Cowboys’ John Fassel: New kickoffs will ‘feel like a real football play’; KaVontae Turpin could explode

From @ToddBrock24f7: Fassel called kickoffs “a dying play.” New rules should give a speedy return man- like the Cowboys’ KaVontae Turpin- a huge advantage.

The Cowboys felt like they found a secret weapon when they signed KaVontae Turpin away from the USFL after his MVP season of 2022. While he went on to make the Pro Bowl his first year in Dallas, it has felt like Turpin has still been kept largely under wraps, thanks to a set of rules that somewhat limited the blazing speed that had made him so dangerous.

With revised kickoff rules in place for 2024, Cowboys special teams coordinator John Fassel believes the league is about to see what the 27-year-old is truly capable of.

Fans got a breathtaking preview in a 2022 preseason game against the Chargers, when Turpin returned both a punt and a kickoff for scores.

Since then, Turpin hasn’t taken a kick back to the house. In fact, he’s barely gotten to try. Last season, he logged just 10 kickoff returns the whole year.

But… his per-return average was a jaw-dropping 29.2 yards, the highest of any player with double-digit returns.

That could become the norm rather than the exception, now that kick returns are set to make a return of their own.

“It was a dying play,” Fassel said Thursday on Good Morning Football. “And it feels like it’s back, and it’s back in a big way. I must say, I’m proud of the NFL for being bold, because this is a big change.”

Touchbacks last season were up a whopping 373% over what they had been just 14 years prior, and in the name of payer safety, kickoffs themselves had become a ceremonial formality.

Fassel was instrumental in developing the new rules, which were approved by owners last week at the annual league meeting.

“We were losing the play,” he lamented, “and there’s a lot of history behind the kickoff and kickoff return.”

Just not much recent history.

There were just four kickoff-return touchdowns leaguewide in all of 2023. The last one for Dallas came on Thanksgiving Day 2021, when Tony Pollard brought one back 100 yards versus the Raiders. Prior to that, if you take out CeeDee Lamb’s half-field scoring dash after scooping up an onside kick attempt against the 49ers in 2020, the Cowboys’ last kick return for a TD had come from Felix Jones.

In 2008.

Now, kickers will essentially be incentivized to keep the ball in play rather than blast it through the end zone. Tacklers and blockers will start closer to one another but be forced to remain stationary until the returner has the ball.

Gone are the high-speed collisions and injuries that often result from ten cover men sprinting full-steam and face-first into a wall of charging blockers. And with no one getting a head start on the play, a speedster like Turpin should suddenly have the advantage. (The Steelers, not coincidentally, signed veteran return ace Cordarrelle Patterson just hours after the new rule was approved.)

The NFL’s new-look kickoffs will be on trial in 2024 but could remain permanent past that. And the rule could trickle down to all levels of the sport.

“If this thing gets adopted by college football, high school football, the lower levels, I think we’ve done a great thing for the game of football,” Fassel said. “We’ve made it better, we’ve made it safer, and I just can’t wait to see where it goes. I think everybody’s really going to love it. It’s a unique look at the start, but once that ball gets caught, man, it’s game on and it’s going to feel like a real football play.”

And if all the stars align, the secret weapon the Cowboys have kept stashed for two years could be that real play’s next real poster child.

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2024 projected win totals for each NFC East team

We’re looking at a ranking of all four NFC East teams including the Philadelphia Eagles by 2024 win total predictions

We’re about 40 days from the 2024 NFL schedule reveal, but the world and Eagles fans already know who their opponents will be.

The league uses multiple factors to determine the year’s game schedule.

There’s a cycle of inter-conference faceoffs; each NFC division rotates through each AFC division every four seasons and the other NFC divisions every three seasons.

In addition, where a team finishes within their division dictates a same-finish matchup with one team from the opposite conference and whichever divisions aren’t in the rotation for that season.

Philadelphia previously had one of the more difficult schedules over the past two years, but 2024 will see the Eagles among the top ten easiest schedules based on win-loss percentages from last year.

Offering an early glimpse into where the Eagles could finish this season, DraftKings revealed a 2024 win total prediction for all 32 teams, and Philadelphia landed at No. 6 on the list.

Here’s where all four NFC East teams are projected to land.

