The Dallas Cowboys had a disappointing 2019 season after making the playoffs in 2018 and earning a playoff victory. The end result was that the Dallas Cowboys finally moved in from Jason Garrett and the Mike McCarthy era has begun in Dallas. Although no one on the Dallas Cowboys are likely to be recognized for any individual awards (aside from possibly Dak Prescott for this award at the league level, here are the Dallas Cowboys individual award winners for the 2019.
OFFENSIVE MVP: DAK PRESCOTT QB
Dak Prescott did not make the Pro-Bowl this season despite having the best season of his career statistically. It should be noted that despite the inconsistent play of some of their top offensive weapons like Amari Cooper and Ezekiel Elliott, Dak Prescott was the Dallas Cowboys best player on offense and the most consistent. Prescott had career bests in passing yards (4902) and passing TD’s (30) as a result of the offense transitioning from run dependent to a more downfield passing attack. Though Dak did struggle at times against some of the better teams the Cowboys played against the same can be said about the rest of the offensive players.
DEFENSIVE MVP: ROBERT QUINN DE
The Dallas Cowboys defense really regressed after a solid 2018 season. DeMarcus Lawrence has been criticized for having a down season because of the reduced number of sacks but he played well for most of the year. D-Law is a great player but not a natural rusher of the passer. Robert Quinn on the other hand is a natural pass rusher and proved to be the most explosive player on the Dallas Cowboys defensive line. His production was great as he led the team in sacks with 11.5 but he also was effective in generating pressures and impacting the pocket on a regular basis. Jaylon Smith may have voted to the Pro-Bowl and Byron Jones had another solid season but the most valuable defensive player in my eyes was Robert Quinn.
ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: TONY POLLARD RB
The Dallas Cowboys 2019 draft class was disappointing as a group. There was no #1 overall pick and 2nd round DT Trysten Hill looks like a bust especially considering the Cowboys passed on a number of quality safeties available with the 58th overall pick. Third round pick Connor McGovern missed the entire season with a pectoral injury which leaves 4th round RB Tony Pollard as the only rookie to make a significant impact out of the entire class Pollard had a couple of big games on the ground but did not contribute as much as expected in the passing game or return game. With the pickings very slim for a rookie of the year candidate, Tony Pollard is the clear winner.
BREAKOUT PLAYER OF THE YEAR: MICHAEL GALLUP WR
Michael Gallup was a popular candidate for breakout player of the year before the 2019 season began. The second year WR did not disappoint as he caught 66 passes for 1107 yards and 6 TD’s while playing only 14 games. His numbers are more impressive considering that the Dallas Cowboys had Amari Cooper and Randall Cobb both absorb a fair share of targets offensively. Gallup still has some growing to do but doubling his production from year 1 to year 2 was beyond what anybody expected him to accomplish this season.
MOST IMPROVED PLAYER: LA’EL COLLINS RT
Three Dallas Cowboys offensive linemen were voted to the Pro-Bowl in 2019. As usual it was the big three of Tyron Smith, Zack Martin and Travis Frederick, however arguably the player who had the best season of all of them was not named to the Pro Bowl. La’el Collins is the one player that signed a long term contract that really produced at a higher level than expected this season. Most Dallas Cowboys fans expected Collins to sign a free agent deal with another team but locking him up for the next few years may have been the best offseason move the Dallas Cowboys made all year.
COMEBACK PLAYER OF THE YEAR: TRAVIS FREDERICK C
There is only one man in consideration for this award and that’s Pro Bowl center Travis Frederick. He bounced back from the life threatening Gullain-Barre syndrome diagnosis and started every game in 2019. He did struggle a little bit towards the beginning of the season but finished strong and looks to be back to 100% for 2020. In my opinion, Travis Frederick should also win the NFL Comeback Player of the Year award but QB Jimmy Garoppolo of the San Francisco 49ers is considered as the favorite right now.
SURPRISE PLAYER OF THE YEAR: SEAN LEE LB
Sean Lee surprised everyone by taking a pay cut and resigning the Dallas Cowboys. He was supposed to stay on in a supporting role to Jaylon Smith and Leighton Vander Esch but injuries to Vander Esch resulted in Sean Lee taking on a starting role. He is not the same player he was earlier in his career and there were some ups and downs but there were a few games where he looked like the Sean Lee of old More surprising still was that Lee was able to stay healthy and finish the season. What appeared to be a luxury signing for the Dallas Cowboys ended up being a crucial offseason pick up.
LEADERSHIP AWARD: MICHAEL BENNETT DT
The Michael Bennett trade mid-season did not have the desired effect that the Dallas Cowboys front office had hoped for. The Cowboys finished the season 8-8, missed the playoffs, and struggled down the stretch against quality opponents. Despite the teams struggles on the field the one player that was more vocal than any other was Michael Bennett. His leadership came front and centre following the Cowboys embarrassing thanksgiving day loss to the Buffalo Bills when Bennett was heard from outside the Cowboys dressing room making an impassioned speech urging his teammates to rise above the adversity they were challenged with. That speech appears to have fallen on deaf ears but it was refreshing to have a voice in the locker room that actually appeared as angry as the fan base was at the poor performance on the field. For the first time it appeared that a player was visibly upset about losing instead of the typical emotionless responses the fan base had grown accustomed to. Michael Bennett played fairly well during his short time as a Dallas Cowboys but he made a larger impact by becoming the vocal, passionate leader that was clearly missing in the locker room.
All data and statistics verified and obtained from https://www.pro-football-reference.com/
*Photo by Kieth Allison; https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/legalcode