One of the more stellar moments from the 2024 season for the Dallas Cowboys was KaVontae Turpin’s kickoff return on the road against the Washington Commanders. It was the catalyst for an improbable comeback.

Thankfully that season is behind us, but these current times are a bit somber as well. Dallas was riding high during their three-game winning streak before it all came crashing down following Thursday night’s loss to the Detroit Lions. At least it feels that way. The Cowboys still carry mathematical (and somewhat legitimate) hopes for the playoffs, but given that they were 3-5-1 it was always going to be hard to pull off a Turpin-like return, so to speak.

On the subject of KaVontae Turpin, it is time to have a conversation regarding his kickoff return abilities specifically. That moment at Washington was a big one and incidentally the first and still only kickoff return that Turpin has ever had that went for a touchdown. It highlighted the notion that he was the best returner in the NFL, there are also punt returns to consider in this overall conversation to be clear, and he was rewarded by the Cowboys in the offseason with a three-year, $18M deal.

Again, there is a lot to Turpin’s role on the team. He has been given more on offense which is something to consider in terms of a discussion about everything that he is doing. Right now we are only talking about kickoffs, though.

Below is a listing of every Dallas Cowboys possession this season (through the Lions game) that began off of a kickoff. This does not include possessions that started as a result of a punt, turnover, blocked field goal, you get the point. Also, if it isn’t obvious, this list also includes possessions that were ultimately touchbacks. This is not a listing of every return that Turpin has had on a kickoff this season, just so we are clear.

There are 78 total possessions here as noted. With all due respect to touchbacks, we are interested in this subject because KaVontae Turpin is supposed to be a difference-maker in this capacity. And this has not been the case this year.

The line in which a difference is “made” is subjective admittedly, but I feel like we would all agree that starting across midfield would be pretty significant. The Cowboys have done so only three times this season off of kickoffs. Unfortunately, it was against two of the worst teams they played in the Jets and Raiders.

You might say that this is being a bit too intense with calling for a difference, and I don’t think that claim would be outlandish. There is an argument to be made that a “difference” is at least at the 40-yard line. I agree with this logic to be clear, but we should also note that touchbacks nowadays put the ball at a team’s own 35 so we are qualifying a “difference” as to an additional five yards, but let’s just stick with the 40.

Of the 78 kickoffs that Dallas has stood and waited on they have turned only eight into a start on at least their own 40-yard line. Some kicks aren’t proper to return and should be taken for touchbacks obviously, but overall these are some pretty disappointing numbers.

While we are contextualizing things with the dynamic kickoff reality that we now live in, it is important to note that they have (this was the point) led to a serious increase in returns. Consider that Turpin returned 27 kickoffs in 2024 (the first year of the dynamic kickoff) which was a career high for him. He did this in all 17 games to be clear.

Turpin is already sitting on 47 kickoff returns through the first 11 games of the season. On some level it isn’t shocking that he is performing worse (he is down to 25.8 yards/return and led the league at 33.5 last year) given the increase in opportunity, but that calls into question the evaluation of what is “worth” returning for him.

The increase in returns should also be considered through the lens of the Cowboys defense surrendering so many scores. More scores for the opposing offense means more kickoffs for their special teams after. At some point the dam breaks.

It goes without saying that there are a lot of things the Cowboys need to evaluate over the offseason. This is certainly one of them.