5 Moves that Made the Cowboys Contenders

Fresh off an upset victory over the Seattle Seahawks at CenturyLink on Sunday, the Dallas Cowboys are currently the toast of the National Football League. In the midst of their best run in well over five years, Jason Garrett and Co. should be taken seriously as contenders in the NFC.

But let’s be real for a second here, this has been a long time coming. In the past, Dallas found every possible way to trip over itself, both on the field and from a front office standpoint. And in doing so, the franchise had become somewhat of a joke around the NFL.

That time has clearly come to an end.

Let’s take a look at five moves (mostly under-the-radar) that has the Cowboys among the top teams in the NFL heading into the midway point of the season.

1. Trading Down with the San Francisco 49ers in the 2013 NFL Draft

At the time of this trade, it made absolutely no sense for the Cowboys. Why would they trade down to the bottom of the first round to select a player in Travis Frederick who many draftniks had pegged as a mid-round pick? In fact, ESPN’s Adam Schefter had this to say about the selection right after Dallas made it (h/t Dallas Morning News). 

One GM said Frederick ran the 40-yard dash in 5.6 seconds, which is going to make it tough for him to get to the second level of defenders,” Schefter wrote Tuesday in his weekly mailbag. “Another HC flat criticized Frederick and did not have complimentary things to say about him. My colleague, Ed Werder, surveyed a handful of teams and found most gave Frederick mid-round grades.

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Not only did Dallas move down more than a dozen spots with San Francisco to select Frederick, it didn’t necessarily get a nice haul in return. The 49ers exhausted only a third-round pick to move up and select eventual Pro Bowler Eric Reid. Needless to say, the move was met with widespread criticism.

Now less than two years later, it appears that the Cowboys and 49ers both did a great job getting quality players in this deal. Sure the Cowboys would love to have Reid at a position of perceived weakness, but the addition of Frederick and third-round pick Terrance Williams has been huge for the team.

According to Pro Football Focus (subscription required), Frederick graded out as the eighth-best center and the best run blocker of the group in 2013. While he’s had some issues in pass protection this season, the Wisconsin product may very well be on the verge of earning a Pro Bowl appearance. At the very least, he’s a major upgrade over who the Cowboys have had in the past.

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There were also some who questioned the selection of Williams with the pick Dallas acquired from San Francisco. The former Baylor standout, who worked wonders for Robert Griffin III in college, quieted those critics big time as a rookie. Being forced into a larger role than anticipated due to the lingering injuries of one Miles Austin, Williams recorded over 700 receiving yards in 16 games (eight starts).

This enabled Dallas to cut ties with the injury-prone veteran and install Williams into the starting lineup. Now after a solid performance against the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday, the second-year receiver is on pace for nearly 900 yards and 13 touchdowns. In reality, he’s the perfect complement to Dez Bryant at wide receiver.

2. Passing up on Johnny Manziel for Zack Martin

Raise your hand if you expected Jerry Jones and Co. to select Manziel when he fell to them with the 16th pick in the draft this past May. It’s a move that had Jones written all over it. And according to reports, he was really close to making that selection before his son, Stephen, talked him out of it.

What a great decision that ended up being. Further fortifying their offensive line, the Cowboys selected an underrated offensive lineman in Zack Martin from Notre Dame. While not a sexy pick by any stretch of the imagination, it has paid off big time through six weeks. Martin has played extremely well at right guard this season and has yet to give up a single sack through six games. More than that, he has helped shore up what had been a mediocre interior of the Cowboys offensive line. Sometimes, the less-sexy pick is the best pick.

3. DeMarco Murray Selection

Murray didn’t enter the 2011 NFL draft with a whole bunch of talk surrounding him. The Oklahoma product, while successful in Norman, didn’t necessarily stand out to scouts heading into draft season that year. He fall to the third round of the draft, behind other running backs such as: Mark Ingram, Ryan Williams, Mikel Leshoure and Daniel Thomas. Interestingly enough, those four running backs have combined for less than 200 rushing yards this season, while Murray is on pace to break multiple league records.

Following another 100-yard performance against the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday, Murray has compiled 785 yards on 159 attempts (both league highs). In total, the fourth-year running back  has racked up 940 total yards of offense through six games. This puts him on pace for over 2,500 on the season. While it might be too early to say that Dallas should lock Murray up on a long-term deal or that he’s a legit MVP candidate, his importance to the team cannot be overstated. And in reality, he has been the most important cog on the team during this early-season run.

4. Tyron Smith Contract Extension

Some looked at the extension Smith signed this past offseason and drew the conclusion that Jerry Jones had finally lost his marbles. After all, an eight-year, $97.6 million contract seemed a tad ridiculous for a player with less than 50 career NFL starts under his belt and who was under contract for two more seasons of his rookie deal. That was nothing more than a surface-based conclusion right there.

Dallas knew full well what it had in Smith, who is the best young offensive tackle in the NFL. It also knew that with the new television deals and increased revenue that the salary cap would climb to new heights in coming years. Locking Smith up to a new deal that would count $10 million against the cap in 2019 and beyond made perfect sense for the team.

The deal also called for just $22 million guaranteed, which means that Dallas can get out from under the deal following the 2018 season without a cap hit. At just 23, Smith will be just hitting his prime then. It’s this type of forward-thinking logic that some of the top franchises in the NFL (San Francisco and Seattle) have succeeded with in recent seasons. And in reality, this one specific example shows a Cowboys front office that might be more viable than most think.

5. Trade for Rolando McClain

Dallas was the butt of all jokes when it traded with the Baltimore Ravens for McClain, who had been a complete mess on and off the field since Oakland made him a top-10 pick back in the 2010 NFL draft. It was seen as a pure desperation move by franchise that had just lost Sean Lee for the season due to another major injury. What wasn’t covered in all the criticism was that Dallas yielded just a sixth-round pick from Baltimore, while picking up the Ravens seventh-round selection. In reality, it was a low risk move for Jones and Co.

And what was a low-risk move has paid off handsomely for the Cowboys through six weeks. Even before coming up with the game-clinching interception against Russell Wilson and the Seahawks on Sunday, McClain had shown that his off-field issues were behind him and that he was prepared to take the next step on the field. After all, Pro Football Focus had him as the fifth-best inside linebacker in the NFL heading into Week 6.

Now fully equipped with the talent that made him a first-round pick and the maturity that comes with overcoming a troublesome start to his career, McClain is the clear-cut favorite to win Comeback Player of the Year. And for that, the Cowboys should be applauded.

Photo: Dallas Morning News