Regardless of how disappointing the ending was, the Cowboys’ 2022 season has to be seen as a resounding success. Last off-season, the Dallas front office aggressively cut costs (and talent along with it) in an effort to get younger and more financially nimble.
Barely touching free agency, the Cowboys relied heavily on the draft and organic improvement from within to cover their self-inflicted losses. It was a unique strategy for a team that was considered a contender in a wide open conference, and certainly not a strategy held by many front offices.
Without a clear-cut dominant team in the league, many teams say the window was open and took the off-season as an opportunity to bulk up their rosters. Noting what the Super Bowl-winning Los Angeles Rams had just accomplished by aggressively trading and spending their way to a trophy, teams attacked free agency aggressively.
Teams not named the “Cowboys,” that is.
After letting Amari Cooper and Cedrick Wilson depart, Dallas started the 2022 season without three of their top-four receivers from a season before. With La’el Collins and Connor Williams gone, they had to start the season with two new starters on their offensive line.
The Cowboys didn’t bring in a proven veteran to help Dalton Schultz at tight end and had to lean on two rookies to pick up the slack in their commonly used 12 and 13 personnel groupings (multiple tight end sets).
With Randy Gregory leaving them for Denver, Dallas lost their top free agent in spectacularly embarrassing fashion. They kicked the tires on replacements, but settled on a committee approach to replace the loss of Gregory.
It was hard to make a case the Cowboys were even treading water, let alone upgrading their roster, after an off-season of purging.
How did Dallas’ approach compare to the rest of the teams in the NFL?