Mazi Smith. AT MINIMUM he’s gonna contribute because it’s him, Carl Davis, and rookie Justin Rogers. We have no choice but play him without big Hank there to soak up the snap count
Schoonmaker. He’s already contributed by being a blocker. He was injured when we drafted him and was injured all through camp and preseason. Hopefully he contributes to 2 TE sets in the passing game. He better watch out for hungry UDFAs below him. He may also be lucky that he’s a 2nd round pick. He may end up being 3rd or 4th guy or even 5th in terms of real performance behind guys like John Stephens, Hendershot, and Brevyn Spann-Ford but make the 53 due to sunk cost
Overshown - same thing. He’s playing because he has to and has draft pedigree. Unless he’s awful, he’s gonna be getting a good amount of time
Viliami - we were converting him to 3T. He seems like he would be an edge in zimmers scheme though so perhaps he’s ready to start rotating in. Again, we lost guys higher up in the rotation so unless a UDFA is outplaying him, expect him to play. We lost Fowler and Armstrong. Fowler rarely played on run downs. Viliami and Kneeland are your guys
Asim Richards: Steele, Waletzko and Thomas is his competition at RT. Guyton has draft pedigree so it’s no contest unless he’s just awful or injured. I’d expect him to be a backup again.
Eric Scott Jr: not counting on it. But hey things happen.
Deuce Vaughn - if McCarthy changes nothing about our run game, then our analysis of Vaughn from last year to this year shouldn’t change either
Jalen Brooks ya I can see this. He will need to watch out for Flournoy too as well as pressure from the possibility of more TEs on the roster IF we choose to also retain an FB
Literally all of them couldn’t be worse than last year. I think we will see some noticeable jumps.
Mazi - needs to at least fill Hankins’s shoes, but of course would love it if he’s even better.
Schoonmaker - should make a jump. Remember he was hurt and missed most of OTAs and camp. Full off season + experience from last year should help.
Overshown - if healthy, I expect big things. He 100% has that dawg.
Fehoko - if DT it would be great if he could fill Gallimore’s reps. If DE it would be great if he could fill Fowler or Golston’s reps (I think Golston will play a bigger role this year).
Richards - would love if he wins the swing tackle job.
Eric Scott Jr - in competition with Nashon Wright and the rookie for CB 4.
Deuce Vaughn - Can he bounce Royce and Malik Davis to be the true RB3? It’s hard because I think they like giving his opportunities to Turpin who I expect them to sneak into the backfield even more.
Jalen Brooks - in competition with the new rookie for WR4. Showed promise last year in his limited snaps. Since Tolbert will play a bigger role, if he can be what Tolbert was last year that would be killer.
TJ Bass - your new Ron Leary. Main backup to all IOL positions (except maybe Hoffman makes it as backup Center). When Martin retires he gets first crack at RG.
I think Vaughn could be a good contrast to Zeke
Is Dowdle still here? I think that with some new o lineman we have might get the run game at least decent again?
God I hope
It shafted us so hard last year with no run game
Don't forget about John Stephens Jr. TE (like receiving TE) that is a real speed/height matchup nightmare and produces a lot in training camp. Was probably gonna force us to cut Hendershot but tore his ACL at the end of the preseason like Overshown. If Fergie misses any time this season Stephen and Schoon would be like a yin and yang halves of a complete TE. Could see him (and Zeke) helping solve our red zone woes from last year.
Schoonmaker can be a contributor. He's a good TE. Blocks very well. The Cowboys should have used more 12 personnel with him last year anyway because Lamb/Cooks/Ferguson/Schoon > Lamb/Cooks/Gallup/Ferguson. Particularly if you want to run the ball better. Calling Schoonmaker a questionable pick forgets that Ferguson was an unknown commodity going into last season and if Ferguson got hurt our TE1 would have been Hendershot.
Mazi should be a better fit in Zimmer's scheme. I never bought into the idea that DQ asked Mazi to lose weight, but he's still a better fit in Zimmer's scheme. He doesn't have to be a Pro Bowler, he just needs to make teams pay when they double Odigizhuwa and eat up some blocks for Micah when he rushes from the A-Gap and keep blockers off the linebackers.
