With two more veterans visiting the team, the Dallas Cowboys continue to add older players to the 2024 roster. | From @BenGrimaldi
The Dallas Cowboys like the players they’ve got, unless they don’t. When that happens, they turn to older players who’ve had past success. Stephen Jones’ philosophy over the past decade-plus is the team doesn’t spend money in free agency because they like the core players they have. Improvement will come from drafting and the Cowboys’ ability to develop their own players.
That was what the Joneses tried to sell the fan base on this offseason while sitting on their hands for months on end. Yet now, the organization seems to be in a bit of a panic. They are lacking depth – which could’ve been avoided by being proactive in free agency – and now Dallas is the place to be for any veteran player looking to stay employed in the NFL.
After signing a few older players recently, the trend has continued. The latest invites are more experienced options in running back Dalvin Cook and pass rusher Tyus Bowser.
Cook played for the Minnesota Vikings for six years, which included four straight 1,000-yard seasons and four Pro Bowl appearances. He’s just two years removed from his last 1,000-yard campaign, but Cook fizzled out last year with the New York Jets before they released him and he wound up signing with the Baltimore Ravens for the playoffs. Between the two teams, Cook rushed for just 214 yards and a career worst 3.2 yards a carry.
At 29-years old, the best days are behind Cook. Yet the Cowboys are interested in him to pair with another older, plodding RB in Ezekiel Elliott, who is ironically the same age.
Bowser is another 29-year-old the team is bringing in for a workout. After having a few good years with the Ravens and topping out at seven sacks in 2021, Bowser tore his Achilles in the same season, which limited his output in 2022. The defensive end was hurt last summer and never played in the 2023 season.
However, the Cowboys need pass rushing help and don’t seem swayed by the injury history from Bowser, who has played a full season just three times. Bowser could replace another older pass rusher the Cowboys had signed recently, Carl Lawson, who happens to be the magical age of 29 but was released on Tuesday. Another veteran the Cowboys signed this summer is defensive end Al-Quadin Muhammad, who wears number 92, which is the inverse of his age, 29-years old.
The Cook and Bowser workouts come after the Cowboys traded for defensive tackle Jordan Phillips, who is currently 31, but will turn 32-years old in September, and signed another DT, Linval Joseph, off the streets at 35-years old. There’s not a lot of youth there for the recently added group.
Then again, adding veterans has been the tenor for the entirety of the slow offseason. The only two players who were considered quality acquisitions for the Cowboys were both around the age of 30. Elliott is 29, which is ancient for a RB, and linebacker Eric Kendricks, is 32-years old.
Now, late in the offseason, the Cowboys seem to continue to be heading down the same path. What makes adding these veterans this late so frustrating is the team could’ve just signed a much better, and younger, player or two when free agency began, instead of trying to find answers now. Dallas didn’t need to sign the best guys on the open market in March, but being a little aggressive in finding younger talent then could’ve avoided the search now, when their options are limited.
Perhaps we now know why Jerry Jones said the team would be “all-in,” because this is the last time many of these players will play in the league.
Just call them the geriatric Cowboys.
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