(Editor's Note: In the upcoming weeks before the start of training camp, the staff of DallasCowboys.com is looking to answer the 20 biggest questions facing the team heading into the 2024 season. Today, the staff writers continue the series with an annual question about a player who could be ready for a breakthrough season.)
15) Who Makes Their First Career Pro Bowl?
Nick Harris: Even if it is his first season in the league and he will be coming off injury, I see DeMarvion Overshown having a big impact in the second level for the Dallas defense in 2024. Overshown has attacked rehab with a mindset that he will be ready to go when the team departs for Oxnard. And even if he isn't quite ready when he makes his way to the west coast, his impact with added muscle to his upper half and a deeper understanding of an NFL defense after marinating in meeting rooms for the last year will be felt. His ability to cover any type of offensive weapon in the receiving game and his ability to fill running lanes out of the second level will create a big impact.
Mikey Spagnola: This guy should have made his first Pro Bowl in 2022, excelling at right tackle. Unfortunately, Terence Steele suffered a torn ACL in Week 14 and was overlooked when it came to Pro Bowl voting. And as we know, guys returning from a torn ACL, especially not having surgery until the first of the year, usually don't fully return until being a second year removed from that knee injury. Steele got off to a slow start last year. But now he's had a full offseason and, health willing, will be a fulltime participant in training camp. Steele will be rightfully noticed in 2024.
Kyle Youmans: There is a long list of realistic options and another one with wishful options, full of guys who really need to step up this season. My answer just happens to cover both of those two lists with DeMarvion Overshown. The second-year linebacker saw his jaw-dropping preseason and training camp come to an abrupt end, after an ACL tear ended his rookie season. His explosiveness, versatility, and football IQ all put him in a position to be successful. Mike Zimmer's defense needs a piece like him to tie everything together at the second level. Meaning he'll have ample opportunity to turn some heads.
Patrik Walker: It was last year this time when I answered this question in much the same way I'll answer it today: Brandin Cooks. It's unfathomable that a player of his caliber, and with his career numbers, has yet to be voted to a Pro Bowl, but that's got to change soon, right? A slow start to last season hamstrung his campaign for one in 2023 but, on the back end of that same year, he began to come on strong as he and Mike McCarthy began getting on the same page and McCarthy was also accepting his input on plays to call in real-time during games. With the install portion of McCarthy's offense now in the rearview mirror, I asked Cooks about his comfort level in his second year of the scheme and his smile told the entire story. I expect a fast start for Cooks, and then he'll be off to the races from there.
