There’s plenty of buzz around the Dallas Cowboys heading into the new season, even with two straight losing years hanging over the franchise. Plenty of people still see them as contenders. That belief, though, comes with a big condition: everything has to go right.
And if it doesn’t? If the optimism gets swallowed up by the kind of season nobody wants to imagine, the Cowboys could be staring at a full-blown collapse in 2026.
The most obvious nightmare starts with Dak Prescott. Dallas knows exactly how quickly things can unravel if its franchise quarterback is sidelined for a long stretch.
Prescott is 33 now, and the body doesn’t bounce back the way it used to. Over the last seven seasons, his availability has gone back and forth between a healthy year and a season in which he missed at least five games.
Twice, that meant season-ending injuries. He was fully healthy last season, which only adds to the anxiety if that pattern continues.
No Dak in Dallas is the fastest way to drain the life out of the year.
Even if Prescott stays on the field, the Cowboys still have to keep him protected, and that’s where the alarm bells start ringing. The offense is loaded with weapons, but the tackle spots are a major concern.
Tyler Guyton has flashed in training camp, but injuries have followed him through each of his first two seasons. On the other side, Terence Steele has been shaky enough that his job has even been mentioned as up for grabs after the recent trade for Broderick Jones.
Jones brings his own uncertainty. The former first-round pick from Georgia was sliding down the depth chart in Pittsburgh before Dallas traded for him, and while there’s real upside to dream on, the version of him the Cowboys have right now leaves plenty to be desired.
If Dallas has to lean on him before he’s ready, that could get ugly fast. The tackle group has real disaster potential.
The defense brings a different kind of risk. There’s been a wave of optimism around a unit that was dreadful last season, but that optimism comes with a reminder: this is basically a brand-new group. Between the coaching staff and the players, the Cowboys are looking at a major overhaul, so comparisons to the 2025 defense only go so far.
New schemes rarely become clean and dominant overnight. A fresh coaching staff brings a learning curve, and learning curves can produce busted assignments, miscommunication, and all the other messes that pile up early in a season.
Christian Parker was brought in to help smooth that out, but there’s no guarantee it works right away. Growing pains are very much in play.
Then there’s the pass rush, which on paper looks a lot better than it did a year ago. Dallas brought in Rashan Gary through a trade and added Von Miller in free agency.
Donovan Ezeiruaku and Malachi Lawrence were drafted to help, and James Houston is in the mix as a reclamation project. None of them had taken a snap in a Cowboys uniform at this time last year, so the makeover is obvious.
But the paper version has to become the real thing. Gary could turn out to be exactly the player Packers fans warned about.
Miller could look like a normal 37-year-old pass rusher instead of somebody who keeps beating the clock. The draft picks might take longer than hoped to matter.
And if the pressure never comes, the defense will feel it immediately. Repeated failure to get after the quarterback can expose everything else.
Injuries could also complicate the picture in the secondary and at linebacker. Last year, the hope centered on Trevon Diggs and Sam Williams coming back from injury, but both added little to nothing before leaving the team.
This year, the attention shifts to Shavon Revel Jr. and DeMarvion Overshown, two more Day 2 picks whose talent is intriguing if they can stay healthy and finally break through. That’s still a big if.
There’s also the expectation that DaRon Bland’s left foot will be fully healed this time around. If that doesn’t hold, the Cowboys could be asking a lot more from a cornerback room that may already be stretched thin, especially if Revel Jr. turns out to be more grabby than deflect-y.
And hovering over all of it is Brian Schottenheimer. The culture around him has gotten plenty of praise, but that can change in a hurry if the team starts losing.
The clichés, the backward visor, the Sir Mix-a-lot press conference covers, even the Greek dancing - none of it will matter much if the wins don’t follow. He’s a dad-joke coach, and fans are only going to smile for so long if the product on the field goes sideways.
That’s the dark side of the Cowboys’ season. A few of these things going wrong at once could send the whole thing off the rails. Dallas is hoping it never gets there.
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For a team that has seen plenty of linemen cycle through the roster, Smerek stands out because he stuck as a pass rusher and made his mark without the draft pedigree or the easy path. Other players have worn 60 since then, and Tyler Guyton has it now, but the number still invites a look back at a player whose Cowboys story was built on resilience as much as production. [Read more 🡒]