Former Cowboys DC Monte Kiffin to be honored with Hall of Fame Award of Excellence

From @ToddBrock24f7: Kiffin was on staff in Dallas just 2 seasons, but the influence of one the game’s greatest defensive masterminds can still be felt today.

A former Cowboys coordinator and one of the greatest defensive minds in football history has received recognition from the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Monte Kiffin was named this week as one of 15 recipients of the Hall of Fame’s Award of Excellence. This is the third year for the award, meant to honor assistant coaches, athletic trainers, equipment managers, public relations personnel and film/video directors who have made significant contributions to the sport. The recipients are not nominated or voted on by the Hall of Fame.

Kiffin served as the Cowboys defensive coordinator for the 2013 season in what was Jason Garrett’s third full year as head coach. He had already been coaching at the college and pro levels for over 45 years, created the revolutionary Tampa-2 defense, and won a Super Bowl ring with the Buccaneers by the time he came to Dallas.

Despite having a defensive roster anchored by DeMarcus Ware, Sean Lee and Jason Hatcher in a Pro Bowl year, the 2013 Cowboys struggled to just an 8-8 finish and missed the postseason.

Kiffin lost the DC job to Rod Marinelli for 2014 but stayed with the team as an assistant head coach for the defense. Dallas put together a 12-4 season, finished in a three-way tie for the NFC East title, and made it to the divisional round of the playoffs.

Kiffin’s fingerprints can be seen all over NFL defenses even today, and his influence still remains in Dallas. Mike McCarthy comes from the Marty Schottenheimer coaching tree, as did Kiffin. And the current Cowboys defense, which was put together by Dan Quinn, is based on philosophies Quinn developed under Pete Carroll, who in turn was mentored by Kiffin.

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Using safeties as linebackers, prioritizing speed over size, deploying multiple defenses from a single look, emphasizing takeaways and being willing to give up yards but not allowing teams to score — all are signatures of the scheme Kiffin invented.

Now 84, Kiffin works as a consultant and player personnel analyst at Ole Miss, where his son Lane is the head football coach.

Former offensive coordinator Ernie Zampese, equipment manager “Buck” Buchanan and longtime PR exec Greg Aiello are among the previous Awards of Excellence winners with Cowboys ties.

This year’s Awards of Excellence recipients will be recognized in Canton June 26-27.

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Dak Prescott might be an option for the Broncos in 2025

Dak Prescott is not expected to get an extension from the Cowboys this offseason and he’s scheduled to become a free agent in 2025.

The Denver Broncos could not afford to pursue Kirk Cousins during free agency this year and while the team considered budget options like Sam Darnold, even his price tag proved to be too steep for Denver.

With the NFL draft now just under one month away, it’s looking like the Broncos might go into 2024 with Jarrett Stidham and a rookie as their top two quarterback options.

The best free agent options are already all off the board, and Denver has limited salary cap space remaining. The Broncos will be able to start fresh with a better cap situation in 2025, though, and a notable quarterback could be headed for unrestricted free agency next spring.

The Dallas Cowboys and Dak Prescott are not expected to get an extension done this offseason, according to a report from NFL Network (via Cowboys Wire). Prescott, 30, is now entering the final year of his deal with no extension on deck.

Denver is projected to have more than $93 million in available cap space next year, so if Prescott becomes available, the team would be able to afford him. The veteran quarterback has completed 67% of his passes for 29,459 yards with 202 touchdowns against 74 interceptions through his first eight seasons in the NFL. Prescott has also rushed for 1,884 yards and 28 scores.

The list of quarterbacks scheduled to become free agents in 2025 also includes Jared Goff (29), Tua Tagovailoa (26) and Jordan Love (25). Goff and Love seem likely to get extensions from the Detroit Lions and Green Bay Packers, respectively, but Tagovailoa’s future with the Miami Dolphins is uncertain.

If the Broncos do not land a top quarterback in this year’s NFL draft, the team could swing big in free agency next spring. Prescott might end up being the most notable QB on the market in 2025, so his status in Dallas is worth watching in the coming months.

