Dallas Cowboys: 5 Early bold predictions for the 2020 season
Early bold predictions for the Dallas Cowboys in the 2020 season.
Not that this ever changes but the Dallas Cowboys have been at the forefront of the NFL throughout the 2020 offseason. It starts with their ongoing contract negotiations with quarterback Dak Prescott, who recently signed his franchise tag, but has also included landing wide receiver CeeDee Lamb in the first round of the 2020 NFL Draft, re-signing Amari Cooper, Ezekiel Elliott testing positive for COVID-19 and losing Byron Jones and Robert Quinn in free agency.
But above everything, the biggest change for 2020 that the Cowboys made was switching out Jason Garrett for Mike McCarthy at head coach. That change could be the most important move made by any team in the league this offseason as they trade a much-maligned game-manager for a Super Bowl-winner.
As McCarthy takes over and with the talent on this roster, albeit with some obvious flaws at certain spots, the Dallas Cowboys have enormous expectations to meet in the 2020 season. But before training camp gets underway, let’s get wild and make some shockingly bold predictions for this team.
5. Cooper, Gallup, Lamb combine for 3,500 receiving yards
Wide receiver was not the biggest need for the Dallas Cowboys entering the 2020 draft. But when a prospect who possesses the talent that CeeDee Lamb does fell into their lap, the opportunity was too great for Jerry Jones to pass up. Now McCarthy has one of the best wide receiver groups in the NFL to bank on this season.
Amari Cooper, Michael Gallup and the now-Texan Randall Cobb went for 1,189, 1,107 and 828 yards receiving, respectively, last season, combining for a total of 3,124 yards as a group. Even though this a new offense for Prescott and the Dallas pass-catchers, I think the trio of Cooper, Gallup and Lamb can better that by a wide margin.
While Cobb has more NFL seasoning than Lamb as the latter comes into his rookie season, the Oklahoma product is the more talented player. And now that there should be a more creative, cohesive and sensible offense in place, that should open up the field for the two 1,000-yards receivers from last season and Lamb to operate freely, which most defenses simply can’t match.
This isn’t to say that all three players at the top of the wide receiver depth chart will top 1,000 yards. However, we could see a monster year from Cooper in the 1,500-yard range while Gallup and Lamb combine for the remaining 2,000 yards in some capacity to get to the 3,500-yard mark as a trio.