Will the Dallas Cowboys have an improved pass rush in 2016? We break down the entire defensive line player-by-player.

This is part 2 of a position series that will break down players at each position on the current Dallas Cowboys roster. Each player’s past performance, skill set, and expected role will be detailed throughout the series. This week’s focus is on the defensive line.

The Dallas Cowboys have been missing a vital piece that is typically needed to have a legitimate chance at winning a Super Bowl. That missing piece has been a dominant pass rush. More often than not, a balanced team that can get pressure on opposing quarterbacks tend to be the teams competing for championships.

Even in 2014- a season where the Cowboys won 12 regular season games and won a home playoff game against the Detroit Lions, the Cowboys were often lacking consistency in getting pass rush pressure. As a team, Dallas accumulated a pitiful 28 sacks in the 2014 regular season(28th in the NFL).

We saw in the 2014 playoff game against Green Bay that the Cowboys inability to put pressure on a hobbled Aaron Rodgers played a huge part in their defeat in that game. There were several times where the defense had opportunity to seal the game and the pass rush simply didn’t show up in the second half.

Last year wasn’t much better either. The 2015 Cowboys finished tied for 25th in the league in sacks, with a total of 31. The lack of pressure also played its part in being responsible for the lack of turnovers forced by the defense- Dallas was dead last in the NFL with 11 forced turnovers.

The 2016 Cowboys will be welcoming back seven of the nine defensive players that recorded a sack last season, including the team leader in DeMarcus Lawrence who finished 2015 with eight sacks. The bad news about him is, the team is expecting Lawrence to be suspended for the first four games of the season after testing positive for a banned substance.

This year’s defensive line rotation consists of many players with traits that defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli covets- big and athletic players that want to attack offenses full speed ahead.

The concerns lie with experience. Not a single defensive lineman on the roster has achieved a double digit sack season in their career. They are extremely unproven.

That being said, there is upside to many of these players.

Let’s get into breaking down the defensive line rotation and what we should expect from them.