Only one club under the ownership of Jerry Jones has finished with a worse record than the 4-12 Cowboys of 2015. That was his first team, the 1-15 Cowboys of 1989.
Can you have an MVP on 4-12 dog? Yes, it was Tony Romo who won three games and reminded everyone the 35-year old quarterback is the heartbeat of the organization. He's awaiting shoulder surgery and hoping the procedure will help prevent his clavicle from breaking again.
Losing Romo for 12 games was tough. Add in the loss of the emotional heartbeat of the Cowboys, All-Pro Dez Bryant, who was limited to nine games dealing with a broken foot – and it was a nightmare of punts and field goals instead of touchdowns.
The good news for fans is Bryant underwent a second bone graft on his right foot and also had a bone spur removed from his right ankle. Doctors believe he is recovering on schedule.
We sat down with the Original No. 88 -- Drew Pearson to talk about what it takes to fix the Cowboys. He says the Cowboys must to return from the off season healthy.
"First off, you fix the guys who need healing, OK. Like Tony Romo, you gotta get him back, gotta get him healthy," said Pearson. "And a bigger concern for me, is Dez Byrant. For a receiver to have that type of injury is very delicate so I hope he can return from that."
Without Romo and Bryant, the Cowboy's offense fell to the second worst in the NFL in touchdowns and overall scoring.
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Pearson has an idea to improve that.
"They need more play makers on offense," said Pearson. "Their window of opportunity is short because their quarterback is gonna be 36 years old. So with that in mind, you gotta to surround me him with people."
Despite finishing fourth in the NFL in rushing, Pearson wants an upgrade from Darren McFadden has the club's No. 1 running back.
"McFadden was a nice fill in. He was kind of like a Band-Aid. I think they adhesive on the Band-Aid will wear off by next season," he said. "But I think they still need a game breaker in that type of position like an (Ohio State All American Ezekiel) Elliott. A guy that can, you know, take the ball, take it out and break it back and the next thing you know he's gone to the house... so they need that kind of player."
All eyes will be on the Cowboys in April, and what Jerry Jones, COO Stephen Jones and head coach Jason Garrett will do with the fourth pick in the NFL Draft.
"There's so many ways to go with this team, but I'm not taking a quarterback, I know that. I said it on the show at the season's end. Dak Prescott," said Pearson. "He's a three-year starter for Mississippi State, he's the Most Valuable Player of the senior bowl.
"That's the guy you wanna get and you can probably get him in the third for fourth round," said Pearson.
Pearson would take running back Ezekiel Elliott or a defensive player like Ohio State’s Joey Bosa or UCLA linebacker Myles Jack.
Dallas was 25th in the league in sacks last year, a stat way too low if you want to be a playoff team.
"You gotta go get somebody. You gotta get a pass rusher because what you have there is not effective enough," said Pearson. "You know, you can't count on Randy Gregory. We all know his situation, he's not going to be there, even when he returns after a four-game suspension. How can you look him in the eye? How can you trust a guy like that?”
Defensive end Greg Hardy didn't post eye-popping, game-changing numbers, yet he earned $9 million and was set to be a free agent this month.
"I'm done with Hardy. You can't have him. You can't win with him." said Pearson. "I've heard it from first account, from some the players, they did not like playing with Greg Hardy. You can't win with players that are like that, that are all ME. We call 'em destructive achievers."
And finally, Pearson says a better version of Jason Garrett and his staff is another way to fix a broken club.
"I think what the coaching staff really needs is to become teachers again," said Pearson. "You wanna bring in a lot of young guys, you can't expect them to know technique and all that on an NFL Level, so you gotta teach the guys. You gotta coach 'em up."
