A six-year member of the Dallas Cowboys’ secondary, Barry Church has led the team in tackles the last three seasons. His 117 tackles in 15 games this season set him up for a big contract year in 2016.
It will be an interesting contract year for the safety at that, seeing as fans have been calling for a complete revamp of the position. 2015 first round pick Byron Jones appears to have found his home at the free position, leaving Church to man the strong position and do so with plenty of success.
One name in particular that has been thrown around is the safety out of Florida State, Jalen Ramsey, who will be an option for the Cowboys in the upcoming draft at the fourth overall pick.
While a safety combo of Jones and Ramsey provides an instant boost to the playmaking ability out of this secondary, sticking with a combination of Jones and Church, Heath and Wilcox provides stability for the Cowboys while allowing them to address other more pressing positional needs this offseason.
That said, let’s take a look at what Church must do to earn more time in Dallas past 2016.
Barry Church
Barry Church provides what the Cowboys have desperately needed on this defense for the years he has been here – and this is a consistent tackler as the last line of defense from the strong safety position. This Cowboys defensive scheme is best suited when the offense can put up points quickly and give them a lead to play with.
When playing with the lead, Church can drop into his comofrtable deep safety spot and still come up to prevent huge plays from happening with tackles in the box. It’s when trailing that Rod Marinelli must move Church closer to the line, where he is less comfortable.
Assuming J.J. Wilcox will see the field minimally in his upcoming 2016 contract year, a primary safety rotation of Byron Jones with Church and Heath splitting time next to him is a prettty solid plan for Dallas.
Jones in his second year should develop even more of a playmaking ability, and will be playing with the likes of Orlando Scandrick back from injury in front of him. Church on the other side is a trustable option to prevent big plays given up from the likes of Brandon Carr and potentially Morris Claiborne from becoming disastorous, game-altering plays.
Assuming Church stays healthy and the Cowboys can agree on a fair price, we should expect to see Barry back in the silver and blue after 2016.
As mentioned, J.J. Wilcox will be playing in a contract year as well in 2016 – and I’ll be taking a look at him as well as other members of the defense coming up right here at InsideTheStar.com.
For now, let me know what you think about the safety position for the Cowboys and the futuer of Barry Church by sending a tweet to @ShoreSportsNJ or leaving a comment below!
I feel let berry church and carr and jj Willcox go and put fresh body in the line up put the guys that will fly to the ball on there put playmakers on the team not just anyone come on jerry jones we need a super bowl 51
I've been on the "cut Church for cap savings" wagon for a while, but the more I look at it the more I'm wavering. You get close to $3 million back by cutting Church this offseason. The average salary of the top-paid safeties in the game is about $9 million a year. Let's say you go after Eric Berry in free agency and he'll want at least that. You're saving are only one-third of the cost of the upgrade.
I think Dallas needs to focus on cornerback and use Byron Jones to upgrade safety. J.J. Wilcox will be in the final year of his rookie deal and making backup money. Bench Wilcox, start Jones as more of a center-field FS, and then use Church closer to the LOS where he's more effective. Then you can focus all your cap space and draft picks on finding some running buddies for Scandrick.
Just saw a different site (OverTheCap) that has Church's cap savings, if released, at $4.25 million instead of the $2.75 million I thought before. If that's true then that's even tastier!
Miles Killbrew at SS please.
Superbowl teams are expensive to keep together. Carolina does not have the cap to sign Norman. There is a chance he will test the market. I would overpay for Josh Norman if given the chance. Jerry has to think of the media rating for the Cowboys and Giants matchups. It would be over the top.
The beauty of the Cowboys is that we don't need any player to help boost ratings. We're the #1 ticket in the NFL no matter how bad things get.
Just gushing over the idea of Josh Norman keeping Odell out the end zone. Considering the Cowboys are forever in Beckham's highlight reel.
Norman is amazing but he's also 28. He scares me as a free agent due to the money and years he'll want versus how much longer he can be a top player.
Panthers could not get it done. Cowboys should offer Norman 3 year 45 million 25 mil guaranteed.
That's too much money. Franchise tag is only paying $14 million.