The offensive line in 2012 was obviously a glaring weakness last season.

The team ranked second to last in rushing with a miserable 3.6 yards per attempt and produced just 8 rushing touchdowns all season.

The O-line allowed 36 sacks and let Tony Romo take 75 hits. Both these statistics landed them in about the middle of the league but you also have to remember that Tony has a knack for escaping pressure which can skew the numbers.

The bottom line is, the offensive line play was bad. 

For the Cowboys to compete they need to give Romo more time and allow the rushing attack to become a relevant part of the offense. Let’s take a look at the impact players the Cowboy’s are counting on to turn around this unit.

Tyron Smith

The stud of the line is 23 year old Tyron Smith. Tyron allowed just three sacks in his first season playing left tackle in the NFL. He had a rough start to open up the season but improved as is progressed. It’s hard to imagine Tyron will not continue this upward trend. Look for an even better performance this year as he settles in at his position protecting Tony’s blind side.

Travis Frederick

When you’re a first round draft pick you’re expected to come in and start day one. Jerry Jones is a big believer in this mantra and I have no doubt Frederick will be your game one center. Ignore all the controversy surrounding the pick and you’re left with a big, strong, mean center. He was the best center in the 2013 NFL draft and the Cowboys got significantly better at the position by selecting him.

Nate Livings

Livings had a pretty solid debut season for the Cowboys. He was a very effective run blocker as most of the Cowboy’s successful rushes came from the left side. He was ranked byProFootballFocus.com as the sixth best Left Guard in the league. He did however, allow 6 sacks which is a number he’s going to have to lower in 2013. Another offseason in Callahan’s system should help.

Mackenzy Bernadeau

Bernadeau was arguably the weakest link of the line last season. He gave up 5 sacks, 21 quarterback hurries, and was horrible in the run game. Hip surgery and a knee injury forced him to miss the OTA’s and most of training camp last season. Let’s hope his struggles were caused by the lack of preseason reps. For the Cowboy’s to get where they want to be the right side of the line has to improve this year. They did not address this concern in the draft or in free agency so they must be banking on Bernadeau or someone else already on the roster.

Doug Free/Jeremy Parnell

Doug Free’s stuggles are well documented. He lead the league in penalties, and was responsible for 43 QB hurries. I didn’t think there was chance he would be on this team in 2013. However, the Cowboys like him enough to keep him around at a discounted price and they restructured his contract.

The plan seems to let Free and Jeremy Parnell battle it out in training camp for the starting position. Parnell was a pleasant surprise in 2012. He is stronger and much more athletic the Doug Free but is still very raw. The right tackle position has to be keeping Romo up at night but the Cowboys are hoping one of these two players steps up their game in 2013.

Ronald Leary

The undrafted free agent that was the apple of Jerry Jone’s eye last year is back. Everyone who talks about this kid has only good things to say about him. He’s humble, hard-working, and constantly improves. It’s still very early but he was one of the bright spots of the rookie mini camp. Look for Leary to make his case for the 52 man roster and his number could get called if Bernadeau continues to struggle.

By now we are all pretty used to hearing about the cowboys restructuring contracts, because this offseason they’ve done quite a bit on it. One contract we’ve all been waiting to hear about for some time now is Doug Free.

The veteran offensive lineman Free and The Cowboys came to a deal on Thursday, and Free is no longer the highest paid right-tackle because his pay took quite the hit.

Free took a 50 per cent pay cut to stay with the Cowboys. Free would have made $7 million and will now make $3.5 million. This helped The Cowboys stay under the salary cap by quite a bit.

In 2010 the Cowboys offered Free a four-year, $32 million extension with $17 million in guarantees. Since then Free has failed to impress many people in Cowboys nation.

In 2011 Free was ranked 44th in offensive tackles, justifying him making the move to right tackle. That didn’t help. Free was ranked 66th in right tackle last season.

So, during the off-season the Cowboys explored other options, with a big focus on Tyson Clabo, but all that time they remained interested in Free.

Now the big question remains: Now that they have free’d up over $3 million, what are they going to do with that money?

There has been some speculation behind this – some believing it will go to an extension for Lee, some believe it will go towards a player that will help this team. Either way, lets hope Jerry Jones puts the money to good use and does something that will get the ‘Boys to the playoffs for the first time since ’09.

Football has always been and always will be king in Texas. So it’s always nice to see good high school players play their college ball in Texas, and it’s even better when those players end up getting drafted by the Dallas Cowboys.

Dallas Cowboys’ third round draft pick Terrance Williams is one of these homegrown talents. Williams was born in Dallas where he grew up and played his high school football at W.T. White High School before he was recruited to play at Baylor University.

