Cowboys' rookies have unique reason to be happy about landing in Dallas
The path to playing time in the life of an NFL rookie is tough, whether you got to walk up to the stage to hug Commissioner Roger Goodell as a first-round draft pick or whether you're an unknown UDFA that fans are still learning about.But Dallas Cowboys' rookies have a particular reason to be excited […]
The path to playing time in the life of an NFL rookie is tough, whether you got to walk up to the stage to hug Commissioner Roger Goodell as a first-round draft pick or whether you're an unknown UDFA that fans are still learning about.
But Dallas Cowboys' rookies have a particular reason to be excited about having landed in Mike McCarthy's football team: In his regime, the team isn't afraid to play rookies.
And while many teams claim that's the case on their squads too, the numbers prove the Cowboys mean it in an entirely real way. Over the last few years, Dallas has been among the league leaders when it comes to rookies' snap counts. On several levels, the stats back up the team's front office when it comes to their approach to the NFL Draft but it also serves as evidence of the coaching staff's work developing these guys.
Per the Dallas Cowboys PR team, "2022 Dallas’ rookies combined for 145 games played, 41 games started, and 4,902 snaps, the sixth-most snaps among rookies in the NFL."
That was in huge part thanks to the Cowboys' offensive rookies, who played the fourth-most snaps in the league last year. Diving into the details, the numbers become even more impressive. After all, OL Tyler Smith playing in every game isn't a surprise considering the team used a first-round draft pick on him. However, several late-round guys and even UDFAs made a meaningful impact. Jake Ferguson (fourth-rounder) and Peyton Hendershot (UDFA) combined for a whopping 729 snaps per PFR, for instance.
That type of impact from late-round draft picks wasn't unseen on defense, by the way. DaRon Bland, who was drafted in the fifth round as a developmental prospect with the height and length tools Dan Quinn obsesses over, led the team's defensive rookies with 571 snaps.
This isn't a 2022 thing, either. Since Mike McCarthy took over the Cowboys in 2020, their rookies have had the second-most snaps across the NFL, trailing only the New York Jets. Below are the top five teams with the highest rookie snap counts between 2020 and 2022 via the Cowboys PR team:
That's impressive by itself but context takes it to another level: The Cowboys are the only one of those teams with a winning record (30-20, 60%) in that span and that's including a losing 2020 season in which Dak Prescott suffered a season-ending injury early in October. The Lions are second among that list having won just 35% of their games over that span.
Not only are the Cowboys playing rookies, but they're also winning with them.
Any first-year player should be excited at the prospect of playing with the Cowboys' coaching staff based on the numbers. However, it'll ultimately fall on their work during the offseason, which is already underway and about to heat up when the team kicks off OTAs on May 22nd.