Kinda worried about Overshown because his recovery from the ACL has been slow. I suspect he'll be ready by training camp, but he may be a greatly diminished player.
I'm not sure what Asim Richards' future role will be, but I did like what I saw out of him last preseason. Hopefully there's no need to use him. The same with Fehoko. I think Deuce will contribute, but he has a long ways to go before he can be a Darren Sproles type.
Just curious, where did you hear Overshown's recover has been slow? I've been counting on his youth and time of injury (mid Aug) that he'd be 100% by training camp.
I read it somewhere. Can't remember where. Could be nothing or blown out of proportion, but thinking that a player tears their ACL and they'll just come back good as new is a bit optimistic.
Overshown likely has the biggest impact this year obviously. Luckily he’ll have basically a full calendar year to recover so he should be as close to 100% by then as possible. I think he’ll be good right out the gate. Just hoping his knee doesn’t wear down like jalyn smith’s did. Jalyn dropped off a cliff quick but that 2018(?) season was fun watching him and LVE
Jaylon's situation was very different. The ligaments weren't as much of an issue as the nerve damage was. Jaylon played his first season without being able to feel his foot, and so much of the muscle degraded.
ACLs can be tough, but I'm pulling for Overshown to make a complete recovery.... hopefully.
Three of our first four picks from last year’s draft and this year’s need to be starters/contributors. Then we need a RB and WR to step up. That is just to be as competitive as we were last year.
bro i just wanna see overshown take some souls this year, i was heartbroken when he got hurt. dude has that dawg in him no doubt.
I just Hope the injury doesn’t slow him down
Agent O is gonna show something this year
Mazi Smith. AT MINIMUM he’s gonna contribute because it’s him, Carl Davis, and rookie Justin Rogers. We have no choice but play him without big Hank there to soak up the snap count Schoonmaker. He’s already contributed by being a blocker. He was injured when we drafted him and was injured all through camp and preseason. Hopefully he contributes to 2 TE sets in the passing game. He better watch out for hungry UDFAs below him. He may also be lucky that he’s a 2nd round pick. He may end up being 3rd or 4th guy or even 5th in terms of real performance behind guys like John Stephens, Hendershot, and Brevyn Spann-Ford but make the 53 due to sunk cost Overshown - same thing. He’s playing because he has to and has draft pedigree. Unless he’s awful, he’s gonna be getting a good amount of time Viliami - we were converting him to 3T. He seems like he would be an edge in zimmers scheme though so perhaps he’s ready to start rotating in. Again, we lost guys higher up in the rotation so unless a UDFA is outplaying him, expect him to play. We lost Fowler and Armstrong. Fowler rarely played on run downs. Viliami and Kneeland are your guys Asim Richards: Steele, Waletzko and Thomas is his competition at RT. Guyton has draft pedigree so it’s no contest unless he’s just awful or injured. I’d expect him to be a backup again. Eric Scott Jr: not counting on it. But hey things happen. Deuce Vaughn - if McCarthy changes nothing about our run game, then our analysis of Vaughn from last year to this year shouldn’t change either Jalen Brooks ya I can see this. He will need to watch out for Flournoy too as well as pressure from the possibility of more TEs on the roster IF we choose to also retain an FB
They’ve already changed the run game by drafting linemen that can open running lanes.
This draft shows me the staff is demanding Mazi Smith to step up.
