Dallas Cowboys: Expect more 12 personnel (2TE) in 2022

With Mike McCarthy back for his third year and Kellen Moore back for his fourth (as OC), many believe things will stay status quo on offense for the Dallas Cowboys. But there’s reason to believe that will not be the case in 2022, and that the Cowboys offense is going to evolve into something a little different.

Keep in mind, with Amari Cooper playing in Cleveland these days, the Cowboys lost a fundamental part of their passing attack this year. The addition of Jalen Tolbert and James Washington should help, but no one believes them to completely fill the void left by Amari’s departure.

Further complicating matters is Michael Gallup’s injury situation. Gallup is fresh off an ACL injury and is not expected back in time to play in Week 1. That means two of the Dallas Cowboys top-three WRs from 2021 will be absent when the new season kicks off. That’s going to an effect on what Offensive Coordinator Kellen Moore does.

The Dallas Cowboys have been using 12 personnel more and more and 2022 will likely bring the most two TE sets we’ve seen.

First, let’s look at the trend: According to Sharp Football Stats, Kellen ran 12 personnel 196 times in 2019 (18%). In 2020 that number went up to 221 snaps (21%). Last year the usage grew once again, moving up to 290 snaps (24%).

So as we can see, it’s a shift that has been going on for quite some time in Dallas and even things simply stay on course we can expect a three percent increase in 2022.

The lack of viable WRs early in the season only exasperates this situation. If CeeDee Lamb is the only decent threat at WR, the Dallas Cowboys will want to avoid receiver-heavy packages as much as possible. This means less 11 personnel and more 12 personnel in September.

Now that’s not to say the Dallas Cowboys are am embarrassment of riches at tight end. With Blake Jarwin basically medically retired, the Cowboys will likely have some combination of Dalton Schultz, Jake Ferguson, Sean McKeon, and Jeremy Sprinkle.

What 12 personnel gives you, that standard 11 does not, is more running game versatility. Last season defenses were backing off and daring the Cowboys ground game to beat them. The Cowboys couldn’t (only a 34% success rate from Week 9 on) and it put major pressure on the passing game on third downs.

If Kellen rolls out 12 personnel on early downs he’s going to make defenses think twice about going light in the box with their nickel. Kellen will have the ability to play his TEs tight or push them out into the slot. He dictates the density in some ways.

As we discussed last week (see below), the Dallas Cowboys may be moving to a run-heavy offense to combat recent trends. Having good blockers is obviously key and the one quality all of the Cowboys TE depth offers is blocking ability (not so sure about their receiving ability).

When you combine recent trends with the Dallas Cowboys issues at WR, you have the perfect situation for more two tight ends sets.