Between Dorance Armstrong emerging last season along with the addition of Dante Fowler, and more importantly Sam Williams, who's going to blow everyone away in training camp, I think this is set to be the best Cowboys' pass rush group in years. What do you think? – JOSEPH CRUM / CORINTH, MS
David: One thing I'll say for this group is it might be the highest number of capable pass rushers the Cowboys have had in my time covering the team. Adding Armstrong and Williams to the duo of DeMarcus Lawrence and Dante Fowler – not to mention Micah Parsons – gives you five guys with legitimate ability. That's intriguing. Some of this is projection, though, so I don't want to get too excited, too quickly. I'll just say I'm cautiously optimistic for the time being and leave it at that.
Nick: I'll throw out another name – only because he hasn't been mentioned – but I have this suspicion that Chauncey Golston is going to have a prominent role this year, too. Golston has some position flex, so he might be rushing more from hte inside. But to me, for a guy that was hurt most of camp, Golston seemed to catch up some ground rather quickly. I could see a big Year 2 jump from him. But yeah, between Armstrong, Williams and Fowler, one of those guys is going to add some rush ability to go with D-Law and Parsons.
As fans we got a little spoiled with Dan Bailey. Since Brett Maher won the job from him, we haven't seen much in the way of a true kicking competition, as the team has gone into camp the last few years with a settled kicker situation . How do you expect the Cowboys to conduct this year's kicking competition? – NATHAN MATTISON / GLEN FALLS, NY
David: I wonder if this is a situation where the competition will be against a guy that's not currently on the roster. At this exact moment in time, we'd all probably say Jonathan Garibay is the favorite to win the job. But there are going to be competitions in other cities in the league, like L.A. and New York. Hopefully Garibay takes the job and runs with it, but the Cowboys might be scouting the waiver wire in September if they feel like an improvement is available.
Nick: It's just one of those positions where you can have a competition and still only have one kicker on the roster. Kicking isn't like any other spot where a guy needs to learn the system. If you can't make kicks, they'll sign someone who can. So I see Jonathan Garibay getting all the kicks in the preseason. It's a lot harder than you think to actually give them real opportunities to kick. I'd expect Garibay to get the kicks in camp and the preseason games and then if it's not working out, they can find someone else. But I think it's his job to lose right now.
