Stephen A. Smith doubles down on Cowboys being a 'no-shot playoff team'

Stephen A. Smith doesn’t mince words when it comes to the Cowboys. He hasn’t been impressed with Dallas’ offseason, and he doubled-down on his take that there’s no way they’ll make the playoffs next season during Monday’s edition of First Take on ESPN.

“I don’t see them being any better than third-place in the NFC East,” Smith responded, regarding his take stating the Cowboys being a no-shot playoff team. “That’s why. Now, if you’re going to tell me that three teams are going to come out of the NFC East and make the playoffs, I’m all ears. … Rico Dowdle left. You’ve got [Javonte] Williams from Denver as their running back at half the price. CeeDee Lamb, is there a secondary option at wide receiver? I haven’t heard about that.”

While Cowboys fans usually have some beef with Smith, they’ve largely agreed with his sentiment this time around. It doesn’t feel like the team has made any major upgrades this offseason. While they could certainly rise above and play better due to the return of Dak Prescott in 2025, it’s far from a guarantee.

The turmoil surrounding the organization has led to some interesting commentary this offseason regarding the Cowboys. Smith was even caught pleading with team owner Jerry Jones to figure it out, as it’s not fun for him to make fun of the franchise when they’re making it this easy for him.

“They’re very irrelevant, and that’s depressed me. I don’t want them to fall off of a curb, I want them to fall off a roof,” Smith said, via Get Up earlier this offseason. “See, in order to do that, you have to be relevant, and you have to tease the people into believing you’re going to be relevant. With some of the non-moves that they’ve made — I mean, this year they’ve created about $57 million in cap space. Dak [Prescott] and CeeDee Lamb both restructured their deals. We get that. But you still see Jerry Jones cutting corners, in terms of spending and free agency. You can’t come up with $6 million for Rico Dowdle, but you could come up for $3 million for Javonte Williams from Denver. Stuff like that. It’s ridiculous.

“With the way Washington has looked, Philadelphia is obviously the reigning, defending Super Bowl champions. There’s not a lot to say about the Dallas Cowboys right now, which depresses me. I want them good enough to make noise to get to the postseason, and to tease the most disgusting, nauseating fan base in American history into believing they’ve got a chance, just so they could fall flat on their face and I could be in Dallas laughing at them. Unfortunately, it’s not a laughing matter, because they’ve given us nothing to laugh about because they’ve been that sad over the last year. So, they need to get it together.”

Time will tell if the Cowboys give Stephen A. Smith a reason to get on them in 2025. Their fans would certainly prefer it to the latter, as twirling in obscurity is no place for Dallas — at least not if you ask their fans, or the face of ESPN.