33 minutes ago, bpac55 said:

Man, I really just hate what's happened to college football and college sports in general. 

 

 

Great, now students will jump on to the field to scan the code causing stoppages in play.   

8 minutes ago, Sack that QB said:

I don't think Dallas is going to be the dumpster fire a lot of people think. They lost Quinn which is big, but Zimmer is a good DC. He was out of the NFL for a bit, but was still coaching, so who knows if he's even a downgrade. He might be, but Quinn's had his defenses do no show's in playoff games.

The biggest reason I thought Dallas had a chance to take a step back was the losses on their OL, but if Guyton and Beebe are good, they will be good again. I don't see Lamb sitting out regular season games even if he isn't signed.

I think the Eagles could(should?) finish above them, but I think people have gone too far with Dallas collapsing and things don't usually turn that fast as the narratives turn.

I have them at 9-8 and the 7 seed, but I could easily see them missing the playoffs. Banking on Guyton at LT is downright insane - he played like 8 games in college at RT and was seen as someone who needed time to develop. Looking good against backups in preseason is a little different than Myles Garrett week 1. And Beebe likely isn't the starting center, Hoffman is. If it is Beebe, using a guy who never played center before is...interesting. 

But the bigger losses no one talks about are on defense. Armstrong and Fowler produced last year, and now they have NOTHING behind Parsons and Lawrence. Williams is out for the year, and Kneeland is a rookie. Bland and Diggs both gamble massively and get beat, and they still have zero at DT and LB. I think we see the defense take a massive step back due to personnel losses and reversion to the mean on turnovers. 

13 minutes ago, Sack that QB said:

I don't think Dallas is going to be the dumpster fire a lot of people think. They lost Quinn which is big, but Zimmer is a good DC. He was out of the NFL for a bit, but was still coaching, so who knows if he's even a downgrade. He might be, but Quinn's had his defenses do no show's in playoff games.

The biggest reason I thought Dallas had a chance to take a step back was the losses on their OL, but if Guyton and Beebe are good, they will be good again. I don't see Lamb sitting out regular season games even if he isn't signed.

I think the Eagles could(should?) finish above them, but I think people have gone too far with Dallas collapsing and things don't usually turn that fast as the narratives turn.

Dumpster fire, no.  But no longer in the conversation for #1 seed.  Division champs is their regular season ceiling.  Missing playoffs at 9-8 is their floor.

57 minutes ago, mattwill said:

Nolan Smith is a bit of a special case.  I see him more as a 2nd Round pick than a 1st, but your point is valid.  I expect Davis will evolve into an impact player over time.  That is my optimism speaking.

PFF has liked Jordan Davis,  both last year and the year before.  70.9 last year - 30/130 = top quarter.  71.4 the year before.    Ideally,  Jordan Davis becomes something like Dexter Lawrence,  who had 2 years in the 70s,  then 1 year in the 60s,  then 2 years in the 90s.  The 70s are still good, and big strong fast giants like Jordan Davis are rare.  You might not be able to know exactly how good they'll be when you get them,  but in most cases, they do well, and Davis has done well, 30th best out of 130 is doing well,  there are other words to use like fantastic and great if Davis puts up a PFF like 92.9 like Lawrence did last year. 

PFF didn't like Nolan Smith last year.  I wouldn't say he did well last year, I think he'll do better this year.

21 minutes ago, Sack that QB said:

I don't think Dallas is going to be the dumpster fire a lot of people think. They lost Quinn which is big, but Zimmer is a good DC. He was out of the NFL for a bit, but was still coaching, so who knows if he's even a downgrade. He might be, but Quinn's had his defenses do no show's in playoff games.

The biggest reason I thought Dallas had a chance to take a step back was the losses on their OL, but if Guyton and Beebe are good, they will be good again. I don't see Lamb sitting out regular season games even if he isn't signed.

I think the Eagles could(should?) finish above them, but I think people have gone too far with Dallas collapsing and things don't usually turn that fast as the narratives turn.

Dallas is too top heavy.  If Ceedee goes down for 8 games, they would be lucky to win 2-3 of them.  Same with their line depth on both O and D.  
 

And their RB room?  lol 

3 minutes ago, Sack that QB said:

I don't think Dallas is going to be the dumpster fire a lot of people think. They lost Quinn which is big, but Zimmer is a good DC. He was out of the NFL for a bit, but was still coaching, so who knows if he's even a downgrade. He might be, but Quinn's had his defenses do no show's in playoff games.

The biggest reason I thought Dallas had a chance to take a step back was the losses on their OL, but if Guyton and Beebe are good, they will be good again. I don't see Lamb sitting out regular season games even if he isn't signed.

