Dallas Cowboys Most Under and Overrated Offseason Additions

Even though the Dallas Cowboys didn't have tons of money available for the free-agent signing period which began in March, the franchise has been busy making numerous changes to itself during an offseason that owner and general manager Jerry Jones predicted would be ''uncomfortable."

When taking the 2013 NFL draft into account, along with significant changes to the coaching staff, there's been a fair number of additions to the team that can be classified as both underrated and overrated.

The following is a look at new faces who will make immediate impacts on the Cowboys. There will be a big difference, however, in exactly how much impact these faces make, especially in 2013—things could certainly change moving beyond this coming season.

While the lack of dollars for free agency wasn't necessarily a bad thing, considering the spending habits of Jones, this season will rely on not just new faces, but young faces concerning players. Amongst new coaches, the faces aren't particularly young but rather very experienced, and this means an entirely new system for the defense and special teams units.

Let's see what might be under and overrated additions as we sit within a month prior to training camp in Oxnard, Calif.

Overrated: Few Free-Agent Additions

It was no secret that Dallas wouldn't have much to spend on veteran football players from other teams. As I said before, this is not a bad thing at all.

The free-agent class wasn't exactly special, and the money spent just over a year ago on cornerback Brandon Carr and offensive guards Nate Livings and Mackenzy Bernadeau ended up not paying much in the way of dividends.

The NFL is a young man's game, and unlike the NBA, championship contenders are built through the draft as opposed to overspending on a bunch of players whom other teams didn't want.

It's true that, sometimes, there are free-agent players who pay off big for one of the 31 teams that didn't have that player before.

But more often than not, veteran players seeking a lot of money elsewhere end up past their prime, very expensive and they always enter into a new system with completely different surrounding talent. This formula often creates both financial and competitive disaster.

Dallas enters 2013 a younger team with more question marks than before—but youth is key, and Dallas has plenty of it on both sides of the ball. The Cowboys have this year's crop of both drafted and undrafted rookies as well as several first-year players who saw little, if any, action in 2012.

Underrated: Monte Kiffin and the 4-3 Defense

Finally gone is the antiquated 3-4 scheme that has been an embarrassment for, at least, the last three seasons. Since its official adoption in 2005, it was never considered a strength.

Defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin, 73, brings a more simple and basic defensive scheme to the Cowboys that should make better use of just about every position. No longer will top pass-rushers be dropping into coverage nearly as much as they did in the 3-4, and that additional defensive lineman on the field will help right away.

The Cowboys have been awful at both forcing 3rd-and-long situations and turnovers for a long time. The failure to stop the opposing running game has been the primary reason. Hopefully, this trend comes to end early on.

Perhaps, the biggest benefit to the new scheme will be how young veteran linebackers Sean Lee and Bruce Carter fit—they'll be brilliant. I think the Cowboys have two future Pro Bowl players in Lee and Carter, and this should be evident beginning on Week 1 against the New York Giants.

If the front seven is as good as it looks on paper, the secondary will explode, finally allowing Dallas to start maximizing the benefits of Carr and first-round selection Morris Claiborne, the top-rated cornerback in the 2012 NFL draft.

Overrated: Bill Callahan Calling Offensive Plays

Last month, it awkwardly leaked that offensive coordinator Bill Callahan would be calling plays for the Dallas offense in 2013. It's still hard to say exactly how head coach Jason Garrett feels about this move, but it doesn't seem like he's fully on board with it.

Let me say that Callahan´s increased responsibilities in this area are definitely a plus. I have wanted the Cowboys to bring in a real play-calling veteran since the season-ending blowout loss in Philadelphia in 2008.

It was the first of Garrett's three ''Win and You're In'' playoff collapses against all three NFC East rivals in only five seasons—this is the wrong kind of ''hat trick."

Don't get me started on the divisional playoff game in Minnesota following the 2009 regular season.

There's people who choose to blame quarterback Tony Romo for Dallas' ''big-game'' failures over the course of his career. The blame really needs to be placed mostly in the lap of Garrett. In other words, Romo is a far better quarterback than Garrett is at anything that I can tell.

