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The Offseason Thus Far

Who said the Cowboys were not doing anything to improve the team. Let's take a quick look back at what we've done thus far in the offseason.

For starters, we almost lost DC Mike Zimmerman. Jones/Parcells convinced him stay with the Cowboys rather than take the Huskers job that no one wanted.

Payton was to be the new Raiders Head Coach, but in the strangest twists of events, Payton bowed out, and decided to stay on with the Cowboys.

In addition, the Cowboys, fired their wide receiver coach McNulty, and hired WR Coach Todd Haley, who coincidently work for Parcells, and helped mold our Keyshawn into a ProBowl receiver. Utter brilliance by Parcells - I think he planned to get all three reunited - Parcells, Haley and now Keyshawn from the get-go.

The release of Toby Gowin :)

The release of Ryan Young - too many injuries and inconsistencies, he just didn't work out.

There was no question that DE was a need that should be addressed in the offseason, and the Cowboys had us sweating bullets, but ended up getting a player for a good deal and a lot of upside in Marcellus Wiley, formally of the Chargers. Wiley will be an immediate impact starter, and his presence will alleviate the double teams on Glover and Eliss. Great Pickup.

Then we have the Keyshawn for Galloway Trade. Did we ever think this deal was ever going to get done? It seemed dead, but Galloway manned up and decided to make some concessions to leave Dallas for Tampa. So, now we that "personality" in our WR core that should rev up the other receivers. Experience and team leadership under Parcells will make Keyshawn a well valued pick up.

Finally, we have the Drew Henson trade...we traded our 2005 3rd rounder to the Texans, and now we have a legitimate QB prospect who was highly rated coming out of Michigan, and if he would have re-entered the draft, he was rated as a late 1st to late 2nd rounder - not bad, BUT he will have a lot of work ahead of him. He is not penciled in as our starter, and we should realistically see him understudy this year, and then be fully ready by next season. Then again, you never know :) Let's see what happens here.

So, in retrospect, we have done ALOT to improve the team by keeping our coaching staff, and making calculated/pin-pointed player acquisitions w/Wiley,Keyshawn, and Drew Henson.

What's left to address? With out a doubt its the RB position - and lets be real about this, the players that are floating around out there are few and probably not worth being our undisputed workhorse. Draft 2004 will definitely address RB - count on it!

OT, could be shored up with some FA guys or cap casualty guys later, but could also be filled via the draft.

CB, is still a question mark. We need someone decent on the other side of our shutdown guy Newman. CB FA's are pretty much depleted of such talent. Don't be surprised if we re-sign Mario to another 1yr deal for insurance incase we don't get our guy via the Draft.

DT, is another position that will probably be looked at in the draft, along with WRs.