Dallas Cowboys welcome beefed up and healthy Neville Gallimore

The Dallas Cowboys didn’t do much this past offseason. After cutting ties with a few overpriced/underperforming veterans, Dallas leaned on the draft and some internal player progression to improve their roster in 2022.

Neville Gallimore falls in the latter category.

After being selected 82nd in the 2020 NFL Draft, Gallimore has had an up and down career. Flashing star qualities one play and fading into the background the next, it’s been difficult to gauge who the real Neville Gallimore is.

Neville Gallimore is primed to take a next step in his development and should make a big impact on the Dallas Cowboys defense.

Defensive tackle is a notoriously slow developing position in the NFL. Players typically take time to develop the weight, strength, and technique needed to survive, let alone thrive, at the professional level. So to see a 25-year-old third rounder like Gallimore struggle to find consistency, isn’t all that surprising. Especially since he’s only  played 19 games in his two-year career.

Last season, Gallimore hit training camp on a mission, but injuries knee-capped his season and Gallimore was only able to contribute snaps in five games. The snaps he played were impressive, even if the rust was evident. Gallimore was able to show his speed, strength, and athleticism and how they can create havoc from the middle of the line.

The Dallas Cowboys haven’t had a dominating presence inside for quite some time. While the rookie Osa Odighizuwa showed some elite ability early, he faded down the stretch. His rookie wall was real, and Gallimore’s absence certainly didn’t help. When Gallimore made it back, we got a sneak-peak of what to expect with the two side by side.

Something I highlighted in the clip above last season is how Osa and Neville can play together without the Cowboys losing a thing in horizontal pursuit. The Dallas Cowboys have always valued DTs with lateral ability over those 2-gap “plugger” types, and the play here shows why.

Both Gallimore and Osa have pursuit ability and can rush the passer as well as stop the run somewhat equally. Gallimore’s ability to do this from a 1-tech position makes him all the more valuable.

A full offseason of weight-training has offered up some pretty significant results. Assuming Gallimore can move the way he used to with 16 lbs. of added strength/weight, his impact should be enormous in 2022.

Neville Gallimore has been teasing for a while, but appears ready to have a major breakout in 2022, the results of which will trickledown to all layers of the defense.

The biggest question is whether or not he can stay healthy all season.