5 Dallas Cowboys who won’t be back in 2024 after playoff embarrassment

2. Jayron Kearse, S

One of the biggest revelations that defensive coordinator Dan Quinn stumbled upon throughout his time with the Cowboys was getting some of the best play we've ever seen out of safety Jayron Kearse in his career. In the 2021 and 2022 seasons, he was an integral part in that side of the ball really taking off for Dallas and leveling up to be one of the best units in the league.

After two phenomenal seasons, though, the wheels completely came off for the former seventh-round pick in the secondary. Pick just about any Cowboys game on the schedule, and there was surely a time where a blown coverage, missed tackle, or poor decision from Kearse had fans screaming at their TVs with their arms raised into the air in frustration.

That wasn't just the eye test either as the player grading metrics whole-heartedly agreed with the frustrations of Cowboys fans. Kearse graded out as the 98th-best safety in the NFL according to PFF ($) among qualified players at the position. Or the better way to say that would be that he graded out as the second-worst safety in the league because only 99 players qualified in that capacity!

Kearse will be 30 years old at the start of the 2024 season and it's hard to imagine things getting better as he gets older and likely continues to lose a step. With the veteran safety set to become an unrestricted free agent, the Dallas front office should be more than happy to let him walk and not think twice about it -- and hopefully then draft a higher-upside player at the position.