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Cowboys need a new RB, here’s the best draft slot to find a star

Looking at where the NFL’s top rushers are drafted, the Cowboys should have an idea when they should target the position in 2024> | From @ReidDHanson

The Cowboys are in the market for a RB. Tony Pollard has left the building leaving Rico Dowdle, Deuce Vaughn, Hunter Luepke and Malik Davis to pick up the slack. With only 163 career carries between them, reinforcements are needed in Dallas.

2024 featured one of the best free agent RB classes seen in years, yet the Cowboys, intent on cutting costs, quietly sat out. With top tier, middle tier and even most lower tier options gobbled up, Dallas will likely shift their focus to the 2024 NFL draft to fill their needs at RB1.

Unlike last season, this year’s RB draft class isn’t extraordinarily deep. Good options exist but the pool is somewhat shallow. With a glaring need staring them in the face, the Cowboys can’t afford to miss out. None of their current backs profile as a starter so it’s imperative they find a prospect who’s at the very least capable of splitting a starting load in Year 1.

The temptation to overdraft will be significant for the Cowboys but looking back at where the best RB performers have been drafted could help guide them to more prudent decisions in the draft.

Grading players is no simple task, and this is especially true at the RB position. Yardage totals and yards/carry are often the result of good blocking and not exceptional RB play, so for this exercise PFF grades and rushing yards over expected (RYOE) will be used to determine the top-10 RBs in the NFL today.

Of the top-10 graded RBs in 2023, only one, Christian McCaffery was drafted in the first round. Five were drafted on the second day (rounds 2-3) three were drafted in the fifth round and one went undrafted altogether. For the sake of argument, the undrafted player will be given a draft slot of 265. With that in mind, the average draft spot of a top-10 RB comes in at 108.2, which would be right at the top of the fourth round.

RYOE has many of the same names as PFF on their leaderboard (which is probably a good sign). While RYOE doesn’t assess receiving skills or pass protection, it speaks directly to a RB’s ability to add value to situations given to him by his offensive line. Player GPS makes this a little more objective than PFF grades so it’s interesting to see the average draft spot of these top-10 come in at 155.5.

Both lists indicate top producing RBs are readily available on Day 3 of the draft and the Cowboys should not feel obligated to use a top-100 pick on a position that offers so much value later in the draft.

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Cowboys look for defensive tweaks from Zimmer, not total rebuild: ‘Football is still football’

From @ToddBrock24f7: The new DC will be expected to implement an improved scheme in Dallas but show results quickly in what is shaping up to be a prove-it year.

Often, a first-year coordinator means a long, slow turn from the unit he’s taking over. Personnel moves, new assistants, changes in scheme, revamped verbiage and terminology, and plain old fit within the rest of the organization is what often marks a coordinator’s first year on the job… and frequently results in growing pains in the field.

Mike McCarthy and the 2024 Cowboys don’t have the luxury of waiting for things to gradually develop on the defensive side of the ball, with more and more indicators pointing to a total reset in 2025 if this season falls short of anything but a very strong showing in a conference championship.

So newly-hired defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer, who’s been on various NFL sidelines for most of the past three decades, is already off and running with his staff in Dallas.

“They’re in there early, the defensive staff, and they’re just grinding away. They’re spending a ton of time together,” McCarthy told reporters this week while in Orlando for the annual league meeting.

But while the Cowboys definitely need a refresh after a 2023 that saw the defense exposed several times- especially in the postseason- as the team’s weakness, Zimmer apparently won’t be trying to reinvent the wheel as he implements his philosophy.

“Football is still football,” explained McCarthy. “We’re still going to line up with 11 players on defense, Mike’s going to still run some of the common concepts that our players are engaged with, but it’s really the utilization of how we get to them. It’s got to flow. And that will play to our strength, because Mike’s called a lot of games in this league. He has a lot of experience with his system, and to get it in properly, we definitely have the time to get that done.”

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Right now, it’s coaches in meeting rooms. It’s reviewing game film. It’s drawing up Xs and Os on a whiteboard. It’s football gameplanning, but it’s all theoretical. Soon, it will be about flesh-and-blood players bringing those concepts to life on the practice field… maybe in just a slightly different way than the returning veterans will remember from last year.