I think the Eagles could(should?) finish above them, but I think people have gone too far with Dallas collapsing and things don't usually turn that fast as the narratives turn.

Dak makes Dallas competitive. I do think they lack talent at RB and that's a concern.  Guyton has played well in the preseason.  I am not sure whether he faced Wilson or Crosby in the game against the Raiders. The other game was against the Panthers.  Him playing well is a big deal.  I think the big question they have on defense is the line.  Mazi Smith has had mixed reports on his performance in camp.  I think for Zimmer's defense, it's important to have a run stopping defensive line.  I think that's where they may have issues more than the change in coordinators.  

the DAL offense isn't what it's been the past few seasons.  Without Lamb in the lineup it's pretty thin on talent, IMO:

 

Dallas Cowboys Depth Chart

 

Starter	2nd	3rd	4th
Dak Prescott	Cooper Rush	Trey Lance	-
Ezekiel Elliott	Rico Dowdle	Royce Freeman	Malik Davis
CeeDee Lamb O	Jalen Brooks	Tyron Billy-Johnson	Racey McMath
Brandin Cooks Q	KaVontae Turpin	Ryan Flournoy	David Durden
Jalen Tolbert	Jalen Moreno-Cropper	Cam Johnson	Deontay Burnett
Jake Ferguson	Luke Schoonmaker	Peyton Hendershot Q	John Stephens Jr.
Chuma Edoga Q	Tyler Guyton	Asim Richards	-
Tyler Smith	T.J. Bass	Nathan Thomas	-
Brock Hoffman	Cooper Beebe	Dakoda Shepley	Cohl Cabral
Zack Martin	Josh Ball	-	-
Terence Steele	Matt Waletzko	Earl Bostick Jr. IR	-

48 minutes ago, bpac55 said:

Man, I really just hate what's happened to college football and college sports in general. 

 

 

Why is everyone against capitalism when it comes to athletes?  The NCAA had over a billion dollars in revenue.  NIL money is not part of that revenue.  It's money for things like autographs and other activities.  The reality is that it is making these payments that already existed above board instead off under the table.  

57 minutes ago, Random Reglar said:

You seemed to put some either/or combinations in there.   Like Campbell vs Wilson.  I don't see that.   And you didn't put other names in there.  Like Ainias Smith.

I think,  with the WRs.   Brown and Smith,  Covey, Wilson, Campbell, Ross (maybe only 5) and Ainias Smith as Phantom IR.  

Some of the thinking is good but,  it also seems like you aren't putting some players into the assessment pool.  Like Ainias Smith,  like McCollum, Jobe, Ricks. 

What you're talking about is good as "in addition, consider these older players won't be grabbed as quickly",  but I would think that you look at the 53 more normally.  

Okay, let me make it easy for you  Campbell is an old WR and Wilson is a young WR.  Regarding why I chose Wilson to compare to Campbell, both Wilson and Smith are young WRs, and I have Wilson considerably ahead of Smith, so I wen forward with Wilson as the young'n to compare to the grey beard Campbell.  If I replaced Wilson with Smith the young versus old comparison would be the same and in this theoretical Campbell would go to the Bell Squad and Smith would be on the 53.

Smith going on IR doesn't help his career development.  He needs reps not more muscle.  He either is on the 53 or on the Practice Squad.

Your Brown, Smith, Covey, Wilson, Campbell, Ross is a perfectly legitimate alternative. There are 427,488,328,406,002,556,429,801,375,338,000,000,000,000 legitimate alternatives ... and even more if you include Howie's trade possibilities.

Regarding your final two paragraphs, you need to go back to the post with the original premise.  In it the pooint was made that these older players can not be "grabbed" because they don't go through waivers.  They are free agents, and that means they can choose a team rather than be grabbed by a team.

19 minutes ago, NCiggles said:

Why is everyone against capitalism when it comes to athletes?  The NCAA had over a billion dollars in revenue.  NIL money is not part of that revenue.  It's money for things like autographs and other activities.  The reality is that it is making these payments that already existed above board instead off under the table.  

I think a GoFundMe on helmets is too far, though.

