DALLAS — With Patrick Mahomes winning his second Super Bowl MVP following the Kansas City Chiefs' 38-35 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles, it is easy to say that quarterback is the Dallas Cowboys' biggest problem when it comes to comparing the team that just won the championship and a team that hasn’t even made it to the conference championship game in 27 years.
Fair enough: Dak Prescott is not in the same tier as Mahomes.
However, the same could be said for 30 other NFL quarterbacks, and with football being the ultimate team game, you can't just let it all ride or die with how your field general stacks up against the best in the game today.
Beyond the league MVP signal caller, here are three areas where Kansas City has excelled while the Cowboys have faltered:
1. Pro personnel acquisition — General manager Brett Veach came up through the team's personnel and scouting department, which gives him a unique insight into identifying what coach Andy Reid needs. It's partly why the Chiefs were able to let offensive playmakers Tyreek Hill and Kareem Hunt go and find their replacements either in free agency or the draft.
With vice president of player personnel Will McClay, the Cowboys have been solid with their drafts. However, their ability to find quick fixes in free agency or via the trade block has been suboptimal compared to the Chiefs.
When the Cowboys let a player walk in free agency, it tends to take them at least a full season to have a homegrown pick fill the void, which has led to the team's yo-yo effect at playoff qualification. Kansas City doesn't have those types of down years as they find veterans to fill the gaps and keep competing.
2. Invest in safety — The last safety the Cowboys drafted in the first round was Roy Williams in 2002. Meanwhile the Chiefs spent a second-round pick on a safety in 2019 with Juan Thornhill. If that wasn't enough, they also spent money in free agency to bring All-Pro safety Tyrann Mathieu to Kansas City. When Mathieu left in free agency in 2022, the Chiefs still went out and got a solid starter in Justin Reid.
Kansas City hasn't had the string of mediocre asset allocation to the back end the way that the Cowboys have. It is fair to note that the Cowboys were fortunate the past two seasons with free agents Jayron Kearse and Malik Hooker playing above expectation, and the same can be said for 2019 sixth-round pick Donovan Wilson. However, the Cowboys need to up their resources at the position and not go back to being cheap.
3. Running backs are transitory — This isn't to say that the Chiefs don't have utility for running backs because they do. However, Kansas City has had a different leading rusher in every one of Mahomes' seasons since taking over as starter in 2018.
Incidentally the Chiefs were akin to the Cowboys in their desire to use a first-round pick on a back in 2020 when they selected LSU's Clyde Edwards-Helaire, but they differed in their commitment to the former Bayou Bengal. Dallas needs to rethink how running backs operate in the modern game centered around the passing game.
Do you think the Cowboys can take the right steps to be more like KC? Share your thoughts with Mark on Twitter @therealmarklane.