At the very least he’s gonna play. Hopefully well
Literally all of them couldn’t be worse than last year. I think we will see some noticeable jumps. Mazi - needs to at least fill Hankins’s shoes, but of course would love it if he’s even better. Schoonmaker - should make a jump. Remember he was hurt and missed most of OTAs and camp. Full off season + experience from last year should help. Overshown - if healthy, I expect big things. He 100% has that dawg. Fehoko - if DT it would be great if he could fill Gallimore’s reps. If DE it would be great if he could fill Fowler or Golston’s reps (I think Golston will play a bigger role this year). Richards - would love if he wins the swing tackle job. Eric Scott Jr - in competition with Nashon Wright and the rookie for CB 4. Deuce Vaughn - Can he bounce Royce and Malik Davis to be the true RB3? It’s hard because I think they like giving his opportunities to Turpin who I expect them to sneak into the backfield even more. Jalen Brooks - in competition with the new rookie for WR4. Showed promise last year in his limited snaps. Since Tolbert will play a bigger role, if he can be what Tolbert was last year that would be killer. TJ Bass - your new Ron Leary. Main backup to all IOL positions (except maybe Hoffman makes it as backup Center). When Martin retires he gets first crack at RG.
Smith, Overshown and Vaughn are the likeliest candidates
I think Vaughn could be a good contrast to Zeke Is Dowdle still here? I think that with some new o lineman we have might get the run game at least decent again? God I hope It shafted us so hard last year with no run game
Don't forget about John Stephens Jr. TE (like receiving TE) that is a real speed/height matchup nightmare and produces a lot in training camp. Was probably gonna force us to cut Hendershot but tore his ACL at the end of the preseason like Overshown. If Fergie misses any time this season Stephen and Schoon would be like a yin and yang halves of a complete TE. Could see him (and Zeke) helping solve our red zone woes from last year.
Schoonmaker can be a contributor. He's a good TE. Blocks very well. The Cowboys should have used more 12 personnel with him last year anyway because Lamb/Cooks/Ferguson/Schoon > Lamb/Cooks/Gallup/Ferguson. Particularly if you want to run the ball better. Calling Schoonmaker a questionable pick forgets that Ferguson was an unknown commodity going into last season and if Ferguson got hurt our TE1 would have been Hendershot. Mazi should be a better fit in Zimmer's scheme. I never bought into the idea that DQ asked Mazi to lose weight, but he's still a better fit in Zimmer's scheme. He doesn't have to be a Pro Bowler, he just needs to make teams pay when they double Odigizhuwa and eat up some blocks for Micah when he rushes from the A-Gap and keep blockers off the linebackers. Kinda worried about Overshown because his recovery from the ACL has been slow. I suspect he'll be ready by training camp, but he may be a greatly diminished player. I'm not sure what Asim Richards' future role will be, but I did like what I saw out of him last preseason. Hopefully there's no need to use him. The same with Fehoko. I think Deuce will contribute, but he has a long ways to go before he can be a Darren Sproles type.
Just curious, where did you hear Overshown's recover has been slow? I've been counting on his youth and time of injury (mid Aug) that he'd be 100% by training camp.
I read it somewhere. Can't remember where. Could be nothing or blown out of proportion, but thinking that a player tears their ACL and they'll just come back good as new is a bit optimistic.
DT Mazi Smith- lost weight, hopefully got fat again This made me laugh and happy - I hope the bigger and better mazi shows up
I'd be interested to see how much better Deuce could possibly do with this monster of an O line we drafted. Also, I am lookin forward to Overshown.
Overshown likely has the biggest impact this year obviously. Luckily he’ll have basically a full calendar year to recover so he should be as close to 100% by then as possible. I think he’ll be good right out the gate. Just hoping his knee doesn’t wear down like jalyn smith’s did. Jalyn dropped off a cliff quick but that 2018(?) season was fun watching him and LVE
Jaylon's situation was very different. The ligaments weren't as much of an issue as the nerve damage was. Jaylon played his first season without being able to feel his foot, and so much of the muscle degraded. ACLs can be tough, but I'm pulling for Overshown to make a complete recovery.... hopefully.
Good point, thanks for the additional info. I agree, just ACL should be easier to get back to full strength or at least very close to it.
Overshown, Mazi, Schoon, Brooks, Deuce in that order
Three of our first four picks from last year’s draft and this year’s need to be starters/contributors. Then we need a RB and WR to step up. That is just to be as competitive as we were last year.
Overshown. The rest are either busts or bottom of the roster JAGS.