Dallas Cowboys staring down a make-or-break season in 2020

The Dallas Cowboys enter the 2020 NFL season with the most talented pool of offensive weapons in the league but high expectations trail closely behind.

The 2019 campaign for the Dallas Cowboys was disappointing, for lack of better words. Finishing 8-8 over and in secnd in the NFC East — the weakest division in the NFC — Dallas was horrendous against teams above or equal to .500, with just two wins out of eight contests, as opposed to their 6-2 record against teams below .500.

Out of their eight wins, the Cowboys were victorious by seven or more points in all of them, with four of their eight losses coming by seven or more points. However, the other four of those losses were by four points or fewer.

There’s no telling how many narrow losses were the fault of head coach Jason Garrett. To prevent a repeat of this failure to make the playoffs, Jerry Jones, owner of the Dallas Cowboys, terminated Garrett’s contract as head coach, and signed former Green Bay Packers’ head coach Mike McCarthy as his successor.

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Moving on from Garrett has given the Cowboys the opportunity to bring in a new head coach who has an impressive track record featuring a 125-77-2 (.618) career record as a head coach in Green Bay, along with nine playoff appearances (10-8 playoff record) and a Super Bowl XLV title. His résumé is far superior to Garrett’s 85-67 (.559) record featuring only three playoff appearances (2-3 playoff record).

Dallas, initially, was very successful with their selections in the 2020 NFL Draft, highlighted with Oklahoma wide receiver CeeDee Lamb (No. 17 overall) and Alabama cornerback Trevon Diggs (No. 51 overall) with their first two picks. The Cowboys’ offense now has three very talented wide receivers in Amari Cooper, Michael Gallup and the rookie out of Oklahoma — the No. 1-ranked receiver in the 2020 NFL Draft class for many pundits.

Time for the Cowboys to shine in win-now mode

Problems, however, begin to arise at the quarterback position. With contract negotiations between Dak Prescott and the organization at a stand-still, the Cowboys must have a successful 2020 campaign that is highlighted by a deep playoff run.

They will never have a more talented pool of players on the offensive side of the ball again, therefore they must make the most of this opportunity. As Prescott’s tenure with the franchise is becoming doubtful due to the free-agent signing of former Cincinnati Bengal quarterback Andy Dalton, the Cowboys are in win-now mode.

The current dilemma with the COVID-19 Pandemic provides extra time for the offensive line to recover from any nagging injuries that they were dealing with throughout 2019. This also provides McCarthy to strategize his comeback with his new staff that will provide a playoff birth in the upcoming season.

The Dallas Cowboys have a finite amount of wiggle room when it comes to the salary cap, as they have roughly $5.5 million per OverTheCap. That being said, they have an aging core with upcoming contract expirations and will not be able to sustain a superpowered offense such as the one they currently possess.

If they do not have the breakout year that every Cowboys fan projects each season, Dallas will be stuck in purgatory for the next decade due to salary cap restrictions and an aging core in the offensive line.

In order to ensure that this is, indeed their year, Jerry Jones must be aggressive in the trade market to pursue any position of weakness on the defense that will give the team the minimum safety required to win it all, or else this whole roster will be comprised for nothing but hit-or-miss games in the regular season, followed by yet another long offseason.