DALLAS -- Even before the NFL's schedule release party Wednesday night, we knew this season was going to be taxing on the Cowboys' young and restructured secondary.
At some point during the schedule, they were going to be charged with covering practically all the great receivers in the league -- six of the top 10 in catches a year ago, to be specific, and that list doesn't include others on Dallas' schedule such as Atlanta's Julio Jones, New Orleans' Mike Thomas, Tampa Bay's Chris Godwin and Mike Evans, and the Los Angeles Chargers' Keenan Allen.
And then the schedule came out.
Any notion of easing into the season, dipping a toe in the cool, deep waters before splashing all the way in was erased. The Cowboys get the Bucs' Godwin, Evans, Gronk and that quarterback named You Know Who on Thursday night in Week 1. To say the NFL world will be watching is an understatement.
Rookie second-round pick Kelvin Joseph's one-word acknowledgment of that game on Twitter: YEP.
That's really how the NFL is. Yep. Time to get after it.
Sure, there's a Carolina game in Week 4, and perhaps D.J. Moore and Robby Anderson on the receiving end of Sam Darnold's throws offer something of an early October breather. New England appears to have the weakest receivers in the league, and the Patriots pop up in October, too.
But once you get to Halloween and the Vikings' duo of Adam Thielen and Justin Jefferson (they combined for 209 yards and three TDs against Dallas last season), it gets serious. November is something of a special Cowboys' tribute to Alabama wide receivers, a thing that second-year corner Trevon Diggs -- now expected to be the leader of Dan Quinn's secondary -- can appreciate. Denver's Jerry Jeudy, Atlanta's tandem of Jones and Calvin Ridley, and the Raiders' Henry Ruggs will all have to be dealt with.
And somewhere in between all that is the Cowboys' once-every-eight-years trip to Arrowhead Stadium, which means Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce on the receiving end of those Patrick Mahomes' downfield missiles.
If you like to play those "three games in 12 days" deals, the Dallas secondary will face Jones, Ridley, Hill, Kelce, Ruggs and Darren Waller (107 catches last year) in that span from Nov. 14 through the 25th.
A lot of factors go into how a secondary with new regulars in the mix -- including Joseph, and safeties Domantae Kazee and Keanu Neal -- is to be graded.
If the Cowboys' pass rush is better than anticipated, that eases the burden. If the offense is healthy and hanging 30 on the scoreboard week after week, the challenge is minimized. But there's little doubt that the team's most rebuilt unit is under fire as soon as the gun sounds in the 2021 season.
Kazee, like Neal a former Falcons safety who played for Quinn, will be playing his first game in 11 months when Dallas plays Tampa Bay. He tore an Achilles on Oct. 5 last year against Green Bay. Even if he's 100% recovered and has been able to get the necessary reps in the Cowboys' preseason, it's not like Tom Brady and the Bucs' big receivers won't be testing him the minute he takes the field.
While I expect about 100 local stories and regular national discussions regarding Cowboys-Bucs between now and Sept. 9, I wouldn't overlook the quieter test the Cowboys' secondary faces in Week 2. The Chargers may exist in obscurity, but Justin Herbert did a pretty fair imitation of Brady in 2020, even if he's 20 years younger.
Herbert averaged 289.1 yards per game last season compared to Brady's 289.6 with the Bucs. In eight of 15 games, the rookie threw for more than 300 yards. In 10 of 15, Herbert threw for two or more touchdowns.
In other words, the Cowboys' secondary will be tested in a big way.
And, for the most part, it won't stop all season.