Although it has been a disappointing offseason in terms of signing players, one guy that continues to work his tail off after being signed is Eric Kendricks.
He has gotten nothing but praise from coaches and other players inside the building since he has been there.
It also helps that he joins his former head coach in Minnesota, Mike Zimmer who will now run the defense for the Dallas Cowboys.
He will wear the green dot for the defense this season. A good move for the trusted veteran.
For those that don’t know, that lone linebacker is wearing a sticker on his helmet—the green dot that signifies that player is wearing the helmet communicator on defense and making the defensive play calls.
The 32-year-old rejected a contract offer with the 49ers to join Zimmer in Dallas.
“I always appreciated Zim,” Kendricks said. “Just the amount of defense I learned when I was underneath him. The way I watch film, the way we break things down, the install, a lot of things I learned from Zim and we had some good years and I can’t wait to continue that.”
He Will Be a Leader On Defense
Micah Parsons is far and away the best player, clearly, but as far as a raw leader goes, they need a guy like Kendricks to keep the younger players on this team focused and ready to go.
“I’m already getting more comfortable talking with the guys, communicating, alerting checks and things like that,” Kendricks said in May. “We’re only gonna get better at it as it goes. We’re still inputting a new system, and it’s a complicated one as well, but we’re starting off slow and we’re doing it the right way.”
In Dallas, Kendricks is not only the most experienced and accomplished linebacker on defense, but he comes as a walk-in starter at middle linebacker with the built-in knowledge of Zimmer’s scheme from their time together with the Minnesota Vikings.
Leighton Vander Esch had to retire with his neck issue, so they will be thinner even with Eric now running that unit.
What Does He Have Left?
Kendricks has had a very good career, as he has 1,036 tackles, 18.5 sacks, and nine interceptions.
He was named to the All-Rookie Team in 2015, and he was named a Pro-Bowler and a First-Team All-Pro in 2019.
His best statistical season, though, was in 2021, as he had 143 tackles, five sacks, and two interceptions.
Kendricks does not have to be prime Ray Lewis or even close to it. As long as he can step in and be productive. If he even has the year he did in 2023 with the Chargers, I will take it.
He finished last year with 117 tackles and 3.5 sacks. I will take that all day. Let’s remember how bad of play Dallas has gotten outside of a few years from LVE at the linebacker position.
I think the system Zimmer runs will help this defense. He wants to coach you, not be your best friend like Dan Quinn. I will take making big time stops on good offenses over takeaways against bad teams.
Mike has run a 4-3 defense for the majority of his career but was the defense coordinator under Bill Parcells and ran a 3-4 scheme, so he has shown versatility.
Zimmer had proven over the years that his defense works and Dallas has more talent than any of his teams he had when he was the Vikings head coach.
The Vikings’ defense was top-12 in points allowed in each of Zimmer’s first six seasons with the team, including a top-five finish in 2015, ’17, and ’19.
I am liking what I am seeing thus far. The return of Trevon Diggs will also go a long way for this team.