Myth of the Cowboys 3rd Wide Receiver

By:  Bobby Shores
[Editor's Notes:  Not a well put together piece, information is good, but this article jumps around and has about as much continuity as the Cowboys offensive line, but that's what I get when doing this while watching film and being in a time crunch]

I am so tired of hearing about who is going to be the Dallas Cowboys 3rd wide receiver(WR) this year. All I hear when listening to the Talkin' Cowboys Podcast and The Lunch Break Podcasts are:
     "How is "x" player looking for the 3rd receiver spot?"
     "Who is the 3rd receiver going to be?"
     "Who is going to step-up and replace Laurent Robinson as our 3rd receiver?", etc.

There are a hundred variations of these questions and they dominant the airwaves. In fact, if someone knew nothing about football or the Dallas Cowboys and started learning about them by listening to the current coverage, they would most likely come to the conclusion that the 3rd WR is the most important position on a football team, and definitely the most important player on the Cowboys (if they accidentally turned on ESPN they would think Tim Tebow is the greatest player to ever live as a "news" network gave him an impromptu birthday party). Right now it seems that the Cowboys entire season hinges on who fills the 3rd WR role....

So how did this infatuation with the 3rd WR begin? Well, it began way back in 2011 when the Cowboys picked up Laurent Robinson to provide a veteran presence as the young receivers weren't ready for significant snaps and as insurance for the unproven and oft-injured starting receivers of Dez Bryant and Miles Austin. From the "3rd receiver" spot Robinson went on to have a career year with 54 catches for 858 yards and most importantly 11 touchdowns. Not only did he become a major part of the offense but he was the most consistent threat and Tony Romo's favorite red zone target.

For obvious reasons the Cowboys wanted (and tried) to resign Robinson during free agency, but when the Jacksonville Jaguars inexplicably paid him like a #1 wideout there was no way Dallas would be able to commit that much money to the position, and thus the noise started for the Cowboys to replace the 3rd wide receiver.

Debunking the Myth

Next I would like to say that while Robinson was originally the 3rd WR on the depth chart, he was basically the 1st WR in reality. Yes, Dez Bryant and Miles Austin are technically the starters, but since Austin missed most of the season with another hamstring injury and Bryant was banged up every game and basically didn't show up after halftime, Robinson became the default #1 receiver. Really you could say that him and Bryant were 1a and 1b, with the stats bearing that out as his and Bryant's stats (63-928-9) were nearly identical [Editor's Note: Miles Austin came in at 43-579-7 for the season technically making him the 3rd WR by stats.].

Since we now know that in reality Robinson was not the 3rd WR last year, lets look at the total output of all the Cowboys weapons to see where everybody ranks. Tight End Jason Witten led the team in receptions and yards (79-942) and added 5 touchdowns himself. When taken as a whole it now looks like Robinson, Bryant and Witten were essentially 1a, 1b, and 1c when it comes to aerial targets. Then if you add in DeMarco Murray's 897 rushing yards, it now looks like he was 1d.

So yes Laurent Robinson was "technically" the 3rd WR last year and due to injuries, ineffectiveness (Bryant 2nd half disappearing acts), and the rapport that he and Romo developed he became a bigger part of the offense then most 3rd WR's do, or do they? Let's go back a few years and see what the "3rd WR" typically does in this offense....

In 2010 the 3rd WR had 530 yards, 2009 he had 596 yards, 2008 he only had 278 yards, 2007 314 yards, 2006 516 yards. Basically the 3rd WR has 400-500 yards receiving and a few touchdowns, really not much production.

Another reason why the 3rd WR is less important this year is that I believe the Cowboys have a very potent backfield if Murray and Jones can remain healthy and the offensive line can play well.

In the Cowboys offense, this year, years past, and for the foreseeable future the 3rd WR is usually going to be the 5th option AT BEST and realistically the 6th or 7th. In the passing game, Romo (or whoever plays QB) is going to typically look for Bryant, Austin, Witten, Murray, and Tight End #2 before going to the 3rd WR; and in a lot of cases they will look for the other back (Felix Jones) before the 3rd WR. Yes, I know that this is all dependent on personnel, formation, defensive looks, progressions, etc. but regardless the 3rd WR is going to be one of the last looks.

With all this said, I have an article coming out soon about the state of the Cowboys wide receivers, so stay tuned!

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