Now Williams is back in his hometown playing for the Cowboys who may have stolen the best pick in the third round with Williams. At one point, Williams was possibly considered a first round talent but after his 2011 season at Baylor his quarterback, a guy named Robert Griffin III, entered the draft and everyone seemed to forget about Baylor for the 2012 season.

However, Williams took his senior season at Baylor as an opportunity to fill the void left by Kendall Wright as Baylor’s number one receiver. Williams led the country in receiving yards in 2012 with 1,832 receiving yards and 12 touchdowns. Those are some good numbers for a player being drafted in the third round.

The most important number, however, is an average of almost 19 yards per catch his senior year. He could be a legitimate deep threat for a Cowboys offense that is looking to make more big plays this season.

In Baylor’s offense, Williams was mostly running simple deep routes and that caused draft analysts to question whether or not he would be able to adapt to more complex pro packages and varieties of routes. Dez Bryant has had similar issues with route running, but he has worked through it and is now considered an elite receiver.

In many ways, Williams is similar to Bryant. Not saying that he is Bryant, but the similarities are there for sure. Both have the ability to go up and grab catches in tight spaces, and they are both deep threats. They both clocked a 4.52 40 yard dash at their respective NFL combines. Hopefully the Cowboys find their number two outside receiver in Williams which would allow Miles Austin to play from the slot more, where he tends to be more productive.

Even if Williams struggles offensively, which I don’t think he will, he could prove valuable on special teams. As a freshman at Baylor he took on kick returning duties averaging about 24 yards per return.

If you are worried about how he will transition to the NFL, don’t. His former teammate RGIII has already given him some advice about the transition. Griffin reportedly encouraged Williams to not change who he is. There you go Cowboys Nation, Williams cannot go wrong with advice from such a savvy NFL veteran.

It is yet only a rumor, supposedly confirmed by a source in Valley Ranch, but for all we know and suspected when the team didn’t address the RT position in the draft #68 is going to be around for at least one more year, after agreeing for a considerably smaller contract. He was initially set to get $7 million for 2013, now he’s getting the same amount in 2 years. Not a lot of players take that kind of cut in their salary, it just doesn’t happen. Thougths people?

Well for starters let me say that this new settlement brings up some questions:

1. Is Free accepting this big downpayment because he wants to stay in the team and prove everybody wrong? or

2. He knows that no other team would pay him that.

The situation seems tricky huh? But here’s the deal, Free has been involved with all ‘non- mandatory’ activities the Cowboys have had in the present offseason, such as the home-run derby and this week’s golf tournament with sponsors. He’s not talking much about his situation or if he thinks he’s going to stay a Cowboy, but the guy’s there, and that by itself makes a statment.

Let’s forget for now whether Free is or isn’t a good player (he certainly was being paid as a Pro Bowler). But his actions by just being there tells us that he is involved with the team, even when his future as a Dallas Cowboy was uncertain. That my friends is called professionalism.

Yeah, Free kinda sucked last year we all know that, but it would seem that this guy isn’t done yet, he’s got something to prove and that’s why he is staying. A player whose ego has been hurt, a wounded beast just lying dormant for his opportunity to stand out and reclaim what’s his…take it Doug.

I’m relieved that this whole shebang’s over. Less distractions for the team and more football talk. It is clear that the ‘Boys wanted this guy on the team, and the reason is simple, they have limited personnel at right tackle for the moment.  The fact is that the team wants to set up the competition at right tackle between Jeremy Parnell and Doug Free. but it was precisely rotating with Parnell when he was at his best.

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The Cowboys are apparently taking a very big risk this coming season. This draft they made the unpopular decision of waiting until the later rounds to draft any defensive players. Over the past few seasons, the defense has been spotty at best, with some flares of brilliance but more often than not, susceptible to the big play.

The Cowboys finished last season ranked 19th in total defense, giving up 355 yards per game. The squad also collected a dismal 16 takeaways in the 2012 season and yet they seemingly were content to draft only a safety in the third round, a corner in the fourth round, and a linebacker in the sixth round.

Two of those draft picks have recently changed positions. J.J. Wilcox played receiver for three of his college seasons only switching to safety in his senior season where he proved to be a physical tackler with good instincts. The Cowboys are expecting him to be a contributor this season in a transitioning defense under the leadership of new defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin.

Dallas is putting all their confidence in the switch from a 3-4 base defense to Kiffin’s 4-3 defense. Without any huge free agency moves, due to the cap restrictions, the Cowboys are hoping that a healthy group of last year’s defense, with a few additional pieces will flourish under Kiffiin’s scheme.

