The Dallas Cowboys are rarely short on star power, but many believe these underrated players will have a significant impact on their 2025 season.
DE | Dante Fowler Jr.
Only the Cowboys’ Micah Parsons had more sacks (12) in the NFC East than Fowler (10.5) last season, but for whatever reason, his return to Dallas has mostly flown under the radar. It didn’t get past Sports Illustrated’s Koby Skillern, who counts Fowler’s signing among the most underrated of the offseason.
The 30-year-old pass-rusher signed a one-year, $8M deal with Dallas after spending last year with the Commanders. By comparison, 33-year-old defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence had three sacks in four games with the Cowboys last season before signing a three-year, $32M contract with Seattle in the offseason.
Lawrence and Fowler each had 10 sacks for the Cowboys from 2022-23, but Dallas wisely went with the younger and more economical option in Fowler.
S | Malik Hooker
Per Jonathan Macri of Pro Football Focus, Hooker has played nearly 3,000 defensive snaps since taking over as the team’s starting safety in 2022, earning a top-10 run-defense grade (89.3) and a top-20 overall grade (78.8) over that span.
Hooker was a first-round pick of the Colts, who took him 15th overall in the 2017 NFL Draft, but signed with the Cowboys in 2021. Dallas gave him a three-year, $24M extension in 2023, making him the NFL’s 21st-highest-paid safety in terms of the contract’s total value. He made a career-high 81 tackles (30 solo) with a pair of interceptions in 2024.
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