The Dallas Cowboys are coming off a season in which they won the NFC East, but unfortunately their season ended in all-too familiar fashion.
After earning the No. 2 seed in the NFC playoffs, the Cowboys were embarrassed at home by the youngest team in the NFL, the Green Bay Packers and Jordan Love, who was starting his first playoff game.
Now Dallas is entering one of the more consequential seasons in franchise history. With both Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb lacking long-term deals with the team, and coming off an offseason that featured several more departures than signings, the Cowboys are at a crossroads.
Because of the outside noise, combined with losing defensive coordinator Dan Quinn, Patrick Everson of Fox Sports projects the Cowboys to finish under their projected 10.5 win total.
“There’s uncertainty about the long-term future of Dak Prescott at QB,” Everson wrote. “And Dallas got its head handed to it by Green Bay in the wild-card round last season. Can they bounce back?… I’ll go with that lean and take Under 10.5 this season.”
The Cowboys have been under a microscope all offseason, as they’ve been without Lamb, who is holding out for a contract extension. There is also a real chance that 2024 is the final year of the Dak era in Dallas, and that the Cowboys will be in search of a new franchise quarterback come 2025.
If Dallas struggles, big changes could be on the horizon.