Cowboys Camp: 5 most underrated storylines to follow

Cowboys Camp opens later today and the next month promises to offer dozens of interesting storylines to follow. But here are the five most underrated storylines…

The Dallas Cowboys have become so interesting these days, you don’t even need to be a fan of theirs to be entertained by them. There’s the never ending onslaught of poor Ezekiel Elliott news. There’s also Jaylon Smith, who could either be the second coming of Ray Lewis or be nothing more than a damaged career backup.

We could be following the storylines of the many Cowboys players who are either suspended, or on the verge of suspension. Or we could be talking about a second year tight end named Rico Gathers, who’s hoping to earn his way onto the 53-man roster and possibly much more.

There’s even the training camp battles at starting right tackle and starting left guard dominating headlines these days. All of these topics and storylines are worthy of coverage – no doubt about that. But some of these flashier stories are overshadowing other issues of equal, or even greater, importance.

We look at them today as we tackle the five most underrated storylines heading into Cowboys Camp:

Was the pass rush upgraded and where will it be coming from?

Not too long ago the pass-rush was considered the single most important area the Cowboys needed to address this offseason. But amidst all the headlines since the draft, the pass-rush discussion has dissipated. That’s a mistake.

Upgrading the pass rush from last season continues to be the most important task the Cowboys face this season. They finished 3^rd from last in applying pressure last season and were absolutely dissected by Aaron Rodgers in the playoffs. If this component of the game isn’t improved, all other topics of conversation become moot.

Related Story: How the Cowboys pass-rush is 3rd worst in the NFL

Who are the top three cornerbacks?

This offseason the Dallas Cowboys essentially flushed their starting secondary when they allowed Barry Church, Morris Claiborne, Brandon Carr, and J.J. Wilcox to depart in free agency. In free agency they added Robert Blanton and Nolan Carroll. In the draft they added Chidobe Awuzie, Jourdan Lewis, Xavier Woods, and Marquez White.

The battle to replace the missing 2,600 snaps will be one of the best battles in camp. Right now, it’s anyone’s guess who the starting three cornerbacks will be and how the safety snaps are going to be divided.

While Cowboys Nation is sure have a keen interest in this, the task of completely overhauling the system with so many new and young faces seems to get minimized. This is a huge undertaking. With so many unknowns and so many moving parts, every day of camp figures to be an adventure.

Related Story: Is Nolan Carroll Good Enough to be a Starter?

Are special teams a bigger problem than we think?

Since Dwayne Harris left in free agency two seasons ago, the Dallas Cowboys have struggled making an impact in the return game. Lucky Whitehead excited Dallas with his potential but failed to tangibly deliver on the field.

Last season the Cowboys only ranked 22nd in kick return average and 23rd in punt returns. In an effort to improve those rankings, they drafted Ryan Switzer, one of the best college return men in the draft, to seemingly take of Whitehead’s duties as a punt returner. Problem solved?

Not so fast.

Switzer is only expected to handle the punts, meaning Dallas still needs to solve their kick return issue. Worse yet, according to Pro Football Focus, Lucky Whitehead did a good job with what was given to him last year. This may indicate the problem is beyond just replacing the returner and may involve overhauling the entire return team.

Related Story: How good was McFadden as the starting running back for the Cowboys?

How are Darren McFadden and Alfred Morris looking?

It’s now become a foregone conclusion starting running back, Ezekiel Elliott, will be suspended this season. The only question is how many games. But since that’s largely out of everyone’s hands at this point in time, the important question is who is going to fill in for the missing Zeke.

Let’s be clear: the running back situation behind Zeke is bad. Alfred Morris looked terrible last year and Darren McFadden is just a guy. One of these two needs to step up in camp or the Cowboys need to find an outside solution.

Alfred Morris went from a likely camp casualty to potentially being the starting running back in week one. If you remember last year at this time, “Alf” was tearing up training camp and preseason opponents. He looked like the most natural zone runner on the roster – better than Darren McFadden and Zeke.

As we all know, Morris did not continue that strong play in the regular season when he was asked to play in spot duty behind Zeke. It’s not surprising since Morris is considered more of a workhorse than a change-of-pace runner. McFadden, being the better change-of-pace back, eventually took over Morris’ duties once he was added to the active roster.

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Both players stand to benefit with Zeke shelved early in the season. What the Cowboys need to know is if the team can survive with them carrying the load. Dallas plays the Giants in week 1 and New York finished the 2016 season as the second best run-stopping team in the NFL.

It’s doubtful Dallas can afford any falloff in talent here and still expect to win. As the graphic above indicates, Zeke was a beast after contact. Can Morris or McFadden be as well?

The play of Morris and McFadden in preseason will be something to watch since they will likely be the ones carrying the load early in the season.

How much will Dak trust Dez?

Many who predict a sophomore slump from quarterback Dak Prescott point to the year of preparation opponents now have on the second year pro. “The film is out”, they say. And Dak will have to move away from his comfort zone if he wants to keep opponents on tilt.

Dak is among the hardest working and most intelligent players in the league. It’s clear he’s going to grow as a player in 2017, we just haven’t seen how much and in what regard. Getting the ball downfield more often (20+ yards) will provide a big step in his development as a passer and make the Dallas Cowboys nearly impossible to stop in 2017.

Dak wasn’t the dink-and-dunk passer many incorrectly labeled him as last season but he also doesn’t like slinging the ball deep unless someone is obviously open. Dez Bryant, the Dallas Cowboys single greatest offensive threat, doesn’t have the speed or breakaway ability to get “obviously open”, he wins battles because of his athleticism and tracking. For this offense to take the next step Dak Prescott will have to start gambling on Dez even if it goes against his nature.

Next: Why Cole Beasley will replace Jason Witten as primary safety valve

Training camp has dozens of storylines to follow and almost all of them are important. But it’s these five that may be a little underrated and it’s these three that we should all be diligently tracking. How about you? What oft-ignored storylines are you following this preseason?