Looking back at the worst mistakes made by the Cowboys front office

It was rough season for the Dallas Cowboys. After three straight playoff appearances, the Cowboys are sitting this one out after their first losing season since 2020. It’s been a year filled with injuries, blowouts, and repeated frustration directed toward the front office for this that, and the other.

This is nothing new. Jerry Jones is always the subject of criticism, some deserving, others not as much. From causing a distraction to his players with facility tours to not installing curtains at AT&T to keep the sun out of his players’ eyes, Jerry receives plenty of blame for why the Cowboys haven’t been able to win a championship in what will now be 30 years. After all, he’s the common denominator; why should we blame anyone else?

While the ‘Jones blaming’ can be a little trite (to use a word from his vocabulary) at times, there are legitimate problems caused by the front office. They have a responsibility to build a strong roster, but year-after-year, the Cowboys are very quiet in free agency. They rely heavily on the players they draft. They let several key players leave and free agency and take their sweet time extending the ones they keep.

Looking back on this season, many will say the Cowboys were doomed from the start. Their silence in free agency showed that they were all out in a season where they were supposed to be all in. Where did it all go wrong? Here are some hot ticket items and how much they affected the 2024 season.

Waiting too long sign Dak and CeeDee

The front office didn’t have to wait until the last second to re-sign their two most important offensive pieces, but that is exactly what they did. In Dak Prescott’s case, it literally went down to the wire as he was extended hours before kickoff. Had the Cowboys signed them early in the offseason it would’ve freed up extra cap space and allowed them room to spend more in free agency. But considering the Cowboys were never going to be spenders in free agency, why bother? In the end, they got those guys for the same price they would’ve paid had they signed them in the spring and all it did was keep CeeDee Lamb out of training camp. Sometimes the juice isn’t worth the squeeze.

Putting too much faith in Zeke

One of the biggest fumbles of the front office was how they handled the running back position. They were content letting Tony Pollard leave in free agency rather than allocating funds his way, but they did very little to replace him. They brought in veteran backs like Ezekiel Elliott, Royce Freeman, and Dalvin Cook at a cheap price. They ultimately decided Zeke was their guy. Elliott’s second stint in Dallas wasn’t good as he finished with career lows in everything. Rico Dowdle looked good down the stretch, but it took half the season for the team to use him properly. Hopefully, the team learn from their mistake and provide a little more firepower in the backfield. The Cowboys finished the year with the third-worst yards-per-carry average this season.

Trusting a rookie left tackle

The team finally parted ways with Tyron Smith this season after 13 years with the Cowboys. Smith has struggled to stay healthy as he’s gotten older, missing time in each of his last eight seasons with the team. The Cowboys decided to move on and looked to the draft to find an answer. That answer was thought to be the first-round selection, Tyler Guyton. Sadly, Guyton had all kinds of issues this year, both health and performance. Overall, the Cowboys did a fantastic job dealing with a slew of injuries along the offensive line, but getting reliable play at left tackle wasn’t one of them. Smith again got hurt while playing for the New York Jets, so moving on from him seems smart now, but hopefully, they’ll get a better showing from Guyton in year two.

Being too cheap at defensive tackle

Defensive tackle has always been a problem for the Cowboys. Whatever they try never seems to work. This year, they traded away a future late-round conditional draft pick to acquire Jordan Phillips from the New York Giants. They kept him on the roster long enough to lose that pick. Fail. They also predictably signed Linval Joseph who played for Mike Zimmer during his time in Minnesota. As a whole, it wasn’t disastrous. Mazi Smith took some positive steps forward, but they can never be strong in this area. They finished the season allowing four yards per rush, third-worst in the NFL.