FRISCO, Texas -- The 2016 NFL season ended with the New England Patriots’ mind-bending comeback in Super Bowl LI, but there are plenty of things to wonder about with the Dallas Cowboys as the league clock officially turns to 2017.
Here are five of them.
Away we go:
-- Now that Jerry Jones is headed to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, I wonder who will be the next Cowboy to call it home? Darren Woodson has been a semifinalist, and he is far too underappreciated by the voters for what he has done. If John Lynch makes it, then Woodson has to -- has to -- be enshrined, as well. Gil Brandt should make it in through the Contributors category, which is how Jones made it in. Maybe that happens in 2018. Could Cliff Harris, Drew Pearson or Chuck Howley get in through the Seniors Committee? You can make good cases for them, and when Harris was voted down a few years ago, that’s when I believed there might be a bias against the Cowboys. (But I really don’t think there is one.) Jimmy Johnson will be under consideration, but I wonder if his case would have been helped by more success with the Miami Dolphins. Where do you go from there? Jason Witten? DeMarcus Ware? There could be a wait for another player or coach to get to Canton, Ohio.
-- Since the name of the column is "Five Wonders," I guess I have to "wonder" if the Cowboys will be in the Hall of Fame Game this summer? But is there really any doubt they will be in Canton when Jones is inducted? He is, after all, the chairman of the Pro Football Hall of Fame committee. The Cowboys played in the Hall of Fame Game in 2010 and 2013, when Emmitt Smith and Larry Allen (and Bill Parcells) were enshrined, respectively. Playing in the game would allow the Cowboys to begin training camp sooner, but it also would present some travel issues in getting to northeast Ohio, since their training camp is set up in Oxnard, California. The Hall of Fame Game will be played before the induction ceremony this year, so could the Cowboys hang around for a day or two afterward and practice up that way?
-- We’ve talked preseason. Now let’s go regular season. I wonder if the Cowboys will open the season at the Atlanta Falcons in the first contest at Mercedes-Benz Stadium? It seems as if the Cowboys and New York Giants have established something of a tradition, having opened the season against each other in four of the past five campaigns. It’s always a ratings grabber, but you can make the case that the Cowboys and Falcons will be the two best teams in the NFC in 2017. Why not open with a potential preview of the NFC Championship Game? My gut says it will be an NFC South foe to open the new digs in Atlanta, similar to how the Minnesota Vikings opened US Bank Stadium against their NFC North rival Green Bay Packers. But Dak Prescott, Ezekiel Elliott and Dez Bryant against Matt Ryan, Julio Jones & Co. would have wide appeal.
-- I wonder if we need to examine University of Washington players a little more during this draft process? Over the years, the Cowboys have had 15 former Huskies on their roster, with Isaiah Stanback (2007) as the most recent draft pick. It’s not just because Washington has good players. In Mel Kiper’s first mock draft, he had the Cowboys selecting cornerback Sidney Jones. But here’s why we might need to look at U-Dub players: Orlando Scandrick, Tyrone Crawford, DeMarcus Lawrence. Wait a minute, you say, didn’t those three go to Boise State? Yes, and Chris Peterson was their coach. Now Peterson is at Washington and is entering his fourth season. There is something the Cowboys like about Peterson’s players from the perspective of attitude, ability and work ethic. You would think he’s recruiting the same type of players with the Huskies.
-- In my Twitter mailbag last week I listed cornerback Brandon Carr, safety Barry Church and running back Darren McFadden as the top three players the Cowboys should re-sign. I wonder if I should have mentioned defensive tackle Terrell McClain over McFadden? I valued McFadden’s ability to be ready for an every-down load in case something happened to Elliott, but McClain is a big part of the Cowboys’ success up front. The Cowboys haven’t seemed to value the nose tackle since their move to the 4-3 scheme back in 2013, but McClain could be different. He was able to stay relatively healthy for the first time since joining the Cowboys, and the coaches credited him with 41 tackles, the most by a defensive lineman. He also had 2.5 sacks, three tackles for loss, eight quarterback pressures and two forced fumbles. Defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli is a big fan of McClain and backed him even as he went through injuries. McClain is good against the run. He is better than expected as an interior pass-rusher and has some position flexibility. Like everything, it will come down to price, but in retrospect, I’d put McClain in the top three.