Dallas Cowboys: 3 Early breakout candidates for 2019 season

As the Dallas Cowboys look to defend their NFC East title, which three players appear ready to break out in the 2019 NFL season?

Early on in the 2018 NFL season, things looked troublesome for the Dallas Cowboys. While the defense was consistently stepping up and performing well above expectations, the offense ultimately looked quite lost. Their passing game was pedestrian at best, largely due to a distinct lack of weapons that was a concern throughout the offseason. Then came the Amari Cooper trade.

Cooper arrived in Dallas after the team got off to a 3-4 start and completely changed the narrative for the campaign. The team went 7-2 following the acquisition of the wide receiver, a mark that was good enough to win America’s Team the NFC East. The Cowboys then earned a playoff win over the Seattle Seahawks in the Wild Card Round before succumbing to the Los Angeles Rams in the Divisional Round.

After the success of the Cowboys following the Cooper trade, Dallas has enormously high hopes for the 2019 season. They are surely going to be fighting again for the division crown — likely with the Philadelphia Eagles — but should also be eyeing a deeper playoff run as their young defense looks to take a step forward.

Furthermore, there is optimism that the offense should be even better in 2019 as well. Not only will the Cowboys have Cooper for a full season now but transitioning from Scott Linehan to Kellen Moore at offensive coordinator could bring more production, consistency and creativity on that side of the ball, which would make the team more successful overall.

With these high hopes and expectations, though, the Cowboys are going to need players to come into the 2019 season and become reliable contributors or even stars. These are three players in that regard that could be due for breakout years in 2019.