Dallas Cowboys May Finally Make Serious Push For Super Bowl Following Brandin Cooks Trade

As cliche as it might sound by now, the Dallas Cowboys could lastly be prepared for that Tremendous Bowl push.

Though the Cowboys haven’t made a Tremendous Bowl look for the reason that 1995 season — in truth, they haven’t superior previous the divisional spherical of the playoffs since then — the 2023 season could lastly signify the turning level for the underachieving franchise.

Whereas the Cowboys haven’t made any main signings by means of the primary week of free company, they’ve made two huge underrated trades in buying veteran broad receiver Brandin Cooks and a former Defensive Participant of the Yr in cornerback Stephon Gilmore.

And in doing so, the Cowboys could have their finest staff that’s fitted to a Tremendous Bowl push since Troy Aikman was taking snaps for the franchise.

In buying each gamers whereas giving up little or no, Dallas addressed their two largest positions of want by buying and selling for veteran gamers who’ve expertise in huge video games. Cooks has largely served as a No. 1 receiver since getting into the league in 2014, posting six 1,000-yard seasons since 2015. He’s additionally appeared in six postseason video games, together with back-to-back Tremendous Bowl appearances through the 2017 and 2018 seasons.

“I couldn’t be extra hungry,” Cooks stated shortly after the commerce, through Charean Williams of NBC Sports activities. “The final three years is what it’s, however I inform you whenever you step right into a locker room like this and a company, and you bought these three years below your belt like that, I imply, that gas is simply positively fueling the hearth to have the ability to come out right here and simply present up and assist my staff win. I can’t wait. I really can’t.”

So far as Gilmore is anxious, the five-time Professional Bowler stays one of many prime gamers at his place, having began 16 video games final season whereas posting a career-high 66 tackles and managing to look in 99% of the defensive snaps in video games he appeared in. Secondly, he has a Tremendous Bowl ring from his days as a member of the New England Patriots and has seven postseason video games — two Tremendous Bowl appearances — to his identify.

Dallas merely gave up a 2023 fifth-round draft decide and a 2024 sixth-round draft decide to amass Cooks from the Houston Texans. Not solely will the Texans pay $6 million of the $18 million that was initially owed to Cooks for this season, the Cowboys have since restructured his contract to profit the staff’s wage cap scenario. Cooks’ cap hit will solely rely $6 million in direction of Dallas’ wage cap this season and he has a base wage of simply $8 million for the 2024 season.

In the meantime, Gilmore was acquired for a fifth-round decide on this yr’s draft. Like Cooks, the 32-year-old can also be seemingly a short-term rental, due for a cap hit of slightly below $10 million. That makes Gilmore simply the Fifteenth-highest paid cornerback within the league.

In a matter of days, the Cowboys acquired a legit No. 2 receiver — who has starred as a No. 1 for almost all of his profession — to pair alongside CeeDee Lamb and a No. 2 cornerback to star reverse of two-time Professional Bowler Trevon Diggs.

This isn’t to say the Cowboys are with out their flaws. They clearly should discover a solution to exchange Dak Prescott’s favourite security blanket in tight finish Dalton Schultz following his signing with the Texans. Moreover, they nonetheless need to signal a workhorse operating again to take the strain off of Tony Pollard following his fractured fibula damage and the discharge of Ezekiel Elliott.

Moreover, nearly as good as Cooks is, he matches extra into the star class fairly than the celebrity one. Buying Arizona Cardinals broad receiver DeAndre Hopkins would have been much more expensive, however it could have been an absolute game-changer. Buying Cooks lastly offers the Cowboys a legit possibility, but it surely doesn’t precisely make them the staff to beat within the NFC over the Philadelphia Eagles.

With that being stated, the NFC seems to be even weaker getting into the 2023 season than it did final yr. The NFC South is an afterthought with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers out of contender mode following the retirement of Tom Brady. In the meantime, the Inexperienced Bay Packers are making ready to commerce longtime quarterback Aaron Rodgers out of the convention and the San Francisco 49ers are nonetheless attempting to determine who their beginning quarterback shall be on opening day.

That mainly means the largest roadblock for the Cowboys in terms of a Tremendous Bowl LVIII look will seemingly be their largest division rival, the Eagles.

Whereas the Eagles had been clearly the very best staff within the NFC through the 2022 season, we by no means noticed a good matchup between each groups. Cowboys backup quarterback Cooper Rush began throughout Dallas’ Week 6 loss to the Eagles, whereas former Philadelphia backup quarterback Gardner Minshew began through the staff’s loss to the Cowboys in Week 16.

The Eagles — who shall be pressured to interchange a number of key starters from final season’s staff — seemingly received’t be as sturdy as they had been this previous season, once they went 15-1 with Jalen Hurts because the beginning quarterback.

That’s merely excellent news for the Cowboys, as they’ll seemingly need to beat the Eagles to win a Lombardi Trophy.

The Cowboys should not a lock for a Tremendous Bowl look in New Orleans. Nonetheless, this season is shaping as much as be their finest probability at making an look in a long time.