Dallas Cowboys Week 1 Unofficial Depth Chart Reaction | Blogging The Boys

what's going on everybody RJ CH here from SB Nations bloggingtheboys.com hope all is well wherever you are hope you're happy safe healthy and I would like to welcome you to the regular season we did it we made it the Cowboys are at work preparing for a regular season game against the Cleveland Browns on Sunday afternoon we have a whole lot of future a whole lot of future a whole lot of football in our future as I record this it's uh Wednesday September the 4th 2024 for me just for full context because as always we want you to know when we're recording in case something crazy happens we do remain on Dak Prescott extension watch something could happen something may happen something might not happen you never know but I promise you that if something does happen I will have you covered not just here on the bloging The Boys YouTube channel where you should subscribe at bloggingtheboys.com and all over my social channels as well by the way we are at 22.8 th000 subscribers here on the blog and the boys YouTube channel we are on the march to 30,000 throughout the course of this regular season and if you want to follow me on social media you see where you can do so Twitter Instagram and threads at RJ choa Tik Tok rj. choa rjo sbnation.com is how you reach me if you want to send me an email as always please visit blog andth boys.com for the latest and greatest in the world of America's team we are here today uh first video of the regular season if you want to look at it that way as we get ready for a very big week obviously again it's week one we're in the Rhymes and rhythms of how things are going to operate around here and in case you're new I know we have a lot of people who have come along as the offseason went despite the fact that Cowboys didn't do a ton we don't have to relitigate that situation but uh today Wednesday we're going to be taking a look at the first unofficial depth chart of the regular season for the Dallas Cowboys tomorrow on Thursday good friend of mine colleague of mine here at SP Nation Jared Mueller uh he and I are going to sit down Jared covers the Cleveland Browns for us at dogs by Nature our Cleveland Browns site of course at ESP Nation going to ask him some things you know gon to get to know the Browns and figure out you know who this team is that the Cowboys going to be facing going to do our best to bring you an opposing Viewpoint every single week on the channel That will drop on Thursday Friday of course the Madden simulations I know that everybody loves those that will be coming on Friday afternoon maybe Friday lunchtime we'll see exactly when that gets off the ground Saturday you'll get Dallas Cowboys and espanol a project of mine I appreciate everybody certainly who has encouraged me or offered um a different kind of encouragement we'll say uh throughout the course of this process and once again if there's any sort of breaking news I promise you that I'll have you covered everywhere that you see in front of you but that being said let's get uh to um this subject at hand uh reactions to the first unofficial depth chart of the regular season for the Cowboys this is important to say again because there have been unofficial depth charts already this season for the Cowboys but they were in the preseason this is the first unofficial I have to stress unofficial depth chart of the regular season for the Dallas Cowboys the Cowboys of course releasing this on Tuesday afternoon let's take a look shout out to ESPN's Todd Archer who tweeted this out uh as you take a look it is very chalk and and that's important you know we'll kind of get to uh why in a moment here but it is very chalk as far as projected starters are concerned if you want to even call them that um if you can't quite see let me see if I can zoom in just a little bit here let me get over to this there we go there we go I got you don't worry all right so let let's take a look at the offense here offensively let me Center it all right we good all right so wide receiver CD lamb duh he's back in the fold awesome love to see it um we'll come to the offensive line let's just get to the offensive lines go top to Bott it's a lot easier uh offensive line left to right Tyler gu in the first round rookie duh Tyler Smith duh Cooper BB duh Zack Martin duh Terren steel duh everything makes sense like I said very chalk we know that chuma adoga I'm making sure here um I just got an alert from Twitter that it's not any Dak Prescott news obviously you know we're all waiting to make sure nothing happens uh but that being said offensive line extraordinarily chalk chuma DOA not available for the cowboys awesome Richards figures to be the primary swing tackle um if the Cowboys need to lean upon Him great for Tyler G and Cooper BB that they obviously work to the point that they have that they are the starters the Cowboys going to start two rookies along the offensive line uh doing so certainly is a bold Endeavor in any season especially one of great consequence it would seem for the Cowboys here in 2024 especially one where the head coach is in a contract year where the quarterback is at the time of this recording in a contract year um you know your first game of the season going up up against the reigning defensive play of the year um it's bold but this is the way to go this is the way forward we all have endorsed this um so it's great to see that the Cowboys are are plunging forward with Cooper BB specifically I think we all knew that Tyler gon would would be the starter in week one and and we hoped that Cooper BB would get to start the majority of the season but the fact that he's already earned the