The Dallas Cowboys are looking to find their way back into the playoffs and these five players appear ready to burst out and make that happen.
After going 13-3 in the previous year, winning four fewer games and missing the playoffs wasn’t in the plans for the Dallas Cowboys in the 2017 season. Unfortunately though, that’s the way that things played out for America’s Team. They had plenty of hardships to deal with, most notably dealing with the suspension of Ezekiel Elliott that loomed like an inevitable shadow early in the year, then came crashing down on the team mid-season.
Now the team heads into the 2018 campaign with hopes of rebounding. Of course, they are going to have to do that after losing two of the most notable names that fans have become accustomed to in recent years: Jason Witten and Dez Bryant. The former retired after an illustrious career while the latter was cut after not living up to his rich contract.
Due to those losses and for other reasons, there are questions about the Cowboys in the 2018 season. However, there is an avenue for this team to still succeed this year. They still have a tremendous level of talent, have players in key roles with great upside and should have an identity on both sides of the ball.
For Dallas to get back into the postseason though, they need some key players to step up. And these five guys have both the opportunity and talent to do just that and make names for themselves in the 2018 season.
5. La’el Collins, RT
Once the vaunted strength of the Cowboys, the Dallas offensive line wasn’t nearly as dominant as fans are accustomed to seeing last season. There were reasons for that, of course. Tyron Smith battled injuries at left tackle for much of the season, Jonathan Cooper was a band-aid at left guard and La’el Collins seemingly had growing pains and/or struggles at right tackle after seeing much of his previous on-field time at guard in the NFL.
Perhaps the biggest disappointment of that group though was the play of Collins though. When he was picked up by Dallas as an undrafted free agent, he was considered a steal as he only fell out of the draft due to erroneous character concerns. However, since coming into the NFL, he hasn’t had much consistency. He’s either been down on the depth chart or been changing positions throughout his pro career to this point.
One of the most underrated parts of an offensive line in the NFL though is consistency. That applies to both units as a whole and to players themselves. Thus, with the addition of Connor Williams via the draft, Collins will be able to finally find a bit of stability and stay at right tackle for another year. And though he had his issues last season, that consistency could do wonders for him.
If Collins is able to live up to his potential and work through his shortcomings of last year, the Cowboys offensive line should once again be the strength of this team and in the conversation for being the best unit in the league.