“The biggest thing for the players will be communication; that will be the first thing that hits them,” admitted McCarthy. “But it always comes down to the nitty-gritty, and it’ll be techniques, alignment, stance, philosophy, utilization of the body types. So much has been made of our run defense. We need to take another step. Statistically, we have improved each year in that area, but it’s still not good enough. We’ve got to play the run first and be more situation-conscious with that. It can’t be all about sacks.”

The run defense has gotten better over the past three seasons, at least incrementally. In 2021, the Cowboys allowed opponents 4.5 yards per carry. In 2022, it was 4.4. Last year: 4.2.

But that’s still just middle of the pack among all NFL defenses. Zimmer has plenty of work to do. And since the team has lost several playmakers and done precious little in the way of adding experienced free agents (aside from linebacker Eric Kendricks, one of Zimmer’s former Vikings players), the new coordinator will have to hope for some fresh talent to work with via the draft.

With holes still to fill at every level of the defense, Zimmer, McCarthy, and the Cowboys definitely have a type they like.

“The most important thing about a system is to have the flexibility to accommodate all the players that you bring into your building,” the coach said. “I think you’ve got to watch on how stringent and structured you are, but I don’t think you can be big enough or have enough length, particularly in that defensive front. We’ll continue to work to that profile.”

So make changes, but not too many. And not too drastic. Except in the right areas. And do it mostly with what we already have in-house. And most important of all, do it in a hurry.

Got it, Zim?

It’s not a tear-down, it’s an express-lane tune-up. And hopefully it’s enough to get the Cowboys where they want to go in 2024.

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‘The defense is the thermostat’: Cowboys’ McCarthy wants more consistency from Zimmer’s unit

From @ToddBrock24f7: “When we win the championship, it’ll be because of our complementary football,” said McCarthy. He’s looking at you, Mike Zimmer.

Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy has no doubt that his team is capable of hoisting the Lombardi Trophy. And this week at the league meeting in Orlando, he laid out exactly what it will take to make that happen.

“When we win the championship,” McCarthy told a gathering of reporters, “it’ll be because of our complementary football. That’s what wins championships.”

Now entering his second season as the offensive play-caller in Dallas, McCarthy is clearly confident that his own unit is up to the task. After all, they led the league in points in 2023. The tacit implication, of course, is that Dan Quinn’s defense is what cost the Cowboys too many times in 2023… and certainly when it mattered most.

The way McCarthy sees it, it’ll be up to new defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer to raise the bar in 2024.

“The defense is the thermostat of your football team,” McCarthy explained. “And the offense and the defense need to complement one another, because the defense always should have the ability to keep you in the game. The offense needs to go win the game.”

Dak Prescott & Co. generally did last season, putting 30 or more points on the board 10 times out of 17 (though many of those points admittedly came from defensive scores). The Cowboys’ high-powered offense also led in first downs and finished top-three in offensive plays run and top-five in yards amassed.

But there were simply too many instances when the defense under Quinn dug too big a hole for the offense to climb their way out of.

In four of the team’s five regular-season losses, Dallas found themselves trailing by double digits at some point. And the team’s three lowest point outputs of the year (Buffalo, San Francisco, Arizona) came in contests where they were behind by 12 or more points in the second quarter.

When the defense was cold, the offense couldn’t get the pilot light fired.

“Yeah, you always want to score in the 30s,” McCarthy noted. “But when you get in those games, one has to pick up for the other. And if you look at our last game, that clearly wasn’t evident.”

The first-round playoff flop versus Green Bay was perhaps the most embarrassing example of the defense going into hibernation, with the Cowboys staring up at a 27-0 deficit before halftime.

With over two months of hindsight, though, McCarthy is at least able to reflect on the positive strides the team made in what ultimately proved to be a disappointing year.

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“A big focal point for us going into ’23 was we needed to take care of the football better, and we needed to win the time of possession and get the snaps down [in terms] of how long our defense is on the field. And we accomplished that at a high level,” the coach said.

“Those are the things that, to me, outside of winning the game, are most important because that breeds the consistency of putting yourself in position to win.”

But now actually capitalizing on that position- and doing so in the playoffs- will fall largely on how the defense responds to Zimmer, his new staff, and the new scheme he implements across the ball from McCarthy in Dallas.