Yes, Callahan will keep Dallas in games that Garrett never could, at least as a play-caller. This will certainly help, but I fear that the philosophy and overall influence of the least experienced and/or accomplished member of the Dallas coaching staff is still going to be too prevalent.

Underrated: Selection of Travis Frederick in 2013 NFL Draft

Dallas shocked the football world in the first round of the 2013 NFL draft. At the same time, it drafted a position that lines up next to another one that so many fans and analysts were certain the Cowboys would address.

Offensive guard was thought to be a certainty for Dallas early on, but with the top-two prospects at that position already gone by the 18th selection, the Cowboys traded down—way down.

Wisconsin center Travis Frederick was a guy whom some felt could have been had much later in the draft—I include myself in that group, especially considering that Dallas already had as many as three guys on the roster who are capable of playing center.

But quality and consistency was definitely lacking at a position that isn't talked about much unless things go obviously wrong. I was never a fan of former center Andre Gurode's occasional snaps over Romo's head, and I don't care that he made the Pro Bowl.

It seems that the Cowboys realized that they needed continuity and an upgrade at a position that probably needed it, regardless of what you might think of Phil Costa.

Barring injury or anything unforeseen, Frederick will be a Week 1 starter. This is what team's should expect from their first-round draft selections. We can expect some growing pains from this youngster, but if he catches on as quickly as his intelligence suggests, Frederick could be a vastly underrated addition to a Dallas offensive line that's been awful for years.

Overrated: Selection of Gavin Escobar in 2013 NFL Draft

The Frederick pick aside, Dallas got off to a very confusing start to this year's draft.

Taking the top center available was a bit questionable, at least considering the depth chart. But taking a tall, thin pass-catching tight end from San Diego State in Round 2 was utterly shocking.

Frankly, I don't care if Escobar makes seven consecutive Pro Bowls beginning this season. The reality is that tight end James Hanna was a rookie just a year ago and seemed well positioned to play a bigger role in the Dallas offense this year.

So much for that.

I completely support the idea that you need a star player's replacement in hand as soon as possible, a strategy very hard to employ in the NFL. Nonetheless, it's necessary in today's watered-down, salary cap era of the NFL.

So have the future at quarterback in place when you can—draft numerous pass-rushers, even if you have a potential Hall of Fame player already on board.

But tight end?

Jason Witten isn't done playing football, and this simply wasn't a position of need at all. Before you suggest that drafting for need is a bad idea, I'll say this: Everybody drafts for need; otherwise, there wouldn't be a draft.

If Dallas needed anything at tight end, it was a run-blocking type like Alabama's Michael Williams.

By the way, Williams was taken in the seventh round.

Will Escobar end up a plus for the Cowboys?

Even I will say probably so, although Dallas' recent history drafting additional tight ends during the Witten area makes that a huge question mark.

Just hope there's enough pass-rushers and pass-blocking to allow the whole team to function in 2013.

Underrated: Special Teams Coach Rich Bisaccia

Most are well aware that Dallas has added assistant coaches Kiffin and defensive line coach Rod Marinelli, both having helped Tampa Bay win its only Super Bowl following the 2002 regular season.

But there's a third assistant coach from that squad who could also make waves with the Cowboys sooner than later.

Rich Bisaccia spent nine seasons with the Bucanneers before spending the last two with San Diego.

Bisaccia has a strong track record of success coaching special teams. Beyond the obvious Super Bowl ring, he scored three Pro Bowl selections from his units while in Tampa and also helped to create 13 NFC Player of the Week honors. In 2009, the Bucs led the NFC with six blocked kicks.

If you've followed the Cowboys long enough, you'll remember that among the new elements arriving in Dallas just prior to the success in the 1990s was a dominant special teams unit. Out of nowhere, then-special teams coach Joe Avezzano was blocking punts at a previously unseen clip, and football games were changing dramatically.

If Bisaccia can bring anything close to Avezzano's early impact, and it certainly appears he's capable, the Cowboys' fortune could change right away.

For too long, Dallas has had more liabilities than strengths on special teams. The Cowboys haven't had difference-making players or plays very often and this trend is due to change.