Dallas Cowboys: 5 Biggest disappointments this season

5 Biggest Dallas Cowboys disappointments of 2021

Tarell Basham, DE

Perhaps it was unrealistic expectations or perhaps just the role he’s a been asked to play, but Tarell Bashem has underwhelmed a bit with the Cowboys this season. The former 3rd round pick of the Colts wasn’t ever supposed to light the world on fire, but he was supposed to be a stable force and a nice insurance policy in case something went wrong at the defensive end position.

Keep in mind, with DeMarcus Lawrence and Randy Gregory firmly entrenched as starters, Basham was supposed to be a rotational guy. He would keep the starters fresh and make some plays along the way. But when Lawrence was lost after week 1, the opportunity for more arose.

The 27-year-old DE would go on to play 60% of the Dallas Cowboys snaps this season, starting five games and becoming the most reliable edge player other than Gregory. Yet, with the exception of the game in Minnesota (Where Basham was brilliant) there hasn’t been much gained by those added opportunities.

Brent Urban’s missed tackle percentage of 40% is mind-bogglingly high

Basham, who ranks 75th of 110 graded DEs this season, has only produced six total pressures this season. That would be one thing if his run defense was staunch, but even that has been disappointing.

The Dallas Cowboys  EDGE’s were exposed last Sunday against the Broncos and teams are going to start targeting. Everyone has blame, including Randy Gregory.

Brent Urban?

Truth be told, we should include Brent Urban here instead. I had enormous hopes for the run-stuffing DT from Chicago but he’s failed to make a very significant impact so far this season. Urban’s missed tackle percentage of 40% is mind-bogglingly high, making the 1-dimentional lineman fairly ineffective across the board.

But Urban has played less than 50% of the snaps this year so he gets a pass…for now.