There are important NFL players and then there are the players who shoulder the fate of their teams based on day-in, day-out performance during the season. These are the latter. Here are the 3 Players Who Will Make Or Break The Dallas Cowboys' 2015 Season:
RB Darren McFadden
Jerry Jones seems that McFadden is the solution in Dallas' backfield, as the Cowboys front office continues to operate as if the running back question after DeMarco Murray's departure has already been answered. At the very least, McFadden is currently being projected by coaches and management to split carries with assumed #1 option Joseph Randle in 2015. However, the hope around Valley Ranch seems to center around him wresting the job away from Randle sometime in the middle of training camp.
McFadden's injury history is well documented, but he was also operating behind Oakland Raiders offensive lines as leaky as an old shower head. Behind the Cowboys' line of beasts, 2015 could be a renaissance year for the 4th overall pick of the 2008 NFL Draft.
QB Tony Romo
Romo continues to put up eye-popping stats every season, but has a reputation for failing to produce in big games, though he seemed to break out of that by beating the Detroit Lions in the postseason last year. The pressure to win a championship has been on Romo ever since he took over as starting quarterback for the Cowboys, and that's only grown with each passing year. Now that Dallas is one of the legitimate favorites to win the Super Bowl this season, anything less than that will be considered a failure.
DE Greg Hardy
Hardy had his ten-game suspension for his role in a North Carolina domestic violence investigation reduced to four by the NFL, and the Cowboys are penciling Hardy to start at right defensive end as soon as he's able to return to the gridiron. The polarizing Hardy already ran afoul of defensive lineman Davon Coleman during some recent conditioning drills, and he remains a question mark from both an off-field and an on-field perspective after his long, forced layoff in 2014.
Dallas signed him because they desperately need a boost to their pass rush, and if Hardy can provide that, he'll prove the signing was worth it and make the Cowboys legitimate Super Bowl contenders.
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