NFL.com editor sets low bar for Cowboys offense

NFL.com's Gennaro Filice had a specific question about the Cowboys offense while predicting the league's top 10 attacks for 2024.

“Beyond CeeDee Lamb, whom do I fear as a playmaker in this offense?” Filice wrote .

It’s a fair but unexpected question following the Cowboys' 2023 performance.

Using the metric of offensive points per game (eliminating defensive and/or return touchdowns), Filice determined the team’s 27 points per game were fourth-most in the league last season. So what’s the problem? Actually, there’s three.

The Cowboys passed for 4,660 passing yards during the 2023 regular season, third-most in the NFL, but 1,749 of those yards went to Lamb. Clearly the team’s most talented player, he’s also the most likely to miss games in a contract year.

Lamb skipped OTA and minicamp practices this year in hopes of signing an extension with the team. He set a franchise record with his yards receiving and led the NFL with 135 catches in 2023, only to watch star wideouts like Minnesota’s Justin Jefferson (four-years, $140M) cash in during the offseason.

Without a new deal, Lamb could choose to hold out of regular season games, leaving players like Brandin Cooks and Jalen Tolbert to pick up the slack. Of course, Lamb isn’t the only lame duck on the Cowboys these days.

Quarterback Dak Prescott is also on the last year of his contract. Like Lamb, Prescott spent the offseason watching quarterbacks like former Viking signal-caller Kirk Cousins and the Jaguars' Trevor Lawrence sign contracts worth up to $455M collectively.

While he’s been present for the team’s offseason activities, you have to wonder where Prescott’s head will be at if the team struggles or Lamb remains on the sidelines. Should he get injured at any point in the season, the nearly 31-year-old free agent could be forced to make a business decision without a new deal.

After letting Tony Pollard sign a three-year, $21.75M contract with Tennessee in the offseason, the team gave Ezekiel Elliott a one-year, $2M contract to come back for 2024. After being released in 2023, the third-leading rusher in Cowboys history spent last season in New England, establishing career-lows with 3.5 yards per carry for 642 yards and three touchdowns as a Patriot.

Unfortunately, backup running backs Royce Freeman, Rico Dowdle and Deuce Vaughn combined for 744 yards and two scores in 2023, which doesn’t bode well for a Cowboys team that ran the ball 468 times, 14th-most in the league last season.

For what it’s worth, Filice doesn’t think rival Philadelphia will field a top-10 offense either. As he puts it, “Offensive execution takes time, and Jalen Hurts just said 95 percent of the offense is new under Kellen Moore.”

It’s better than nothing.