28 minutes ago, Alphagrand said:

the DAL offense isn't what it's been the past few seasons.  Without Lamb in the lineup it's pretty thin on talent, IMO:

 

Dallas Cowboys Depth Chart

 

Starter	2nd	3rd	4th
Dak Prescott	Cooper Rush	Trey Lance	-
Ezekiel Elliott	Rico Dowdle	Royce Freeman	Malik Davis
CeeDee Lamb O	Jalen Brooks	Tyron Billy-Johnson	Racey McMath
Brandin Cooks Q	KaVontae Turpin	Ryan Flournoy	David Durden
Jalen Tolbert	Jalen Moreno-Cropper	Cam Johnson	Deontay Burnett
Jake Ferguson	Luke Schoonmaker	Peyton Hendershot Q	John Stephens Jr.
Chuma Edoga Q	Tyler Guyton	Asim Richards	-
Tyler Smith	T.J. Bass	Nathan Thomas	-
Brock Hoffman	Cooper Beebe	Dakoda Shepley	Cohl Cabral
Zack Martin	Josh Ball	-	-
Terence Steele	Matt Waletzko	Earl Bostick Jr. IR	-

What, you have no faith in Jalen Tolbert as the number 3 WR?

 

 

3 minutes ago, Diehardfan said:

I think a GoFundMe on helmets is too far, though.

Well I know you would prefer an OnlyFans for them. 

59 minutes ago, Random Reglar said:

Well, I tend to think that people's opinions are often guided by the media.  And the media is trash.  Media in the US is bribed to lie.    However,  I'm not saying you're entirely wrong.

The best pure coverage cb in the draft,  Wiggins, 4.28 combine 40, had 3 great plays in a row,  and then people started saying that the Eagles WRs were slow,  but it was that Wiggins was really fast.  So,  yeah,  there was a data point, a play, a handful of plays,  where the Ravens guy won and the Eagles guy lost.   Those are examples of data points influencing opinions.  Not saying that doesn't happen. 

You think sports media writers are bribed to lie?  John Ross didn't look explosive in the first pre-season game.  He was slow in and out of breaks and didn't get separation. It looked like Wiggins stayed with him easily in part because Ross looked like Jalen Reagor.  

Dallas is a very top-heavy team given their free agent losses. They're just more susceptible to a blow-up season than us.

59 minutes ago, paco said:

Great, now students will jump on to the field to scan the code causing stoppages in play.   

Streakers>Scanners 

The good ole days...

It’s good Ainias Smith finally had some good days. Problem with him is, I’m less sold on a guy like him who’s had issues with drops and stuff going back to college, those things rarely get fixed overnight if they ever do. I don’t think he can see the field this season in any meaningful role. They absolutely have to make a trade there. 

31 minutes ago, vikas83 said:

I have them at 9-8 and the 7 seed, but I could easily see them missing the playoffs. Banking on Guyton at LT is downright insane - he played like 8 games in college at RT and was seen as someone who needed time to develop. Looking good against backups in preseason is a little different than Myles Garrett week 1. And Beebe likely isn't the starting center, Hoffman is. If it is Beebe, using a guy who never played center before is...interesting. 

But the bigger losses no one talks about are on defense. Armstrong and Fowler produced last year, and now they have NOTHING behind Parsons and Lawrence. Williams is out for the year, and Kneeland is a rookie. Bland and Diggs both gamble massively and get beat, and they still have zero at DT and LB. I think we see the defense take a massive step back due to personnel losses and reversion to the mean on turnovers. 

Beebe (C) and Guyton (LT) will both start Game 1 this year. RB an issue, WR without CeeDee an enormous even bigger problem. I do believe in youth though and stars rise every year from nowhere. Did DAL happen to pick a couple? idk.

I respect your opinion @vikas83, but I disagree when it comes to the defense. We'll see how Kendricks and Liufau work out as new LBs, Overshown is healthy this year after having a great rookie camp last year before the ACL. As far as DT goes, the addition of Phillips @ DT will help with depth and I expect them to pick up another DT before Game 1. World beaters? No, not even close. If Lawson can stay healthy he replaces the loss of Williams at DE. I think Zim is the gamechanger that keeps the defense better than respectable/expected.

I don't think they are going full rebuild either way the season plays out, but if they do they will have plenty of cap space to do so and this recent draft class looks to be a great start to that, looks to be very solid, especially on the OL. BTW Beebe looked great in his first start against LV starters. I do expect Guyton to struggle against Garrett, however he won't face a Myles Garret every week and he will only improve as the games are played. I welcome the youth, Tyron was great but you never knew when he was going to be available.

This is all speculation and we won't know anything until the games are played. As fan I am trying to stay positive.

No matter how you slice it, paying three guys 130 million (half your cap) is not sustainable, you got to pay the cap hit eventually. Do I want a new owner/GM absolutely. Guaranteed money in today's NFL is getting out of hand and it has burned DAL it seems like a lot, so I understand not signing guys to 8 year deals and spreading to cap out too far...there has to be a balance somewhere.

Is Renfrow still out there?

He used to be the prototypical slot WR a few years back.

Did he fall off the cliff that bad?

3 hours ago, paco said:

And then came back to troll the board several times under clone accounts AND spammed VA's youtube channel that he uses to fund his mother's treatments.

