like the dude.
While there are a slew of reasons that drive our rooting interest, one element that is often overlooked is low-cost player control. If you ever find yourself torn between which players you’d like to see make the roster or have a breakout season, it’s always more beneficial for the Cowboys if that player has more years left on their contract, preferably at a cheaper cost. Using this as a guideline, here is how it should help us answer the following roster battle questions.
Which emerging WR3 would help the Cowboys the most?
The great thing about having a one-two punch like CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens is that it takes a lot of pressure off of so many other guys who we might have seen as a potential WR2 a few weeks ago. Now, we’re just hoping one other player emerges as the team’s third wide-receiving option. And the choices are plentiful.
And while you might already have you’re favorite picked out, the most ideal candidate is…
KaVontae Turpin
Why Turpin? Because he just signed a three-year extension this offseason, meaning he’s sticking around through 2027. You could also make a case for last year’s sixth-round pick, Ryan Flournoy, as he also has three years left on his deal. Turpin is still the better choice because he’s also an All-Pro returner.
If you’re a Jalen Tolbert fan, it would be great to see him do well, but the timing would stink because he’ll enter free agency next offseason. Parris Campbell is also an unfavorable choice since he’s only on a one-year deal. Jonathan Mingo or Jalen Brooks have two years left on their rookie deals, so one of them emerging would be okay, but still not as advantageous as Turpin or Flournoy.
We should add that any undrafted free agent would come with up to four years of player control (counting the year they’re a restricted free agent), so any rookie, drafted or undrafted, will always be most desirable should they breakout.
Who should our favorite young edge rusher be?
Dante Fowler should be the team’s top edge-rushing option opposite Micah Parsons, but there is a good list of choices who will rotate in and out to help fortify the Cowboys’ pass rush. Homegrown players like Sam Williams, Marshawn Kneeland, or Donovan Ezeiruaku were all drafted in the second round and had the front office excited when they were selected. Former first-rounder and free agent signing, Payton Turner, is also here to help. Of these choices, which one would benefit the Cowboys the most should they break out?
Donovan Ezeiruaku
We already spoiled it in the last section, but any rookie gives the team four years of player control. It will be fun to see Williams back in action after a knee injury squandered his third season, but he’s only got one year left on his rookie deal. The same goes for the free agent Turner, who is just a one-year rental. Kneeland is only in his second year, so he’s the easy second-best choice for this question.
What TE should we all be pulling for?
The Cowboys waited too long to find Dalton Schultz’ replacement, forcing them to use the franchise tag on Schultz in 2023. That same year, they hit on fourth-round rookie Jake Ferguson, allowing the team to move on from Schultz the following season. Well, time flies.
Ferguson is now entering the final year of his rookie deal. The Cowboys selected Luke Schoonmaker just a year after Ferguson, which seemed a bit too early if they wanted to space them out a bit. Schoonmaker has been slow to develop, but even if he does take a good step forward, he’d only have a chance to be the Cowboys’ lead tight end for one season, which would be next year, assuming Ferguson leaves in free agency. So, who would be the best player to emerge as a key tight end?
Brevyn Spann-Ford
Last year’s UDFA Spann-Ford logged 305 snaps on offense. He could be a sneaky-good piece of the puzzle for new offensive coordinator Klayton Adams, who has shown to be very reliant on additional tight ends in his blocking schemes. Spann-Ford has three years of player control, counting his RFA year. If you’re really greedy, one of this year’s UDFA’s, like Rivaldo Fairweather or Tyler Neville, is technically the correct answer to this question, but we’re also trying to be somewhat realistic and feel the year two jump of an UDFA is more likely to produce favorable results.
