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Dallas Cowboys: 3 Burning questions heading into Week 1 vs. Giants

By Randy Gurzi

ARLINGTON, TEXAS - AUGUST 29: Offensive coordinator Kellen Moore of the Dallas Cowboys on the sideline against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the fourth quarter of a NFL preseason game at AT&T Stadium on August 29, 2019 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images)
ARLINGTON, TEXAS - AUGUST 29: Offensive coordinator Kellen Moore of the Dallas Cowboys on the sideline against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the fourth quarter of a NFL preseason game at AT&T Stadium on August 29, 2019 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images) /
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LOS ANGELES, CA – JANUARY 12: Jeff Heath #38 of the Dallas Cowboys tackles Robert Woods #17 of the Los Angeles Rams in the fourth quarter in the NFC Divisional Playoff game at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on January 12, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CA – JANUARY 12: Jeff Heath #38 of the Dallas Cowboys tackles Robert Woods #17 of the Los Angeles Rams in the fourth quarter in the NFC Divisional Playoff game at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on January 12, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images) /

2. Will ignoring the safety position cost them?

Heading into this past offseason, the Cowboys had three major needs to address — tight end, defensive tackle, and safety. Tight end was taken care of when Jason Witten returned from retirement. There’s plenty of reason to debate if that was enough — especially considering how Witten looked before retiring in 2018 — but they did at least add a player they believe in.

As for defensive tackle, they added Trysten Hill in the second round and also signed Christian Covington to a free-agent contract. So far, Hill has yet to really stand out in the preseason but hopefully, he can develop into a solid rotational player.

With that being said, there are legitimate concerns about both those positions. But at least the team made a real effort to try and address them. As for the safety position, they did next to nothing.

Dallas brought in just one free agent in George Iloka, who didn’t even make the 53-man roster. As for the draft, they had an opportunity at landing Taylor Rapp or Juan Thornhill in the second and elected to go with Hill. They then had a shot at Chauncey Gardner-Johnson in the third but went with a guard in Connor McGovern.

That means they head into this season with the same starting duo at safety. For fans, this is frustrating as their main plan for improving at the position is to hope for Xavier Woods to improve. That’s possible, but it’s also not the best way to do business.

Thankfully, they may have been bailed out by preseason star Donovan Wilson, who was taken in the sixth round out of Texas A&M. Wilson did something nearly unheard of in the Dallas secondary during the exhibition games — he picked off multiple passes. In the end, he could be the guy to take over for Jeff Heath, but to start the season they’re going to have to prove they didn’t mess up by waiting so long to address a position in dire need of an upgrade.

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