The New Generation of the Cowboys Defensive Line
As Dallas enters this season with new defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus, the defense has high expectations of themselves. Led by elite pass rusher Micah Parsons, the Cowboys believe they have one of the best defensive lines in football. It is a new and young group for the Dallas defensive line but is filled with all sorts of young and exciting talent that will be sure to wreak havoc in the backfield. It might take some time for these players to mesh well with each other, but with talent across the board, confidence is high.
Since the departures of longtime players such as DeMarcus Lawrence to the Seattle Seahawks and Chauncey Golston to the New York Giants, the Cowboys made an effort to replace and revamp the defensive line. They re-signed former Cowboy Dante Fowler, who recently had a 10.5-sack season with the Washington Commanders. More additions in free agency included signing the former first-round pick Payton Turner from the New Orleans Saints and signing DFW native Solomon Thomas to bring him back home to Texas. In the second round of this year’s draft, Dallas did not shy away from drafting the top player on their draft board, Donovan Ezeiruaku, who was a force at Boston College. They even looked to beef up the interior of the line by drafting Jay Toia from UCLA late in the seventh round. Matching these additions with young guys such as Sam Williams, Marshawn Kneeland, Mazi Smith, and Osa Odighizuwa, the Cowboys could have one of the best defensive linemen groups in the NFL.
These new additions to the current Cowboys defensive line group hope to add a couple of things. First, what has been the Cowboys' kryptonite for years and years, and that’s defending the run? The hope is that these new edge rushers will be able to set the edge while the interior can handle doing the dirty work and prevent gashes through the middle. The second is to make life easier for the corners in the back end of the defense. Wreaking danger on the quarterback allows for this questionable cornerback group facing injuries to breathe slightly and take the pressure off of them, allowing them to create turnovers like they did for the past three seasons. With these two goals in mind for the defensive line unit, the Cowboys hope they struck gold selecting the players they chose through the draft and free agency. It will be hard to create cohesion at first, but once they start to get the ball rolling, anything is possible.
