{"id":51738,"date":"2025-05-28T03:26:36","date_gmt":"2025-05-28T03:26:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=51738"},"modified":"2025-05-28T03:26:36","modified_gmt":"2025-05-28T03:26:36","slug":"breaking-cowboys-signed-ex-first-round-pick-for-one-non-breakout-reason","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=51738","title":{"rendered":"BREAKING: Cowboys Signed Ex First-Round Pick For One Non-\u2018Breakout\u2019 Reason.."},"content":{"rendered":"
Edge Rushers vs. Edge Setters. The Dallas Cowboys didn\u2019t sign Payton Turner to rush the passer \u2014 they signed him to stop the bleeding.<\/div>\n
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When the\u00a0Dallas Cowboys\u00a0added former first-rounder Payton Turner this offseason, it didn\u2019t exactly dominate headlines. But the more you dig, the more you realize how specific and necessary the move really was.<\/p>\n

Turner is 6-6, 270 pounds \u2014 built more like an old-school five-tech than a modern speed-rushing edge. And while he\u2019ll never lead the team in sacks, that\u2019s not what he\u2019s here for.<\/p>\n

Turner is a run-first edge. A stack-shed specialist. A set-the-edge enforcer.<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s something the\u00a0Cowboys\u00a0haven\u2019t had enough of \u2014 outside of DeMarcus Lawrence \u2014 in years.<\/p>\n

When teams like the\u00a049ers, Bills, Packers, and Cardinals have committed to downhill, physical football, they\u2019ve punched Dallas in the mouth. They\u2019ve used motion, misdirection, and gap-scheme bully ball to attack the perimeter \u2014 and it\u2019s worked.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s where Payton Turner \u2014 and Marshawn Kneeland \u2014 enter the picture.<\/p>\n

Kneeland is built similarly at 270, not as long, but just as powerful. Neither is going to bend like Micah Parsons or\u00a0blow up the stat sheet like Dante Fowler. But what they can do is hold their ground. Absorb blocks and shut down the outside edge when opponents try to drag Dallas into a dog fight.<\/p>\n

Turner doesn\u2019t need 8 sacks to play his way into another contract in excess of his present cheap one-year, $2.5 million deal.<\/p>\n

Nor does he need to be a \u201cbreakout star,\u201d as one website oddly predicts.<\/p>\n

He just needs to stay healthy and remind this defense what it looks like to stop the run with authority. Let Micah, EZ, and Fowler Jr. go hunting.<\/p>\n

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