This defense will be a much improved unit next year based on the play of these players:
1. Sean Lee. If Lee picks up where he left off before his injury last year and buys into the new scheme, the whole defense will respond.
2. Demarcus Ware. If Ware makes a smooth transition to defensive end, which he should, he will continue to torment quarterbacks and be a FORCE along the line of scrimmage making the rest of the D-line better as well.
3. Barry Church. The safety position has been weak for so long, and last year just when the Cowboys thought they had found their man, Church went down with injury. He needs to come back and play in the same way that allowed him to win the starting job last year.
4. Mo Claiborne. This guy can flat out play. Expect him to be even better this year and start creating a lot of turnovers.

If these players respond well to the new defense, this unit will be much improved next season and hopefully keep the ball in the hands of their offense more often than not.

Are the Cowboys making a gamble that Kiffin’s defense will work with the same group of players from last year? Yes they are, but if they stay healthy, they have the talent to be an elite squad poised to make a playoff run.

The Philadelphia Eagles have made a roster move, a large portion of the Eagles fans were hoping this meant moving one of the quarterbacks on the roster but that didn’t happen. ESPN insider Adam Schefter reported Tuesday morning that the Eagles have reached a one year deal with Felix Jones, formally of the Dallas Cowboys.

This was supposed to be Martellus Bennett’s role with the Dallas Cowboys; help usher in a new era of Cowboys tight ends, while easing out Jason Witten’s best years. I’m not sure what’s more surprising; that Witten’s still playing his best football or that Bennett ended up being such a bust in Dallas?

The answer matters very little now because the Cowboys drafted tight end Gavin Escobar in the second round of the 2013 NFL Draft. He is the third tight end the Cowboys have drafted in the second round in the past seven years and fans are hoping he will break the chain of busts at the position. First came Anthony Fasano, then Bennett and now comes Escobar, the most naturally gifted receiver out of the three.

There’s a reason it’s important I described Escobar as a natural receiver, because when the Cowboys drafted Fasano and Bennett, the hope was they’d compliment Jason Witten. Now, with the way the NFL has changed, big, athletic pass catching tight ends are all the rage. As good as Witten is, he’s not the most athletic player at the position and Dallas now has that in Escobar. Read any scouting report on Escobar and you’ll understand what the Cowboys are doing by pairing Witten with Escobar.

“Natural pass-catcher with excellent hand-eye coordination and rare body control for a man of his size. Shows the ability to leap and contort in the air to adjust to the ball, making him an effective jump-ball candidate…he could quickly emerge as a dangerous weapon.”

That was CBSsports.com’s breakdown on Escobar and most draft reports said the same; Escobar is a big target, with outstanding hands. He’s in the mold of the new NFL where they use the size, athleticism and receiving ability of a tight end to create miss-matches for the defenses. Think of Jimmy Graham and Rob Gronkowski and then you have an idea of what the Cowboys want to do with Escobar.

I’m not saying Escobar will be as good as Gronk or Graham but that’s the vision for the Cowboys and their offense. Don’t get me wrong, they may have tried to do something similar with Martellus Bennett, but he was used much more as a blocker and he never caught on in the passing game. Just a few years ago these types of offenses didn’t exist in the NFL, so Dallas never got the opportunity to showcase Bennett like they had intended.

Times have changed and the Cowboys are evolving with the times. No longer will they be using a second tight end as a blocker; he’ll now be used much more as a receiver. That matches up perfectly with what Escobar does well.

The Dallas Cowboys are ready to attack with a new offense and it will start with more two tight end sets, attacking the defense. On one side will be Jason Witten, one of the game’s best, and on the other side will be Gavin Escobar, a rookie who should make an impact on the offense right away.

Defenses beware.

Even with the Draft and Rookie Mini-camp wrapping up I wanted to take a look at the quarterback situation. Did Dallas make a mistake by not taking one in this past year’s draft? Matt Barkley, Tyler Wilson, Mike Glennon, Matt Scott or Zac Dysert were all for the taking in the later rounds.

The big issue could be waiting until Tony Romo gets hurt or decides to hang it up for good. One thing you have to keep in mind is that Romo didn’t come in immediately and start for the Cowboys. Going undrafted and signed with the Cowboys he sat and learned. He could have been released had it not been for bone head mistakes by Quincy Carter.

He worked his way into the number two slot until he usurped Drew Bledsoe and never relinquished the reigns. It took Romo three years before he stepped into the starting role against the Carolina Panthers. If Dallas was going to look for the next quarterback of this franchise they may have made the correct decision in not selecting one this year.

However next year very well may be the year to do it. The 2014 class will blow the 2013 class of quarterbacks out of the water. Terry Bridgewater, Tajh Boyd, David Fales, AJ McCarron and Aaron Murray are all better prospects than the class I listed above including Geno Smith and E.J. Manuel.  The top of that list may not be available dependent upon how the Cowboys perform this season.

With a quarterback selection in the next draft they could realistically sit and learn from Romo for the next three seasons. Romo will be reaching the age of 37 with his best playing days in the past. What also makes this more realistic is his contract situation, with the majority of the money owed being paid in those first four seasons.

