3 Massive Questions Facing Dallas Cowboys For 2024 NFL Season

The Dallas Cowboys are coming off of three straight 12-win campaigns, but they have amassed just one playoff win throughout that span.

That isn’t going to make the fan base very happy.

Cowboys fans are getting more and more frustrated with their franchise, which has not made it any further than the Divisional Round since January 1996.

Dallas has unquestionably been one of the NFL’s most talented teams for the past several years, but for whatever reason, it just can’t seem to get over the hump when it counts.

Will 2024 be any different?

Here are three major questions facing the Cowboys heading into the coming season.

How will the running game look?

Dallas opted to let running back Tony Pollard walk in free agency after a relatively disappointing 2023 campaign. The problem is, the Cowboys didn’t adequately replace him.

Derrick Henry was widely viewed as a potential target for Dallas going into the offseason, but the Cowboys expressed no interest in him as he signed with the Baltimore Ravens.

Other options at the position quickly flew off the board, leaving Dallas holding the bag. The Cowboys then failed to pick up a halfback in the NFL Draft, resulting in the club bringing back Ezekiel Elliott in what seemed like a panic move.

Right now, Dallas’ backfield consists of Elliott, Deuce Vaughn and Rico Dowdle.

While the importance of the ground game has certainly been diminished in the modern NFL, it still helps to get some type of productivity from your running backs.

With Elliott aging and declining and Vaughn and Dowdle being entirely unproven, we don’t know if the Cowboys are actually going to get much of anything from their rushing attack in 2024.

Do the Cowboys have enough depth at wide receiver?

Dallas boasts one of the best wide receivers in football in CeeDee Lamb. Behind him, however, the Cowboys are full of uncertainty.

Brandin Cooks is currently the No. 2 receiver, and while he is a fairly big name, he was a pretty big disappointment for Dallas in his debut campaign last season. Beyond Cooks, the Cowboys have youngsters like Jalen Tolbert and Jalen Brooks, neither of whom have proven anything on the NFL level.

Dallas completely ignored the wide out position in free agency (the Cowboys didn’t really do anything in free agency as a whole, either), and it also did not use a high draft pick on a receiver.

That leaves Dak Prescott with relatively slim options at the position. Having a rising star at tight end in Jake Ferguson certainly helps, but the lack of depth at receiver could become a problem.

Imagine if Lamb gets hurt, for example. Then what?

Dallas better hope that one of Tolbert or Brooks breaks through in 2024. Otherwise, the Cowboys’ aerial attack may be in some trouble.

What is the state of the locker room?

Dallas is currently dealing with a lot of organizational issues.

Prescott is looking for a new deal and hasn’t gotten one. Lamb is threatening to hold out. Superstar edge rusher Micah Parsons is at odds with safety Malik Hooker, and there were already rumblings that the Cowboys were growing tired of Parsons’ behavior to begin with.

It sets up a very volatile situation in the Lone Star State heading into 2024, and if the Cowboys get off to a rocky start, it could result in some locker-room troubles.

Throw in the fact that head coach Mike McCarthy is on the hot seat, and you kind of get the feeling that Dallas is teetering on imploding.

Of course, winning will more than likely prevent any of that from happening, and the Cowboys remain one of the most talented teams in football. Let’s also remember that they are getting back a critical member of their defense in Trevon Diggs, who missed just about all of last season with a torn ACL.

Dallas also has the benefit of playing in a fairly easy division, as the Philadelphia Eagles are probably its own true threat in the NFC East.

However, a difficult schedule and some internal conflict could sabotage the Cowboys in 2024.

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