The Dallas Cowboys' appearance on HBO's 'Hard Knocks' could prove costly

Don't look now, but NFL training camps are right around the corner.

With training camp come predictions and a look ahead to what this season might entail, and FS1's Colin Cowherd has his fair share of opinions on what to expect from the upcoming NFL season.

As he discussed on "The Herd," there are six teams that he believes are locks to make the playoffs.

"The [Buffalo] Bills, the [Cleveland] Browns, the [Tampa Bay] Buccaneers, the [Kansas City] Chiefs, the [Green Bay] Packers and the [Baltimore] Ravens: These six are safe bets. They are playoff teams somewhere."

After the six-team cream of the crop, there is a group of teams with uncertain futures for this season.

One of those is the Dallas Cowboys, who have been tabbed to be the focus of HBO's "Hard Knocks" this season.

"I think Dallas is in that group, and when you're in that group, you just don't have a lot of margin for error," Cowherd said.

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Based on the track record of teams that appear on "Hard Knocks," this might not be the best course of action for the Cowboys, who are looking to bounce back from a disappointing 2020 campaign and return to the playoffs.

Last season, the Los Angeles Rams and Chargers were the focus of the show. The Rams finished 10-6 and made it to the NFC divisional round, while the Chargers finished 7-9 and missed the playoffs.

In fact, of the past 11 teams to be featured on the HBO show, only four made the playoffs in their respective season: the 2010 New York Jets, the 2013 Cincinnati Bengals, the 2015 Houston Texans and the 2020 Rams.

As for the Cowboys, they have made two previous appearances on "Hard Knocks," and neither ended very well for America's Team.

In 2002, the Cowboys finished 5-11 and missed the playoffs after appearing on the show. In 2008 they again missed the postseason, though they did finish 9-7.

Now, they will look to not only end their string of bad luck with "Hard Knocks" but also potentially become the first team featured on the show to advance to the Super Bowl.

"I think they realize what they have in store this upcoming season," Todd Fuhrman said on "FOX Bet Live." "If Dak Prescott comes back healthy, we know how explosive this offense can be. … Despite all the times that we talk about ‘Hard Knocks’ being a distraction, some of these teams have actually fared quite well."

Would Jerry Jones want it any other way?

Probably not.

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