The Dallas Cowboys had a long day against the Denver Broncos in Week 8, losing 44-24 and looking outmatched most of the game. Still, there were some positives for the rookie class, as some key future pieces took steps forward. 

After struggling to a career-worst 49.9 grade in his return from injury in Week 7, Booker posted a career-best mark, buoyed by an 86.3 run blocking grade. 

While his 60.9 pass blocking grade leaves much to be desired, it’s actually his third best of the season. His one pressure allowed was also a career-best. 

 If he can have a pass blocking floor right around here while continuing to post elite run blocking numbers, the team will surely take that. After all, players with long careers aren’t necessarily the ones that are great at everything; they’re often the ones that aren’t bad at anything. 

The second-round rookie continued his ascent this week, totaling three pressures and two hurries while posting a career-best 86.6 pass rushing grade. This comes on the heels of back-to-back weeks with a pass rushing grade of 71 or higher. 

While it would be great to see EZ get home more often, he’s creating consistent pressure, recording three or more in four straight games. If he can continue to do that, the sacks will come. 

While he matched his career-high from Week 7 with 29 rushing yards, Blue had his first NFL fumble, contributing to an abysmal overall grade of 39.8. It’s disheartening to see after he took such noticeable steps forward the previous week. 

Still, fumbles will happen and, as long as he doesn’t make a habit of them, Blue will continue to see time as the primary second back behind Javonte Williams. Look for him to bounce back against a softer matchup in Week 9 against the Arizona Cardinals. 

After gradually improving from a 49.8 grade in his Week 4 debut to a 63.8 mark in Week 7, expectations were high for James going into Week 8. Unfortunately, he responded with his first real bad game of the year. 

While he posted another very good tackling grade of 77.6, a 27.4 run defense grade dragged his overall mark down to 28.9. Every rookie is going to have setbacks like this, especially against good teams like the Broncos. The question now is how will James respond against the Cardinals. 

Clark had his first opportunity to play real snaps due to injury in the secondary. He unfortunately didn’t make the most of it, posting a 29.4 overall grade and a 30.9 grade in coverage over 33 snaps before going down with his own injury. 

He’s now expected to miss the game against Arizona with that rib injury. Hopefully he’ll be able to bounce back soon and build off of the promise he’d shown previously. 

After posting a 67.3 overall grade, including a 66.1 mark in coverage in 53 Week 7 snaps, there was some optimism that the rookie could take another step forward. Instead, he took more than a few steps backwards. 

By giving up seven catches on 13 targets for 102 yards and two touchdowns on his way to a 27.4 coverage grade, Bridges showed that the flashes he showed in Week 7 were simply that as opposed to the overall product that he could bring week in and week out. 

If Dallas ever falls out of contention to the extent of making this season an evaluation tool, then perhaps Bridges could get more runs, as he’s under team control for three more years after this. But, as long as the Cowboys are nominally trying to be competitive this year, then Bridges should likely not be seeing significant snaps regardless of the health of the rest of the secondary.