2024-25 Season in Review
The 2024-25 season will go down in lore as one to remember for many reasons. From rookies rewriting record books, to the running back renaissance reaching new heights, to Travis Kelce introducing the Swifties to the Super Bowl; you name it & this past year had it. Well, that is unless you name the Cowboys as the Chiefs’ opponent in the big game.
Dallas fans would be forced to again watch from the couch as another team represented the NFC in the last game of the year.
They wouldn’t have the option to even carry their astronomical levels of optimism into the playoffs with dreams of lands not seen since the 90s. The team that calls “Jerry World” home would finish the year 7-10, marking their first losing season & first time missing the postseason since 2020. Multiple key players either missed a chunk of the season (Daron Bland) or wouldn’t make it to the end of the season (Dak, Diggs, Overshown). The defense gave up the second-most points in the league (468). Backup QB Cooper Rush, unfortunately, could not find the bag he was in during Dak’s last in-season absence. Add to these factors the dominance of the eventual champion Eagles & the emergence of the Commanders under Dan Quinn & rookie passer Jayden Daniels & you have the recipe for the worst season in years.
HC Mike McCarthy would come to was relieved of his duties during the offseason, despite a trio of 12-win seasons preceding these events. Jerry felt that finding a new leader was the best way to maximize this roster. Now the question would be, who’s the next slumber party guest at the Joneses?
Enter: The Schottenheimer
After a not-so-rigorous search for the team’s next Skipper, it was decided that Brian Schottenheimer’s time had arrived. A career assistant & coordinator, the former University of Florida QB has bounced back & forth between the league & college since 1997, starting as an assistant with the Rams & most recently helming the OC position for Dallas. With a style historically centered in establishing the run first while simplifying the game plan for the signal caller, “Schotty” has seen heights such as helping guide the Jets to back-to-back AFC title games in 2009 & 10 with Mark Sanchez leading the on-field charge. It’ll be interesting to see if having a Top-10 QB like Dak Prescott, along with a bevy of weapons around him, will produce now that he’ll be calling plays at the star.
Offseason & Free Agency Activities
With the season finally coming to an end, the road to Super Bowl 60 began. After hiring their new Head Coach, the Cowboys would be dealt the first blow of the offseason. Seven-time All-Pro & Nine-time Pro Bowler Zack Martin would announce his retirement a week before free agency opened. A cornerstone of the offensive line & perhaps the Cowboys’ best offensive player for much of his career, the future Hall of Famer leaves the game with more Pro Bowls than holding penalties.
Free Agency would see the departures of a handful of team stalwarts:
- EDGE Demarcus Lawrence would head to Seattle on a 3-Yr, $42M deal after injuries saw him only play 4 games this past season. Lawrence was the 2nd round pick for the Cowboys in 2014, the same draft that netted them Martin. After 11 years, 4 Pro Bowls & 61.5 sacks, Tank takes his strong play to be cheered by the 12th man.
- CB Jourdan Lewis would be made the highest-paid Nickelback in football by the Jags with a 3-Yr, $30M deal with $20M guaranteed. Lewis played 84% of the defensive snaps last season, allowing a 68.4 completion percentage on 57 targets with an 85.3 QB rating & 1 interception. Lewis started 64 of 115 games played in 8 seasons in Dallas.
- RB Rico Dowdle & EDGE Chauncey Golston would find new homes as well. Dowdle signed a 1-Year, $2.75M with Carolina after amassing 1,328 scrimmage yards & 5 total touchdowns in 2024. Golston will still be donning blue this season as the Giants inked him to a 3-Yr, $18M deal after starting 13 of 17 games in place of D-Law last year. The career rotational pass rusher was graded #56 by PFF after racking up career-highs in total tackles (56), sacks (5.5), QB hits (8) & recording his first career interception.
With these departures, however, would come signings & re-signings to help restock the cupboard:
- DT Osa Odighizuwa will call Dallas home for at least another four years as he resigns for $80M.
