The Dallas Cowboys will begin training camp later this month. All of the roster will be under pressure to perform, but newcomers often face extra pressure. Each of the four players below has arrived under different circumstances, and the different positional situations around the team has applied different pressures and expectations for each of these players.
Cobie Durant
Durant has been part of many conversations thus far, and for good reason: he was as solid as they come at cornerback in Los Angeles, and now,
in Dallas, the Cowboys will be asking a lot of the fifth-year pro.
For Durant, his health has been a major asset thus far, and it will continue to have to be, considering Bland is looking to bounce back from a foot injury and the rest of the cornerbacks are unproven. With the seismic shift on the defensive side, thanks to Christian Parker’s arrival, Durant will likely be asked to be the anchor on the outside of the defensive backfield if Bland continues to battle injuries and the other corners don’t step up.
Rashan Gary
This first-year Cowboy is another player that has been talked about. Gary is heading into his eighth year as a pro, and this could be the year he is asked to do the most. Along the defensive line, no other newcomer comes close to what Dallas will expect from Gary. Malachi Lawrence is a rookie, and the expectations and hope, although great, won’t match those of someone who has played at the high level Gary has maintained throughout his career.
Along the defensive line, only Quinnen Williams and Kenny Clark may be asked to do more. Still, the fact that the defense has shifted and that he is a veteran with high standards, along with the fact that Dallas’ edge setting was so poor last year, means Gary will have the most to prove on the defensive front among the new Cowboys.
Caleb Downs
This is likely the most obvious answer and the reason there is so much hope for Dallas after a tough year. Downs is a first-round pick, and with the pick came all the expectations of leading what should be a massive defensive turnaround. Although Downs isn’t the only one tasked with that immense deed, nobody else on the defensive side has quite the ceiling that Downs has, or has had coaches like Nick Saban laud them the way he has lauded Caleb Downs.
“This is as fine a young man as you’re ever going to find to be a part of your team,” Saban said of Downs. “He’s a great competitor. He’s got great character. He’s so instinctive as a player. He can play downhill, he can play in the box, he can play the deep field, he can play man to man. This guy is a tremendous, tremendous person and competitor.”
With that said, and despite the colossal pressure that comes with playing in Dallas and being a first-round pick, he has all the tools and the mindset to be a big part of what would be a monumental defensive turnaround.
Marquez Valdes-Scantling
The only newcomer on the offensive side of this list, and that is mostly because the Cowboys have kept their core of the offense together. For Valdes-Scantling, the pressure is likely to be more internal than it is intertwined with the Cowboys’ success, unlike the other three players mentioned.
Depending on how many receivers the Cowboys choose to carry this year, Valdes-Scantling may not even make the opening-day roster. At the top of the WR depth chart are CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens; no one on this roster threatens that hierarchy. Beyond them, Ryan Flournoy has established himself as the No. 3 receiver, and KaVontae Turpin isn’t going anywhere because of what he brings in the return game.
That means that if the Cowboys decide to carry five or six receivers, only one or two spots will be up for grabs. One or two spots for eight players currently listed on the depth chart at WR. Those numbers aren’t necessarily favorable for Valdes-Scantling, even if he is a veteran with nine years of experience. His numbers simply haven’t blown anybody away. In the last two years, he has amassed 531 yards and 5 touchdowns on 33 receptions.
Yet, Valdes-Scantling has to go up against unproven receivers and Jonathan Mingo, who, Cowboys fans know, has been a disappointment thus far. That and the healthy 16.1 yards per reception are squarely in Valdes-Scantling’s favor.
Which newcomer to the Dallas roster is under the most pressure to perform right away? Let us know in the comments.
