Revisiting Cowboys Rookie Predictions: Dak, Zeke, Jaylon, and Rico

With the NFL season officially over, let’s revisit some Dallas Cowboys predictions of ours regarding the 2016 rookies…

The Super Bowl is over and the season has officially concluded. What better time than now to look back at some offseason and preseason predictions we made months ago?

Since no one in their right mind would have predicted the Dallas Cowboys record-breaking success this season, we’ll skip that portion of predictions. Instead we’ll focus on the rookies Ezekiel Elliott, Dak Prescott, Jaylon Smith, and even Rico Gathers.

Dak Prescott Exceeded Expectations

Part of my job as both a Dallas Cowboys fan and writer, is to temper expectations. When Tony Romo was lost in the preseason and the Dak train was just leaving the station, I attempted to do just that.

In the preseason article, Dak Prescott Will Need to be BETTER Than Russell Wilson, I broke down how good the Cowboys rookie will have to play in order for Dallas to post a winning season.

The Russell Wilson comparison seemed an appropriate one since Russell represented the benchmark for instant success by a nonblue-chip rookie in the NFL. Wilson led his team to an 11-5 record his rookie season, avoiding the big mistake and riding his defense. Prescott wouldn’t be so lucky since the Dallas Cowboys defense was incomparable to the dominant Seattle defense of 2012.

The point I was trying to make was that Wilson was successful only averaging 15.75 completions per game. In fact, he won games where he only completed 7 (ARI), 10 (GB), and 12 (NYJ) passes.

Dak Prescott would surely have to do more than that in order to win with this team. And to ask him to be better than one of the best rookies ever, seemed a little far-fetched.

My attempt to state how impossible it would be for Dak Prescott to duplicate Russell Wilson’s win success ended up blowing up in my face as Prescott posted arguably the best rookie season for a QB all-time in 2016.

Ezekiel Elliott Did Not Exceed Expectations

I accepted the drafting of Ezekiel Elliott with cautious optimism. Playing the running back position and getting drafted No. 4 overall comes with enormous expectations. Zeke would have to be the second coming of Adrian Peterson just to meet those expectations.

After seeing fans and media “boldly” predict Zeke as the likely top rookie rusher in 2016, I fought back calling anything short of leading the entire NFL in rushing a massive disappointment.

After all, there were about 6-7 players that could lead the rookies in rushing had they been picked by the Cowboys. The Cowboys had a deep threat to stretch the field, a franchise QB, and the best offensive line in football. Dominance was the expectation.

Gladly, Zeke delivered the dominance and won the NFL rushing title thus meeting – not exceeding expectations.

Zeke was still a wild success in 2016 and was less than 100 shy of gaining 1,000 yards AFTER CONTACT! But given his draft status and assets he was working with in Dallas, exceeding expectations just wasn’t possible.

Jaylon Smith pick was not Surprising

The Jaylon Smith pick caught a few off guard but those that have been paying attention to the second round gambles of the past, Jaylon was anything but surprising.

Before falling to injury, Jaylon was considered to be at the top of the 2016 draft class. A clear top-3 pick, Jaylon Smith had it all. I broke down his scouting report in my prediction article below.

The aptly named, Another Second Round Steal for the Taking essentially alludes to the drafting of Smith at the top of the second. Which is exactly what the Cowboys did.

While I hit on Zeke and Jaylon and missed on Dak, I walked the line with Rico.

Rico Gathers was pretty much what we thought he was

The Rico Gathers Kool-Aid line was long last training camp. After drawing comparisons to some of the game’s all-time great TEs I took the always safe route of pumping the breaks while waving a pom-pom. In, Can Rico Gathers be a Star, I said greatness is a possibility but making the team was still a long-shot in 2016.

My polite way of calling him a multi-year project player doesn’t win a whole lotta points but it set realistic expectations and keeps my enthusiasm in place for him heading into the 2017 season.

Next: The Most Important Specific Position the Cowboys Must Address

Of course there were other predictions I missed horribly on but it’s these rookie predictions that stand out the most as I look back on the 2016 season. What kind of surprises await the Cowboys in 2017?

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