 

So in short, a POS loser.

He did that? That is vile.

46 minutes ago, NCiggles said:

Why is everyone against capitalism when it comes to athletes?  The NCAA had over a billion dollars in revenue.  NIL money is not part of that revenue.  It's money for things like autographs and other activities.  The reality is that it is making these payments that already existed above board instead off under the table.  

Yes, there should be a payment of some sort for college athletes. The way it's going though is the wrong way of doing it. It's totally backwards and ruining college sports. NIL and the transfer portal are two of the worst things to happen to college football. 

24 minutes ago, NCiggles said:

Well I know you would prefer an OnlyFans for them. 

Do the cheerleaders have one? You know the SEC ones are going this is BS if not.

2 minutes ago, Joe Ball said:

Beebe (C) and Guyton (LT) will both start Game 1 this year. RB an issue, WR without CeeDee an enormous even bigger problem. I do believe in youth though and stars rise every year from nowhere. Did DAL happen to pick a couple? idk.

I respect your opinion @vikas83, but I disagree when it comes to the defense. We'll see how Kendricks and Liufau work out as new LBs, Overshown is healthy this year after having a great rookie camp last year before the ACL. As far as DT goes, the addition of Phillips @ DT will help with depth and I expect them to pick up another DT before Game 1. World beaters? No, not even close. If Lawson can stay healthy he replaces the loss of Williams at DE. I think Zim is the gamechanger that keeps the defense better than respectable/expected.

I don't think they are going full rebuild either way the season plays out, but if they do they will have plenty of cap space to do so and this recent draft class looks to be a great start to that, looks to be very solid, especially on the OL. BTW Beebe looked great in his first start against LV starters. I do expect Guyton to struggle against Garrett, however he won't face a Myles Garret every week and he will only improve as the games are played. I welcome the youth, Tyron was great but you never knew when he was going to be available.

This is all speculation and we won't know anything until the games are played. As fan I am trying to stay positive.

No matter how you slice it, paying three guys 130 million (half your cap) is not sustainable, you got to pay the cap hit eventually. Do I want a new owner/GM absolutely. Guaranteed money in today's NFL is getting out of hand and it has burned DAL it seems like a lot, so I understand not signing guys to 8 year deals and spreading to cap out too far...there has to be a balance somewhere.

I get being positive as a fan, and I will be negative as a Eagles fan (on both the Cowboys and the Eagles). My issues with the defense are multiple. First, Fowler gave you 6 sacks in 2022 and 4 sacks last year, and Armstrong gave you 8.5 in 2022 and 7.5 last year. That's an average of 13 sacks the last 2 years that need to be replaced, and there is no one on the depth chart with any real experience. The Sam Williams injury is a real disaster for the team, and you have to hope Kneeland can produce right away. 

As for the DTs and LBs, the reports on Mazi Smith in camp have been underwhelming. Jordan Phillips is a nice piece, but the main issue for Dallas LBs last year was the interior DL couldn't keep them clean. Kendircks isn't what he was in Minnesota, but I think LBs can be plug and play IF the line can keep them clean. Dallas couldn't do that last year.

Finally, I think Bland and Diggs are 2 of the most overrated CBs in the game as they both gamble for picks and get beat deep. Gilmore was the actual number one corner last year, and he's gone now. Turnovers also tend to be cyclical, and it's hard to see a 3rd straight year of Dallas taking the ball away at a high clip (I could have said the same thing last year and would have been wrong, to be fair).

Add in the questions on the OL, the lack of WR options behind Lamb, and the worst RB room in the NFL, and...Jerry is banking on about 6 players (Dak, Lamb, Martin, Tyler Smith, Parsons and Lawrence) to carry the rest of the roster to the playoffs. That's not usually a winning formula.

To be clear, I think the Dallas defense ends in the 10-15 range. Above average, but not elite.

12 minutes ago, Iggles25 said:

Is Renfrow still out there?

He used to be the prototypical slot WR a few years back.

Did he fall off the cliff that bad?

Pretty much.  He got wrecked by Isaiah Simmons, put him into concussion protocol, and never heard from since.  McDaniels shuffled him down the depth chart and that was it. 

Seems like he's got a problem holding onto the ball, and he's known as somewhat of an improviser.  Can't really work within a scheme that asks him to do specific things, he's got to have chemistry enough with his QB to let him go do his own thing. 

I don't think we can add a pure slot WR like Renfrow, even if he isn't washed. We have no real answer if AJ or Devonta gets hurt. Wilson? Campbell? We need someone versatile who can do both. I'd be ok with Covey in the slot if need be, but if we add a WR, it needs to be someone who can also play on the perimeter.