Dallas Cowboys season opening 53-man roster prediction
Offensive Line (9)
Tyron Smith, Zack Martin, La’el Collins, Connor Williams, Tyler Biadasz, Connor McGovern, Brandon Knight, Josh Ball, Terrence Steele
Head coach Mike McCarthy made it clear before the third preseason game that Connor Williams and Tyler Biadasz would be starting at left guard and center respectively. Connor Williams at center was designed to be a contingency plan in the case of an injury. What didn’t make sense about this situation was that they didn’t try this with the guy currently behind him, Connor McGovern, since he did play center in college.
Perhaps they felt McGovern was better at guard and by moving him to center his game took a hit. Who knows?
But the starting offensive line plus McGovern was set the moment they walked into the building for training camp. The only spots left to hand out were the reserve linemen. Originally I had rookies Matt Farniok and Josh Ball make the team alongside second-year lineman Terrence Steele. With the preseason approaching its conclusion, I’m not sure Matt Farniok would rightfully deserve a spot on the team?
I’m not sure Brandon Knight deserves one either but one of them will make it, o allow me to explain my thought process here.
Brandon Knight has been a member of this team since 2019 and has played in at least one game every year. He possesses guard/tackle versatility in a similar way that Farniok provides guard/center versatility. When at tackle, Knight’s play has slowly gotten worse as his lateral agility is starting to take a hit. With that being his biggest concern at the tackle spot, moving him inside prevents him from going “super” wide to reach his set points.
As for Farniok, he doesn’t have the anchor or consistent use of hands to prevent the pocket from collapsing. Having experience at center could provide him an opportunity for the team in the future, but clearly, the team felt that he wasn’t good enough currently to play over Connor Williams at center. Let the guy who could be a better guard win the spot even if you don’t really have a backup center on the team.
Rookie Josh Ball and second-year veteran Terrence Steele weren’t in competition against anyone that would prevent them from taking the field. Even though both are tackles, having tackle depth with La’el Collins and Tyron Smith as your starting tackles isn’t a bad thing to have.