- DT Soloman Thomas signed for two years & $8M
- EDGE Dante Fowler returns on a one-year deal after a successful season in Washington (10.5 sacks)
- RBs Miles Sanders & Javonte Williams signed one-year deals to add depth & experience to the tailback room
- All-Pro WR/KR Kavontae Turpin, LB Markquese Bell, LS Trent Sieg, DE Payton Turner & P Brian Anger would all re-sign with the club
Trade Market Pickups
In addition to these new additions via free agency, the trade market. There would be acquisitions like QB Joe Milton from the Patriots, LB Kenneth Murray from the Titans & CB Kaiir Elam from the Bills. While these players will add depth at key positions, no deal would be bigger than the one that netted George Pickens.
The Steel City pass catcher, often described as “mercurial” by the media, was brought to the Star in exchange for 2026 third-round & 2027 fifth-round picks. The 6’3, 200lb contested catch monster has posted 16.3 YPC since entering the league in 2022, routinely turning 50/50 balls into 80/20 balls & making some of the most spectacular grabs we’ve seen since the height of OBJ in New York. Posting film like his while working with a carousel of QBs that includes Mitchell Trubisky, Kenny Pickett, Mason Rudolph & in his most recent season Russell Wilson & Justin Fields makes hope spring eternal that playing with a Dak Prescott still in his prime & the best receiver he’s ever lined up opposite of (CeeDee Lamb) will elevate Pickens to an even higher level.
The Draft Arrives
The 2025 spectacle would see its fair share of shock. Shedeur Sanders, once thought by analysts & fans alike to be a top 32 lock, wouldn’t hear his name called until the fifth round by Cleveland. Travis Hunter ended up in Jacksonville. The Giants potentially nabbed a generational pass rusher & franchise passer all in the first round.
The Cowboys though?
The philosophy stays the same: build from the trenches outward. After watching the Panthers take the top player on their board, receiver Tetairoa McMillan, with the eighth pick, four spots before Dallas’s, they would stay true to this & draft Zack Martin’s successor, Alabama Guard Tyler Booker. Booker was an All-American in 2024, routinely halting speed & power rushers alike in their tracks while helping to clear rushing lanes & keeping the teammates who line up behind him clean.
The second round would see Boston College‘s Donovan Ezeiruaku taken by the Boys. We’ll discuss him more later in this article, but he comes in with loads of potential & a battle brewing in Texas across from Micah Parsons.
The rest of the draft would yield multiple potential future starters. Shavon Revel Jr, the #31 ranked player by the Blitz Sports Media Staff, saw his fall come to an end in the third round after a torn ACL prematurely ended his last college season at East Carolina in 2024. While the team traded their fourth rounder for Panthers receiver Jonathan Mingo in-season, the fifth saw them take Texas speedster Jaydon Blue & Florida linebacker Shemar James. Both have holes at their positions for varying reasons & will subsequently have the chance to earn playing time.
The final two rounds brought four more players to Big D, with the sixth welcoming OT Ajani Cornelius & the seventh DT Jay Toia, RB Phil Mafah, & DT Tommy Akingbesote. Depth aplenty with the chance for developments into more makes this a highly intriguing draft heading into the upcoming season.
3 Players/Positions to Watch Entering Camp
QB Dak Prescott
Legacy.
At this point, that is the biggest thing left for Prescott to build on. Since taking over for Tony Romo, he’s had MVP votes, finishing as high as second in 2023. He’s won in the regular season, sporting a 76-46 record (62.3%). He’s earned multiple extensions for the most valuable sports team in the world after being a 4th-round pick back in 2016. There’s only one thing missing: Playoff Success.
In seven playoff games, Prescott is 2-5, the most recent trip resulting in a 48-32 home loss to the Packers. The score wasn’t necessarily indicative of how far apart the two teams’ level of play was, with most citing Prescott’s consistent postseason turnovers (7 interceptions, 2 in this game) & a stark contrast in play from the regular season to the tournament. This current contract will take him through the 2028 season, but it’s this year that will set the tone for the next four years of Rayne Dakota Prescott’s career.
