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Are the Cowboys a better team now than they were three months ago?
Are they a better team now than they were three days ago?
Is this again a team capable of competing for playoff berths, division titles and Super Bowls?
The Cowboys entered the offseason as a team with multiple needs based on their 4-12 collapse in 2015. The defense had a minimal pass rush, finishing 25th in the NFL in sacks with 31. That defense also was without playmakers. Their 11 takeaways tied the NFL record for turnover futility.
The offense lacked a quality backup quarterback. Without an injured Tony Romo last season, the Cowboys spun through three quarterbacks and posted a 1-9 record with 11 TD passes and 15 interceptions. Without an injured Dez Bryant, the big plays were gone. The Cowboys averaged 6.96 yards per pass and 11.0 yards per catch last season. In 2014, when the Cowboys won the East, they averaged 8.4 per pass and 12.2 yards per catch.
The offseason fix-it list of Jerry Jones was short -- get the stars healthy, then find a pass rush and a backup quarterback. The sense of urgency heightened when the two players who projected to start on defense as Rod Marinelli's edge pass rushers, Randy Gregory and DeMarcus Lawrence, were suspended by the NFL for the opening month of the season.
But the free-agency window opened in March, and the Cowboys were relatively silent except to sign a former Pro Bowl running back, Alfred Morris. That left the draft. But through the first three rounds -- the premium rounds where teams find walk-in starters -- the only significant addition was yet another running back, Ohio State All-America Ezekiel Elliott.
The Cowboys finally got around to addressing their two most pressing needs in the fourth round, selecting Oklahoma pass rusher Charles Tapper and quarterback Dak Prescott. Frankly, I thought the fourth round was the best round for the Cowboys in this draft.
But that's asking a lot of those two players. The last time the Cowboys found an impact player in the fourth round was 2007 when they drafted offensive tackle Doug Free. That was nine drafts ago. And it's been four drafts since any NFL team found a Pro Bowler in the fifth round, that being cornerback Josh Norman by the Carolina Panthers in 2012.
Yet the Cowboys need Tapper to have an immediate impact and Prescott to have a future impact.
Romo is 36 this season. His window is closing, which is why it was mandatory for the Cowboys to establish a plan of succession for the future of both the position and the franchise. Jones has now done that with the addition of Prescott. That leaves the Cowboys with a two- to three-year window to win a championship with Romo. I didn't see that sense of urgency with this draft.
So the basis for any optimism for the coming season is the return to health of Romo and Bryant and the hope that the Cowboys can be as dominant with Elliott running the ball as they were with DeMarco Murray in 2014.
If the Cowboys are indeed a better team, is better good enough?
The Redskins finished five games better than the Cowboys last season and have since added an elite cornerback (Norman) in free agency, plus an All-America receiver (Josh Doctson) in the draft. The Giants finished two games better than the Cowboys a year ago and have added the best pass rusher in free agency (end Olivier Vernon), plus an elite cornerback (Eli Apple) in the draft. Both teams strengthened areas of weakness.
The Cowboys strengthened an area of strength. They already had one of the best rushing attacks in the NFL. Darren McFadden finished fourth in rushing, the Cowboys as a team finished ninth and they controlled the football for 31 minutes per game.
Now they will take the ball out of McFadden's hands and put it in those of Elliott. And then there's Morris, who has topped 1,000 yards rushing in three of his four NFL seasons. Three backs, one ball.
And for the most part, the Cowboys want that ball in the hands of their $100 million quarterback Romo and their $70 million wide receiver Bryant, anyway.
Without question, the Cowboys have a better offense than they did three days ago -- not to mention three months ago. But football is a team game, not an offensive game. Seven of the NFL's top-10 defenses qualified for the playoffs last season and five won division titles. Only four of the top-10 offenses qualified for the playoffs.
The Cowboys are going to need some help from the other side of the ball, and I don't believe it's there. Tapper's arrival doesn't offset the departure of Greg Hardy and the absences of Gregory and Lawrence. And I don't expect sixth-round pick Anthony Brown, the only draft-day stab at upgrading the secondary, to step onto the field as a rookie playmaker in the footsteps of Everson Walls.
Maybe Romo, Bryant and Elliott can give the franchise a modern-day set of triplets. But what this team still needs are a Haley, Lett, Maryland, Norton, Woodson and Sanders on the other side of the ball to close the deal on more Lombardi trophies.
