3 Offseason Mistakes Already Costing the Cowboys in 2024

The sky is falling after the Dallas Cowboys suffered a 44-19 loss in their home opener against the New Orleans Saints.

That's not really the case since they're 1-1 and tied for first place with the Philadelphia Eagles and Washington Commanders. It just feels that way when a team is embarrassed in such a fashion.

The truth is that Dallas is still in good shape but their loss proved they still have a lot of issues on this roster. That shouldn't come as a major shock since they put together one of the worst offseasons in recent memory.

Jerry Jones and the rest of the front office were criminally inactive in free agency and despite a solid draft overall, they made some questionable decisions there as well. After two games, here's a look at three mistakes that are already costing the Cowboys.

3. No coverage safeties were added

Dallas has a decent group of safeties led by Malik Hooker, Donovan Wilson, and Markquese Bell. The problem is that all of them have been struggling in coverage this season.

The most painful example of this came early in the loss to New Orleans. Quarterback Derek Carr had no fear going after the Dallas defensive backs and fired a deep pass to Rashid Shaheed in the first quarter. Shaheed had easily gotten past Hooker and Wilson was in no position to offer help.

Dallas has never spent major resources on safeties. Wilson was a sixth-round pick, as was backup Israel Mukuamu. Bell was an undrafted free agent, as was Juanyeh Thomas. Hooker is the only player added with a premium draft pick but that was the Indianapolis Colts. Dallas added him after a serious injury as a low-risk/high-reward addition.

This isn't to say they needed to use a first-round pick on someone, but they didn't even attempt to bring in a safety capable of improving their deep coverage. On Sunday, we saw how costly that was.