The Dallas Cowboys begin training camp in Oxnard, California today, and as is the case with every new season, fans are excited about the idea of a new beginning, and have forgotten the injury riddled 2015 campaign.  Generally optimism would be swirling through the air with the Cowboys since signal caller Tony Romo is healthy again following a season in which he broke his collar bone twice.

Dallas has the best offensive line in the league, and that is great news for Romo who is such a delicate quarterback, one more serious hit and his career is likely over.  Dez Bryant is coming back from a broken right foot that limited him to only 9 games last season, and if  you incorporate the addition of Ohio State running back Ezekiel Elliot, this team could be stellar on offense.

Defensively the team has more issues than one could possibly imagine though, and this is why the Cowboys will be a mediocre 8-8 team this year.   The old cliché 'defense wins championships' was proven again last season as the Denver Broncos won the Super Bowl with an aging and relatively inefficient Payton Manning at quarterback, but a defense that was among one of the best statistically in NFL history.

It would be understandable if the Cowboys had one player suspended going into this season, after all that seems like the norm for this undisciplined team.  However, the Cowboys have three players who will serve suspensions going into the 2016 season, which is plain and simply, pathetic.  LB Rolando McClain will serve a 10 game suspension, DE Demarcus Lawrence will serve a 4 game suspension, and  DE Randy Gregory will also serve a 4 game suspension, soon to be 10 though thanks to another drug violation, as if his original 4 game suspension wasn't enough.  There is a reason why the Cowboys were able to pick up Gregory with the 60th pick in the 2015 draft, to refresh your memory, it's because he had failed a drug test going into the draft, what a surprise.

All three players were caught violating the NFL's substance abuse policy.  The Cowboys have always had a reputation for taking chances and acquiring players with problems in the past, at times they have looked like a brilliant organization in doing so, but usually in the end the team and its ownership looks like a bunch of fools.  Losing these three players will seriously affect the Cowboy's defensive line, which is already weak considering that they combined to only have 31 sacks last season.

Dallas Cowboys v Washington Redskins
(Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images)
loading...

No quarterback rush equals problems that you don't want to deal with in NFL games, usually means shootouts, Dallas lost just about every close game they were involved in last season too.  It is sad to see what the Cowboys have become, the laughing stock of the NFL, a team that used to be considered one of the best in the history of the league, is now simply a joke.  Coaches, management and ownership have no control over their players, and this has a negative trickle down affect that the whole team feels in the end.

McClain, Lawrence and Gregory aren't much different than the majority of other NFL players and athletes in numerous other sports due to the fact that they are doping.  That is the reality of sports today, if you want to stay as good as your competition then taking a banned substance is a must, the key is not to get caught.  Don't get me wrong, there are an abundance of very good athletes that are not doping in professional sports, but there are also more out there than you would ever know who are taking banned substances too.

As long as the Cowboys continue this trend of bringing in undisciplined players, especially ones who don't know how to hide their drug habits form the league, they will never win a Super Bowl again; that is a sad statement for a once prominent franchise.

 

 

 

 

More From 600 ESPN El Paso