Cowboys news: The Dallas 2022 draft class needs to push them over the top

Check out today’s latest and greatest news surrounding America’ team!

Role Call: How Sam Williams Can Be Impactful – Nick Eatman, DallasCowboys.com

The Cowboys are hoping for Sam Williams to be a rookie impact.

How He Got Here: It’s rare that a player not projected in the first round is linked to an NFL team before the draft. But for some reason, Williams was on the Cowboys’ radar for a while. Whether it was his Top 30 visit in the spring, his workout out at Ole Miss that included coaches Mike McCarthy and Dan Quinn, or maybe his first introduction to Jerry Jones at an awards banquet, but it was clear there was mutual interest between the Cowboys and Williams. And sure enough, in the second round of the draft, the Cowboys drafted the Ole Miss pass rusher, who had 11 sacks last season for the Rebels. There are some off-the-field concerns, which might have kept other teams away but the Cowboys are confident in their homework of Williams that is ready for the next level and could possibly be the next great defensive player on this squad.

What’s Next: The Cowboys have confidence in Dan Quinn to put these pieces in the right place. He did it well last year, especially with Micah Parsons playing all over the field. Now, Williams isn’t ready to be compared to Parsons, but there’s a chance that he could line up in multiple positions. Williams rushed off the edge quite a bit in college, but he’s got the size and speed to play outside linebacker in a 4-3 scheme. He even had some rush attempts in the middle of the line, something we saw a lot from Parsons last year. Now, the transition to the NFL game is going to take some time for Williams, but if the Cowboys can find some roles for him early, he might be a player that contributes sooner than later.

‘Chopping it up’ with Zack Martin, home cooking from Mom: Life moving fast for Cowboys’ rookie OL Tyler Smith – Todd Brock, Cowboys Wire

Tyler Smith is getting eased into things during Cowboys OTA’s.

Things could have easily looked very different for Smith right now. He had the opportunity to stay at Tulsa for another year of eligibility. He even passed up backchannel “six-figure” offers from some of the nation’s premiere programs to transfer. He might have been a top-10 or even top-five pick at offensive tackle in the 2023 draft.

Instead, he went 24th, and the learning curve has already begun.

“Everything’s starting to speed up,” he said, echoing the words of most college players once they reach the pro level.

That’s been the biggest adjustment so far for the 6-foot-6-inch 330-pounder, slated to likely play left guard as he also prepares to one day take over for yet another former first-round pick, eight-time Pro Bowler Tyron Smith.

“Learning to play stable in the speed of the game. Everything speeds up each level you go up,” the rookie explained. “Just making sure you’re doing your film study right, you’re working your technique, all these little things just to make sure that when you go on the snap of the ball, there’s no mismatch, no lag: just being able to go full speed.”

Predicting Dallas’ All-Pro/Pro Bowl Selections for 2022 – Nick Coppola, Inside the Star

Let’s go Garibay!

K Jonathan Garibay – All-Rookie

With Chris Naggar gone, Jonathan Garibay is the only kicker on the roster. Coming off a senior season at Texas Tech where he missed just one field goal and earned First-team All-Big 12 honors, I expect Garibay to have a solid season at kicker.

There shouldn’t be many rookie kickers for Garibay to compete with, so he should be able to grab a spot unless he vastly underperforms.

The 2022 offensive undrafted free agent with the best shot at making the Cowboys roster – Brandon Clements, Blogging the Boys

Which UDFA could surprise us in year one?

Yesterday we discussed the offensive undrafted free agent most likely to make the Dallas Cowboys roster. Today we look at another undrafted free agent the Cowboys acquired post draft that has the best shot of making the team this year. This individual played on arguably one of the best offensive lines in all of college football this past season. The player being discussed here is Boston College center Alec Lindstrom.

Coming out of high school, he wasn’t as highly touted as someone like Markquese Bell, but nevertheless he was a 2-star recruit and decided to stay close to home and play for the Boston College Eagles of the ACC conference. He was a bit undersized to play offensive line at the Division 1 level due to only weighing 240 pounds when he arrived on campus. However, if you look at his family tree, you’ll see that his father, Chris Sr., is 6’7” and weighed 260 during his NFL days. Also, Alec’s big brother Chris Lindstrom Jr. ended up becoming a top-14 draft pick in the 2019 NFL Draft.

The road to stardom didn’t exactly happen overnight as it took until his redshirt freshman year in 2018, and an injury to the starting center for Lindstrom to get on the playing field. Aside from this short stretch in the starting lineup, he didn’t play much the rest of that season. He was relegated to playing on special teams as the long snapper. Moving onto 2019 is where he really started finding his groove, and ended up starting all 13 games. He capped it off by being awarded Third-team All-ACC.

Recent news on Cowboys’ Dak Prescott could have big implications for 2022 – Cole Patterson, A to Z Dallas

If Dak is healthy, all is well.

The face of the Dallas Cowboys and one of the unquestioned stars of the NFL is quarterback Dak Prescott. On the field, he’s the franchise all-time leader in completion percentage and passer rating, among qualified players. Off the field, he’s a vocal leader in mental health as the creator of the Faith Fight and Finish foundation.

2021 was a return, of sorts, to form for Prescott. He missed the majority of the 2020 season with a gruesome broken leg. Despite a full injury recovery, there was still some concerns as to how he would play. Mentally and physically.

Statistically, Dak had a career year finishing 11-5 as a starter with 4,449 yards 37 touchdowns (franchise record) and 10 interceptions, completing 68.8% of his passes.

However, while he started the season hot, it was noticeable after the end of the game versus New England that he was playing different. Even after sitting the following game against the Minnesota Vikings with a calf strain, he visibly didn’t trust using his legs. An attribute that has made him a special player.

Now this off-season, he’s putting the majority of his focus on health. It seems to be working.

Dak, himself, is expressing how he feels during practices. Believing he’s back to who the Dallas Cowboys QB we’ve come to expect him to be.

Another last-chance season for the Dallas Cowboys Trysten Hill – Reid Hanson, Sport DFW

Could this be Trysten Hill’s last hoorah?

Trysten Hill will once again be battling for a roster spot on the Dallas Cowboys this year.

To say Hill has underachieved as a pro is to put things lightly. In three seasons with the Dallas Cowboys, Hill has amassed just 27 tackles, 0.5 sacks, and two tackles for loss. This despite playing on a fairly pedestrian defensive interior with a fairly significant share of injuries and opportunities.

Trysten Hill’s job security was called into question already in Year 2. After doing next to nothing as a rookie and being generally uncoachable in the process, Hill lost his biggest advocate when Marinelli left (another reason you don’t let coaches make draft picks). But Hill flashed a little in that sophomore season and did just enough to hang on through the coaching change.

2021 saw yet another coaching change in Dallas. Out went Mike Nolan (cue the Hallelujah Chorus) and in came Dan Quinn. Old players went out and new players once again came in. Through it all, Hill did just enough to hang on, playing 161 snaps in six games last season.

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