Dallas Cowboys 2018 Training Camp Profile: Allen Hurns

The Dallas Cowboys went to free agency to add some help at wide receiver with the addition of Allen Hurns. What can he provide the Cowboys to make up where they lacked last season?

Is Allen Hurns the top wide receiver on the roster of the Dallas Cowboys entering training camp? The Cowboys — a franchise with five Super Bowl championships — have big question marks at the wide receiver position, something they haven’t had to question a lot in their history. The question is, who will be the No. 1 wide receiver for the team this season?

Granted, none of the current Cowboys have ever been a No. 1 option at the wide receiver position in their career for longer than one season, with Terrance Williams taking that role with the Cowboys in 2015 when Dez Bryant was injured. Last season with the Jacksonville Jaguars, Hurns had to take a larger role with his former team when Allen Robinson was injured in Week 1 and lost for the season.

Hurns joins the Cowboys as a free agent signing this offseason, and with the Cowboys releasing Bryant this same offseason, Hurns will be needed to provide immediate help wherever the Cowboys put him when on the field in any given formation.

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Though there is some competition with Terrance Williams, Deonte Thompson and rookie Michael Gallup as to who will have the most playing time and even targets, of this group, Hurns can have success because he’s not going to have to be an all-world type of receiver, but just play to the role the Cowboys coaching staff asks him to do.

What’s going to be fun to watch with Hurns and the rest of the wide receivers of the Cowboys is seeing which one steps up and takes over that lead role. Could it be Hurns? Looking at his numbers from his four years with the Jaguars, Hurns has garnered 42 starts in 52 games with 189 receptions for 2,669 yards receiving, for an average of 14.1 yards per reception. Hurns has also collected 21 career touchdowns and had nine receptions of 40-plus yards.

Now for the other shoe to drop. Of those 21 touchdowns, 16 of those came in Hurns’ first two seasons in Jacksonville, and of his nine 40-plus yard receptions, seven of those were in those same first two seasons.

Looking back at Hurns’ career, in the 2014 season, he had a rookie season of 677 yards receiving on 51 receptions and six touchdowns in 16 games (eight starts). That season also saw 11 20-plus yard receptions and four 40-plus yard receptions. The following year, Hurns played in 15 games with 15 starts for 1,031 yards on 64 receptions and 10 touchdowns. The 2015 season saw Hurns total 19 20-plus yard receptions and three 40-plus yard receptions, including one for 80 yards.

Then injuries hit Hurns’ career, and the ensuing two seasons have seen his numbers in all areas drop. The past two seasons, Hurns has combined for 21 games played (out of a possible 32) with 19 starts. In those games, he’s had receptions totals of 35 in 2016 and 39 in 2017. His yards per reception have dropped as well, with a 16.1 yards per reception average in 2015 falling to 13.6 yards per catch in 2016 and 12.4 in 2017. Hurns has collected five touchdowns combined the past two seasons and has had just one catch of 40-plus yards in each of the past two seasons.

Granted, Hurns’ injury history has slowed down his overall production. As sportsinjurypredictor.com noted last season, Hurns suffered a high ankle sprain that cost him six games in mid-November. The 2016 season saw him have a concussion in Week 9, and a hamstring injury cost Hurns five games that same season.

The great part about Hurns for the 2018 season is this is a fresh start for the wide receiver, and as aforementioned, he doesn’t have to be the next Jerry Rice, Michael Irvin or name any all-time great receiver. Hurns just needs to stay on the field, and not only that, just produce when given the opportunities, as it is all but certain that quarterback Dak Prescott will give Hurns the targets needed to be a success with the Cowboys.

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It will be quite exciting to see if Hurns can regain some of the form he had his first two seasons when he was mostly healthy. Even if that comes in spurts this upcoming season, a healthy Hurns will most likely get back to that style of play, but the injury trend can’t continue to occur like it has the past two seasons for one of the newest Cowboys players.

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