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Report: Cowboys CB Stephon Gilmore could be on move to Carolina

From @ToddBrock24f7: The former Gamecock and onetime Panther could be heading back to Charlotte; Stephen Jones is already speaking of Gilmore in past tense.

Cowboys cornerback Stephon Gilmore has had one foot out the door this entire NFL offseason, with the free agent seemingly the odd man out in a Dallas secondary that’s set to include Trevon Diggs, DaRon Bland, and Jourdan Lewis.

Now it seems the five-time Pro Bowler may be going to Carolina in more than his mind, possibly returning there for the third time in his football career.

The Carolina Panthers have reportedly reached out to the 33-year-old about donning the teal and black once again in 2024. Gilmore previously starred for the Panthers for a portion of the 2021 season, and he played collegiately at the University of South Carolina in his home state.

Gilmore spent the 2023 season as a Cowboy, starting all 17 regular-season games. Originally thought to be the team’s CB2 behind Diggs, Gilmore’s role increased when Diggs was lost for the season to injury. His veteran presence on one side of the defense may have prompted opposing quarterbacks to test second-year man Bland, who responded by leading the league in interceptions and setting a new single-season record for pick-sixes.

With Diggs set to return opposite the Fresno State phenom, Gilmore may now be expendable in 2024, depending on how one interprets recent comments from Cowboys EVP Stephen Jones.

“We think a whole lot of Stephon,” Jones said this week from the league meetings in Orlando. “Obviously, with Bland stepping up and us re-signing J-Lew, and of course having Diggs coming off that injury, there’s another- really- a great football player that we’re allocating a lot of our cap resources to that didn’t play much last year, and here we’re going to have him back and ready to go. It’s just having to pick and choose where you want to use your resources.”

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Jones, perhaps notably, went on to refer to Gilmore in glowing past tense.

“Stephon was- not only was he really good for us on the field, but I’d say a better guy off the field in terms of how he goes about his business, being a pro, helping the young guys in the room. So, look forward to- hope things go well for him. He was nothing but very productive for us, and you don’t ever rule that out, either.”

Gilmore is one of the top free agents still available this offseason, with 561 tackles and 31 interceptions logged over 12 NFL seasons for five different teams.

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Panthers reportedly reached out to free-agent CB Stephon Gilmore about return

According to The Athletic, the Panthers have reached out to CB Stephon Gilmore about a possible return.

The Carolina Panthers may be looking to bring back an old dawg.

According to Joe Person of The Athletic, the team has reached out to free-agent cornerback Stephon Gilmore about a possible return. The Rock Hill, S.C. native played in eight games for the organization in 2021.

A University of South Carolina standout, Gilmore was selected with the 10th overall pick of the 2012 NFL draft by the Buffalo Bills. After five years there, he joined his AFC East rivals in New England for four seasons—where he collected the 2019 AP Defensive Player of the Year honors, two first-team All-Pro nods, three Pro Bowl nods and a Super Bowl LIII ring.

The Patriots then traded Gilmore to the Panthers on Oct. 6 of 2021 in exchange for a 2023 sixth-round draft pick. Despite playing just half of a season for Carolina, he earned his fifth career Pro Bowl selection that year.

Gilmore, now 33, has since gone on to play for the Indianapolis Colts and the Dallas Cowboys over the past two seasons.

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Ranking all 32 teams (including the Eagles) by 2024 projected win totals

We’re looking at a ranking of all teams including the Philadelphia Eagles by 2024 win total predictions

We’re about 45 days from the 2024 NFL schedule reveal, but the world and Eagles fans already know who their opponents will be.

The league uses multiple factors to determine the year’s game schedule.

There’s a cycle of inter-conference faceoffs; each NFC division rotates through each AFC division every four seasons and the other NFC divisions every three seasons.

In addition, where a team finishes within their division dictates a same-finish matchup with one team from the opposite conference and whichever divisions aren’t in the rotation for that season.

Philadelphia previously had one of the more difficult schedules over the past two years, but 2024 will see the Eagles among the top ten easiest schedules based on win-loss percentages from last year.

Offering an early glimpse into where the Eagles could finish this season, DraftKings revealed a 2024 win total prediction for all 32 teams, and Philadelphia landed at No. 6 on the list.