Running Back
One of the two more blatant question mark positions on the roster exists at tailback. In 2024, after little to no attempt to bring in options such as Saquon Barkley or Derrick Henry the prior offseason, Dallas mainly fielded a room that consisted of Rico Dowdle & Ezekiel Elliot with sprinkles of Deuce Vaughn & Hunter Luepke here & there. Dowdle played well in his first full season starting, turning 235 carries into 1,079 yards on 4.6 yards per carry while Zeke was the short-yardage back.
Even so, the Boys would let their top 2 backs hit free agency & add fellow free agents Miles Sanders & Javonte Williams while dipping into the draft pool in the latter rounds & selecting Texas playmaker Jaydon Blue & Clemson thumper Phil Mafah. While Sanders is becoming somewhat of a journeyman, he does have a history of high-level play, reaching his peak (so far) in 2022 when he made the Pro Bowl & ran for 1,269 yards on 259 totes (4.9ypc) & scored 11 touchdowns. That was three years ago, & while his latest stint in Carolina doesn’t bring to mind days past, he’s still only 28 & may have plenty left in the tank.
Williams is another veteran vying for playing time. Approaching his third year removed from an ACL tear suffered in Week 4 of the 2022 season, he says he feels like himself again. “Himself” would be a physical, downhill runner with hands who put up 1,219 scrimmage yards while finding the endzone seven times in 2021, his rookie year. The last two years in Denver have seen him play 33 of 34 possible games, catching 99 passes in 24 starts. He’s been able to stay on the field, show his pass catching (and blocking) ability, & is only 25 years old. That sounds like a player who could be on the field more often than not.
EDGE Rusher
Micah Parsons needs NO introduction. Number 11 out of Penn State has been nothing short of one of the best players to wear shoulder pads since being drafted number 12 to Dallas in 2021. At some point in the coming months, he’ll be the highest-paid defensive player in history. The question mark doesn’t lie in whatever spot Parsons lines up at; rather, it lies in the spot opposite to him.
This offseason saw the exits of Demarcus Lawrence & Chauncey Golston, two of the front-seven mainstays since Micah made his arrival (Golston was drafted in 2021, also, Lawrence in 2014). With this exodus of d-linemen, who will man the opposite end?
Free agency saw the arrival of Payton Turner (Saints), journeyman Solomon Thomas (Jets) & former Cowboy Dante Fowler Jr. (Commanders). Fowler, the 3rd overall pick in the 2015 draft, may be the leader in the clubhouse heading into training camp. He’s easily the most productive of the crew, having gotten opposing QBs on the ground 55.5 times, with 10.5 of those coming last year in Washington. Thomas, the 3rd overall pick two years after Fowler, posted a Pro Football Focus grade of 45.6 with 3.5 sacks. Turner comes in providing depth with the hope that the upside he flashed in the Bayou will finally come to fruition. He turns 27 in January.
Donovan Ezeiruaku arrives via the second round of this year’s draft as an exciting prospect, and the team has high hopes for him. The 6’2, 248-pound end won the “Ted Hendricks” award in 2024, honoring the nation’s top Defensive End in college, after posting 16.5 sacks & 20 tackles for loss. He’s twitchy with great athleticism & may be in the best place to further his talents after landing in Dallas with Parsons. Time will tell.
One dark horse most have forgotten about, though, is Sam Williams. Last year’s camp saw him tear his ACL & partially tear his MCL during a special-teams drill, which resulted in him going on to miss all of 2024. Williams is reportedly headed in the right direction, taking part in OTAs on a limited basis with the expectation of being a full-go come late July. The career rotational rusher has long been someone Dallas was hoping would be next to develop into one of the great defensive players to wear the Star, & with a competition looming going into his contract year, it’s now or never.