job and beating out Brock Hoffman by The Season's beginning is a great thing uh Jake Ferguson tied end you know again not Shock not a shock not shocking whatever if I could speak uh again I'm I'm frazzled because I keep getting alerts about Twitter and there's no Dak press new so I'm always on edge just to make sure we don't miss anything um Jaylen Tober Brandon Cooks not a surprise again all of this makes complete and total sense Dak Prescott of course H Center that bottom one Zeke Elliot that's the one that I wanted to get to and I wanted to emphasize how chalk and predictable and logical really every starter is here that you see on your screen for the Dallas Cowboys on offense because look let me take the dep chart off the screen let me get my mouse over here so was on my other monitor there are people who believe that Rico D is going to lead the Cowboys in in touches and Carries this season and that may very well happen I would not bet on that if you're asking for my opinion my personal prediction I and I tweeted this on Tuesday when the debt chart came out the unofficial debt chart I remain unconvinced that anyone other than Zeke Elliott is going to lead the Cowboys and Carries and lead the Cowboys in you know substantially in carries by the way in 2024 can't change my mind on this now I know this is an unofficial depth chart and I'm not trying to read too much into anything but Zeke didn't play it all in the preseason Zeke is listed as the starter and Zeke is a chosen son of this organization they love him and we all love Zeke the memories are wonderful and I'm very interested to see what kind of player he is here in 2024 but the the line that I've used a lot is I've had conversations with people and done different you know shows and podcasts and whatnot over the course of the offseason two years ago Tony Pard was among the most explosive Ive running backs in the NFL let me see if I can pull this up he was quite possibly the most explosive running back in the NFL two years ago not named Christian mcaffrey we all remember 2022 Tony par was amazing he got hurt that was unfortunate obviously blah blah blah that being the case all right despite the fact and I'm looking this up as uh as we go along here um Tony Pard was incredible in 2022 we all know that and as amazing as he was the Cowboys still Justified over 200 carries for Zeke Elliot still I mean that's crazy when you really think about it let me put this on your screen here um let me stop sharing this let me pull this up moving around this is how the sausage gets made this is from NFL pro which is super awesome I've really enjoyed getting to play around with it uh since it started off oops there we go uh let me move myself all right what you're looking at here is this is a 2022 season I've sorted this by um yards after the carry um ex yards after the carry goodness gracious here's your glossery if you really care what this specific stat is let's find the exact definition yards after contact per carry the average number of yards a ball carrier gains after being contacted okay Tony Pard in 2022 4.2 4.2 I mean let's just look at at the teams let's just sort sort by the Dallas CB these are Dallas CB running backs in 2022 by the way I mean look at this let me zoom in here all right you are good on your screen okay so this is 2022 Tony par 16 games played zek l853 attempts just in 5.2 yards per carry Tony Pard had in 2022 I promise I'm going somewhere with all this Zeke Elliot 3.8 the touchdown disparity is what it is we've talked about this many different times look how productive this is the these are these are bare minimum statistics mind you but look how productive this is from Tony part I don't know why it's flashing like that and despite all of this production the Cowboys still Justified 231 carries for Zeke Elliot let's keep looking here rush yards overexp expected in 2000 look at the difference here Tony par was at plus 226 and Zeke Kelly was at minus 77 I promise I'm going somewhere with this this is per attempt that same category Tony par over a yard Zeke Elliott in in the negatives here Rush EPA Tony Pard plus two Zeke Elliot minus 14.6 I mean the point I'm making here what point are you making RJ Tony Pard was this phenomenal player this phenomenal ball carryer this phenomenal running back for the Cowboys in 2022 and the Cowboys still Justified over 200 carries for zekel that was two years ago mind you obviously it's been two years it's new team new players etc etc but as I put the depth chart back here let's see here there we go who is here that is better than 2022 Tony Pard that's where I was going with this if if that version of Tony Pard wasn't enough to convince the Cowboys to give Zeke fewer than 200 carries 200 touches who is all due respect to Rico D I do not understand how that's him now maybe Rico D obviously and and dvin cook if it comes down to that and Malik Davis if he is on the active roster no offense to Hunter lipg don't mean to cut him off right there that's just the way the screen share is working but maybe they're more involved in September and October maybe that's the case maybe Zeke Elliott is around to not necessarily be too involved in the early parts of the season they want to save him for the playoffs and things like that I just have a very difficult time seeing how the Cowboys brought this player back specifically to not utilize him in the way that they believe he should be utilized you and I might view that to be differently you might think that that's a good or a bad or whatever idea I cannot imagine that the Cowboys brought Zeke back to then have Rico n who they let hit free agency by the way remember they brought back Rico as well but you