Turner adds physicality to Cowboys defensive front

When the Dallas Cowboys added former first-rounder Payton Turner this offseason, it didn’t exactly dominate headlines. But the more you dig, the more you realize how specific and necessary the move really was.

Turner is 6-6, 270 pounds — built more like an old-school five-tech than a modern speed-rushing edge. And while he’ll never lead the team in sacks, that’s not what he’s here for. 

Turner is a run-first edge. A stack-shed specialist. A set-the-edge enforcer.

And that’s something the Cowboys haven’t had enough of — outside of DeMarcus Lawrence — in years.

When teams like the 49ers, Bills, Packers, and Cardinals have committed to downhill, physical football, they’ve punched Dallas in the mouth. They’ve used motion, misdirection, and gap-scheme bully ball to attack the perimeter — and it’s worked.

That’s where Payton Turner — and Marshawn Kneeland — enter the picture.

Kneeland is built similarly at 270, not as long, but just as powerful. Neither is going to bend like Micah Parsons or blow up the stat sheet like Dante Fowler. But what they can do is hold their ground. Absorb blocks and shut down the outside edge when opponents try to drag Dallas into a dog fight. 

Turner doesn’t need 8 sacks to play his way into another contract in excess of his present cheap one-year, $2.5 million deal.

Nor does he need to be a “breakout star,” as one website oddly predicts.

He just needs to stay healthy and remind this defense what it looks like to stop the run with authority. Let Micah, EZ, and Fowler Jr. go hunting.