The Cowboys have to make a decision on Eric Kendricks this offseason.
Now that the regular season has come to a close, and the Dallas Cowboys aren’t going to the playoffs, they are in offseason mode. Until something changes, the expectation is for Dallas to be quiet in free agency when it comes to outside guys, but they’ll certainly try to keep as many in-house guys as they can. One of the players that will be a free agent is veteran linebacker Eric Kendricks.
The 10-year veteran reunited with defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer in 2024, who he spent seven seasons playing for during his time as head coach of the Minnesota Vikings. Zimmer would have liked to have taken the Cowboys to higher heights defensively this year, but injuries and a lack of talent hindered him. With that being said, bringing back Kendricks is another thing that Dallas needs to seriously consider for a few reasons.
The first is pretty simple. When second-year linebacker DeMarvion Overshown went down with his second torn ACL last month (also tore his MCL and PCL), it made Kendricks an even higher priority on the Cowboys offseason to-do list. Overshown hopes to be back sometime time in 2025, but Dallas still doesn’t have a lot of depth at the linebacker position heading into next season. Damone Clark has seen his playing time cut tremendously with the rise of Marist Liufau. It just makes sense to bring Kendricks back based on that alone. Plus, Kendricks just led the Cowboys with 138 tackles, which is the second-most of his career. So, he’s clearly still playing at a high level.
Speaking of Liufau, his trajectory is another reason Dallas should re-sign Kendricks.
Liufau is being looked at as the middle linebacker of the future for the Cowboys, which is the position that Kendricks occupies. This would be the perfect scenario for Liufau to continue his ascension. Having Kendricks around Liufau for at least another year to fine-tune some of the things he needs to work on would be immensely beneficial for him and the Cowboys defense and leave them at a great spot once the former second-round pick is gone. If Dallas brings back Zimmer (although with Mike McCarthy leaving this might no be feasible), that would be even more reason to have Kendricks return. He knows Zimmer’s system like the back of his hand, which again would help Liufau in his growth.
The Cowboys have been trying to get their linebacker room corrected as they have taken one in each of the last four drafts. They should take another in the upcoming draft in April as well. However, there’s no substitute for the experience of Kendricks, and he would be the perfect mentor for what a young player at linebacker in Dallas to learn from.