know this wasn't this isn't some Marquee free agent who they brought in this isn't some third round draft pick if if the Cowboys had drafted you know pick who you want Marshon Lloyd then I would totally buy that I would totally buy that there was somebody who was going to take the Lion Share of opportunities but there's not that player right now so I buy that Zeke Elliot is the starter is the starting running back for the Cowboys is going to ultimately lead this team in carries that's that's where I'm at at least right now uh but that's the offense let's take a look at the defense a lot of people obviously you know just interested to see kayln Carson goes without saying in the aftermath of the donon Bland injury um again very chalk and that's why you can't tell me that the Zeke thing is a ceremonial thing when everything else is as logical as it is Demarcus Lawrence Mazy Smith Osa de gazua Micah Parsons Maris Leu over to marvan overshown is very interesting ironically it was Maris leua who the Cowboys took with their second third round pick when they could have taken a running back um and so you know maybe Maris Leu is working out to be an excellent player for them we will see Eric Kendricks Deone Clark very very very chalk Trayvon digs Jordan Lewis and in nickel uh Kaylin Carson Big Time shoes I mean I think we're all excited to see him do it and hopefully he can Big Challenge on on Sunday afternoon Donovan Wilson and Malik hooker um Rico D does appear uh as a backup once again on special teams we've got Brandon Aubrey Brian anger Tren z um the Fantastic specialist who the Cowboys employ Brian anger of course the holder kavante Turpin listed as the primary returner but Rico dat listed as the secondary kick returner that is interesting to me I do wonder what it would look like if Rico D got back there for a for a standard kickoff return granted we don't know a ton about the new reality of everything uh because everybody's kept things so close to the vest throughout the course of the preseason but it's interesting that he's the primary backup kick returner at least according to this unofficial depth chart not duvon although duvon is obviously listed there right behind him and is the primary backup punt returner all told this is I think you know the the title that we had for this was reactions to the first unofficial depth chart of the regular season my reactions my reaction I should say is that it's very chalk it's extraordinarily chalk and I know I've used that word a million times but that's why you should believe it that's why you should believe the zelliot part of this all um it's it's we're past the point of it being a preseason unofficial dep chart so it is a little bit more serious it's still not something you should swear by because it is unofficial but uh but the Cowboys seem prepared to to head into the 2024 season with that is their kind of starting group and the team that they have assembled so whether or not that's successful or not we will ultimately see but um the best part of it all is that it's finally here we're finally going to have some answers right like there I recognize there are people who are I I know that I've been extremely critical of the team this offseason and I know that there are people who are just down on them who don't who don't understand how they can you know win you know 12 games again whatever the case may be and then there's some people who think who are are super Homer and and think that everything's going to work out wonderfully I I remain you know of the opinion that this is a talented team that this is a you know one of the better teams in the NFL but a big reason for that is because they're so top heavy and that top is very talented Dak Prescott's very talented CD lamb Micah Parsons I think Mike McCarthy's a little bit underrated um so I do think that those you know will Propel the team farther than you know maybe they would have gone otherwise maybe not all the way obviously as as we well know um but you know recently you know looking at FanDuel Sports books odds you know over under for the cowys is nine and a half I would totally take that I would I would still take the over on 10 and a half I'd be a little bit more tentative anything after that i' I'd have to kind of reconsider but nine and a half wins I'm absolutely taking the over this is a team that knows how to be consistent knows how to win consistently in the regular season obviously blah blah blah but you know they could they have been better I think so but we're about to find out exactly how good they are this Sunday afternoon when they visit the Cleveland Browns as mentioned coming on Thursday my conversation with Jared Mueller talking all things Cleveland Browns uh on Friday our man simulation Saturday the day before the game Dallas Cowboys in espanol no live postgame shows for now but there will be a postgame episode same sort of show just not live that will be uploaded shortly after the Cowboys game ends um so you know looking forward to that if you want to follow me my name RJ Ooa all over the place Twitter Instagram threads RJ Ooa Tik Tok rjo rjo sbnation.com if you want to send me an email uh we are looking to get to 30,000 subscribers before the season is over so tell a friend subscribe like the video Turn on the notifications all those things are wonderful uh thank you so much to everyone it's football season it's the best time of the year I'm so excited to spend every second of it talking about the Cowboys analyzing the Cowboys overreacting to the Cowboys and doing all of it with you because we are friends on the internet and that means a lot in the year 2024 thanks so much for hanging out everybody we'll see you next time