Dallas Cowboys 5 biggest breakout players of 2022
By Reid Hanson
The Dallas Cowboys have had a lot of storylines pop-up this season enroute to their current 4-1 record. Like any season there have been ups and there have been downs. Today, we’re going to focus on some of those “ups.”
Most teams can’t rally after losing their top signal caller for an extended absence. The importance of the quarterback position often makes it too big of a burden to carry. It takes multiple players operating above expectations to pick up the slack.
Here are five Dallas Cowboys players who are effectively having breakout seasons in 2022
The Dallas Cowboys have been fortunate enough to have multiple players step up and breakout this season. While Cooper Rush certainly deserves his praise for his play in Dak Prescott’s stead, no one realistically sees him as starter once Dak’s back so we’re going to focus elsewhere on the roster for this “breakout” appreciation.
We start with defense…
Dallas Cowboys break out: Malik Hooker (FS)
Once upon a time, Malik Hooker’s career seemed dead and buried. After getting drafted in the first round of the 2017 NFL Draft, Hooker endured injury after injury resulting in his early dismissal from Indy and a prove-it deal in Dallas.
After a solid, yet unspectacular, season in Dallas last year, the Dallas Cowboys inked Hooker to a two-year, $7 million deal. Banking on his progression, the Cowboys look a leap of faith. And it paid off.
It’s crazy to think that after years of neglect the Cowboys are LOADED at safety. With 2 DBs ranked in the top-7 in SCOE already, they welcome back Jayron Kearse this week, the best of the bunch. Oh #CowboysNation how far we’ve come…Courtesy of @arjunmenon100 #DallasCowboys pic.twitter.com/fMq8o5Ezlo
— Reid D Hanson (@ReidDHanson) October 6, 2022
Malik Hooker is currently Pro Football Focus’ 4th ranked safety. The rarely targeted safety has done most of his work patrolling the middle of Dallas’ secondary. He’s stayed in position and has been often avoided. Last week, he logged his first interception of the season to ice the game against the defending Super Bowl champs.
Malik Hooker is playing in an ideal environment built to showcase his skills, and that’s exactly what we’re seeing right now. The best part is, he’s under contract for another year so it appears the Cowboys struck gold when they signed him to a two-year deal this past offseason.