Dak Prescott now really only has CeeDee Lamb, Dalton Schultz, and training dummies to throw at. With WR James Washington out 6-10 weeks with a fractured foot, Dak Prescott must now become “Superman” or risk the possibility of missing the playoffs for the fourth time in his career.
I don’t know what Jerry Jones and his son, Stephen Jones, were thinking when they decided to trade away Amari Cooper to the Cleveland Browns for a 5th-round draft pick and let Cedrick Wilson Jr. walk in free agency. The Cowboys had one of the best WR cores in all of football last season, with Amari Cooper, Michael Gallup, and CeeDee Lamb, Dalton Schultz, and Cedrick Wilson Jr. all putting up at least 400 receiving yards last season each.
With Ezekiel Elliot and Tony Pollard complementing the receiving core from the backfield, the Dallas Cowboys and Dak Prescott had all the tools they needed for another playoff run. Why did Jerry fell the need to completely destroy this offense?
Okay, I get that the Cowboys’ couldn’t have paid everybody as that would have put them way over the salary cap. So, I understand letting Cedrick Wilson Jr. walk into free agency. But why did they need to trade Amari Cooper?
His former 20ish million-dollar cap hit wasn’t great, but his move to Cleveland showed he was willing to renegotiate it. In fact, as soon as he got in Cleveland, he and he Browns reworked the deal so that his cap hit would only be approximately $5M this upcoming season.
Did Jerry Jones and Stephen Jones not think of talking about this with Amari?
Nevertheless, an even bigger mistake was not giving Dak Prescott adequate replacements for the losses of Amari Cooper and Cedrick Wilson Jr. Besides former Pittsburgh receiver James Washington, the Dallas Cowboys neglected to bring in anyone of a similar caliber to Wilson or Cooper. And to the argument that there was nobody available on the market, Julio Jones just went to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers a few days ago, while Robert Woods and Allen Robinson went to Titans and Rams, respectively, earlier on in the market.
However, now they don’t even have James Washington as the receiver went down with a fractured foot. Plus, Michael Gallup is starting the season on the PUP list. What a disaster.
With the Cowboys in another Super Bowl-or-Bust season, losing such valuable pieces on offense has really damaged their playoff potential. I’m not even sure they will finish atop the NFC East if Gallup and Washington are out beyond Week 7-8. Jerry Jones better be on the phone with OBJ the moment this article comes out, or he is really placing a huge gamble on CeeDee Lamb and Dalton Schultz having breakout receiving seasons.
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