5 Cowboys with major records within reach in 2019 season finale

Despite a disappointing season, several Dallas Cowboys are among the best at their respective positions and offer hope for the future.

Amari Cooper and Michael Gallup

Among receivers by yardage, Amari Cooper sits at 11th with 1,097. He cannot catch league leader Michael Thomas of New Orleans, who has 1,688. It’s highly unlikely he could surpass Tampa Bay’s Chris Godwin, Atlanta’s Julio Jones, or Kansas City tight end Travis Kelce. But Carolina’s D.J. Moore, Houston DeAndre Hopkins, Tampa Bay’s Mike Evans, Minnesota’s Stefon Diggs, Detroit’s Kenny Golladay, and Keenan Allen of the Chargers are all within 100 yards. A Top 10 finish is certainly within reach for Cooper, but he will need a better day than he had against Philadelphia in Week 16.

Cooper already has his second-highest yardage totals for any season except 2016. With 56 yards versus Washington, he’ll top that mark for his most productive season as a pro.

Second-year superstar-in-the-making Michael Gallup occupies the 21st spot on the list of 2019 receivers with 1,009 yards. That number is almost double his 2018 yardage total. There’s a crowded field of 21 pass-catchers within 100 yards either way of Gallup’s current mark, but the Colorado State product stands an excellent chance of finishing the year inside the Top 20. It would be a dramatic uptick; he placed 88th last season.

Jason Witten

Witten’s 505 receiving yards have him ranked 82nd in the league right now. It’s possible, with another 56 yards against Washington, that he’ll surpass his yardage total from 2017, which was the future Hall of Famer lowest seasonal output since his rookie campaign of 2003.

But of particular note is Witten’s touchdown total. With 72 scores on his resume, Witten is currently in second place on the team’s all-time touchdown reception leaderboard. Dez Bryant had 73 receiving touchdowns in his Cowboys career.

Witten came out of retirement because he felt the team was close to the Super Bowl berth he never got. They almost assuredly won’t get there, and it’s assumed that coach Jason Garrett won’t return next season. Would a deteriorating Witten stick around while the team adjusts to life under a new coach who’d be arguably less devoted to a 37-year-old tight end?

It’s not hard to imagine the current Cowboys coaching staff and players efforting to get Witten a pair of scores in the 2019 finale to make him the franchise leader in touchdown catches, should he decide to retire for good after this season.

Individual accolades are not what the 2019 Cowboys were after. Any of the players mentioned here would trade their personal accomplishments this season in a heartbeat for a realistic shot at the ultimate prize. But the gaudy stats do speak to the long-term prognosis for several Cowboys stars. The men responsible for putting up these numbers and securing these lofty rankings serve as the foundation for the heights that this team seems capable of reaching.

It practically defies logic that a club could boast the No. 2 passer and a Top 5 rusher plus two Top-20 receivers… and not even finish with a winning record. While the Dallas playmakers’ stats and rankings may be a painful and disheartening reminder of opportunities missed this season, they may one day be the first black-and-white hints of a truly special offense, one that was only just beginning to gel in 2019.

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