We will all second guess this decision to not draft a quarterback if Romo and Kyle Orton go down with an injury. It would most likely end up being Aaron Corp or Nick Stephens having to be thrust into the lineup. At this point the decision looks like a good one. Which for most fans, this is not something we hear a lot when it comes to the NFL Draft.

To start I would like to say Happy Mother’s Day to all and to all Moms keep up the good work you are all appreciated.

So with that being said will try and keep this post like my own Mother short and sweet. Just to keep up the theme of appreciating what you have would like to turn it to the Dallas Cowboys Defensive Coaching staff.

I’ll admit when I first heard of the change at Defensive Coordinator I was scratching my head. Of course, Kiffin’s coaching mind is impeccable but he was away from the NFL for some time. First things first the whole staff on that side of the ball is impressive. One of the first apparent changes was the sign on the door which now reads, “Rushmen.”

Why is this such a significant change and consequential part you ask? I’ll tell you.

Last two seasons too many times you saw players not sure where to line up and again too many times saw chaos in pre-snap with Rob Ryan’s Defense. You saw D-line/OLBs running around first trying to see the formation then trying to dictate where to lineup and what their responsibility MAY be. You also had your best Pass Rushers in Ware/Spencer dropping back in coverage way too often. Don’t get me wrong I like variety in defensive schemes especially in today’s NFL to try and confuse these complex offenses, but sometimes as a coach you can out-scheme yourself.

I think we all as fans witnessed that very thing the past two seasons under Rob Ryan. Then when then injury bug came to Valley Ranch the deficiencies and confusion of Rob Ryan’s Defense were even more exposed.

But I digress, back to the appreciation part of today and us as Cowboys fans. Like I stated before, I absolutely love that the staff changed the name of the front to “Rushmen” again you might ask, “Why is this relevant?” Well best thing you can do as a coach when players struggle with a scheme is simplify it.

Well not only were things simplified, a complete scheme was changed. The great football minds of Kiffin/Marinelli were brought in to do just that.

There are no other responsibilities for the Rushmen when they read pass other than to rush the QB and wreak havoc. In any job isn’t it easier when you’re given less to do and told to focus on one task and be productive with that and ONLY that. Now instead of thinking you will see these Rushmen being able to go 100 miles per hour after every and any quarterback. There will be less hesitation, less waiting for the offense to lineup, now just get down in a 3-point stance and go.

I can’t tell you if dominant or in mid-season form by week 1 against the Giants. What I can tell you is, just like we all should appreciate our Mothers on this day, we all will appreciate the Monte Kiffin and Rod Marinelli hires sooner or later.

This Defense is about to be unleashed and just like when you go to Mom for a problem the Dallas Cowboys and Jason Garrett did just that and went to the next best thing in their new Defensive Coordinator and Rush-men Coach.

The Dallas Cowboys will hold a camp for rookies beginning today and it’s an exciting event for those young players who will put on the pads for the first time as Cowboys. Of course it will be nice to hear all the reports about how each individual player looks in camp, but more importantly, it’s nice just to have some on-field activity back in the football world.

It won’t be earth shattering news to hear how the rookies perform but there will be things fans will be eagerly anticipating to hear about. For instance, how does first round pick Travis Frederick look? Well maybe not so much how he looks, but more like how does he move, is he strong and smart enough to pick up what the coaches are teaching him. There is plenty that goes into playing center in the NFL but having a mind for the game is huge part of job at the position.

The other rookies we’re all interested in hearing about are the offensive skill players the Cowboys drafted; Gavin Escobar, Terrance Williams and Joseph Randle. All three players have the Dallas fan base really excited for the 2013 season and the hope is we’ll hear nothing but good news. The Cowboys fans have been talking up this trio ever since the draft ended and hearing about how well they performed will only stoke the optimistic fires.

Of course we can’t forget about the rookies from smaller schools who are getting a taste of the big-time in the NFL. As exciting as it is to hear about the playmakers on offense, it may be even nicer to hear good things about B.W. Webb and J.J. Wilcox holding their own this weekend. It would be a nice confidence builder, not for the players because neither lacks any, but for the fans who might be on the fence about the small school players.

Maybe that’s the most anyone can take out of light drills during workouts that don’t involve the entire team; build the confidence of the players and the fans for the upcoming season. These players have reached the pinnacle of their sport and the hard work is just beginning so any piece of knowledge they can gain in any workout is progress. After all, that is what these camps are about, getting inexperienced players up to speed on the NFL game.

That’s what fans can look forward to reading about, the progress of each player and the confidence they are gaining with each practice. The learning curve begins today; let’s hope it’s not too steep for the Cowboys rookies.

Well that, and good health.