I’ve seen plenty of 2021 mock drafts that have the Dallas Cowboys taking a safety with one of their early picks. But based on this team’s history and the moves already made at the position this offseason, it still feels like we’re at least a year away from Dallas making a significant draft investment at safety.
Nobody’s crazy enough to project the Cowboys taking a safety with the 10th-overall pick on Thursday night. But there have been suggested scenarios where Dallas trades down from that pick and takes TCU’s Trevon Moehrig in the back half of the first round, or trades up from the 44th pick to land the draft’s top safety.
You’ll see even more mocks that have Andre Cisco, Richie Grant, or some other 2nd-round prospect going to Dallas if they stand pat at their original 44th pick.
Prioritizing the safety position hasn’t been part of the Cowboys’ team-building strategy for a long time. Nothing higher than a 6th-rounder has been used on safety from 2016-2020. And while they did spent a 1st on Byron Jones in 2015, he played cornerback as a rookie.
But outside of the rare J.J. Wilcox here or an Akwasi Owusu-Ansah there, Dallas hasn’t generally used premium picks at safety. Not since Roy Williams in 2002 has a 1st or 2nd-round pick gone to the position.
You might convince me that the Cowboys would change that M.O. in 2021 after hiring Dan Quinn as defensive coordinator. He’s seen the value of highly-drafted safeties with Earl Thomas and newly-signed Cowboy Keanu Neal in some of his past stops.
However, Dallas has already made several moves this offseason to add bodies and options at the position. Damontae Kazee and Jayron Kearse were added in free agency, with Kazee having started for Quinn the last few years in Atlanta.
The aforementioned Keanu Neal, though officially coming to the Cowboys to play linebacker, is also in the mix. He could still get looks at safety in certain packages and especially if other options don’t pan out.
Donovan Wilson is still here, and surprisingly so is Darian Thompson. Plus there’s the 4th-round pick from last year, Reggie Robinson, who will reportedly be continuing to work at safety in 2021 after moving there from cornerback as a rookie.
Unless Quinn’s arrival or frustration about past results have moved the needle with Dallas’ front office, this already feels like max effort based on the team’s modern handling of the safety position. It’s hard to see them spending a 1st or 2nd-round pick after already making these other moves.
By no means is this to say that Moehrig or even one of the second-tier prospects wouldn’t be an upgrade over present talent. But the Cowboys seem to take the term “secondary” quite literally when it comes to safeties; they just don’t invest heavily ithere.
The 2021 Cowboys will likely hope that Donovan Wilson continues to grow and solidifies himself a late-round steal. They’ll hope Damontae Kazee is an upgrade from Xavier Woods and that improvement throughout the defense helps both to have strong seasons.
If these hopes don’t come true, perhaps 2022 is when Dallas finally makes safety a top draft priority again. But unless there’s been a significant change in strategy from the 10+ years, don’t expect a high pick at safety this week.
Good points Jess. They already invested in adding three safeties, so maybe we don’t even draft one till later on or not at all. I guess it depends on what they think they have in these additions.
Seriously , 2 Safeties part of the worst pass D last year and a backup in Kearse is the temporary answer at Safety ? Go get a safety pls
I’m sorry with the exception of wilson we aren’t set at safety on is a special teams player at best and that might be pushing it and anther is a one year rental that is getting judged off a one year performance and wasn’t that good before he got hurt our cowboys need to wake up because if not we will be having this conversation again next year as we are picking in the top 15
Sigh. The myth continues.
-Dallas made official trade offers of a second round pick in one case and a first round pick in another in an attempt to invest at safety. Had the other teams said yes, boom, there is your first or second round pick investment. Teams don’t get to do every move they’d like to make, and Dallas has clearly been willing to invest in S.
-No, Byron Jones was not just a CB as a rookie. Don’t know where that came from. He was used in a flexible rotational role that saw snaps at both CB and FS, and then even though CB is more valuable than S Dallas slotted Jones in at FS after year one. Admit it or not, that was a first round pick investment with a mind to upgrade FS, period.
-The front office has spoken in the past how they see value at safety: coverage. It doesn’t value BOX safeties, to be specific, but that is far from limited to just Dallas. But if you ask scouts over the past decade, the rep is that reliable/projectable coverage safeties are not in great supply in the draft. Most of the most talented safeties are box guys, and the coverage guys often have major warts.
The Cowboys have been very interested in investing in this position that is not one of the core ones. But it’s a targeted interest – wisely, the team has not forced an investment for the sake of doing any one, even with a prospect it doesn’t believe in. Teams don’t get to load up like the LA Dodgers or NY Yankees in baseball thanks to balanced, limited resources, and it’s unwise to declare a total lack of interest or value in a position simply because of a lack of actual investments. As we’ve seen with the Cowboys, they have made some investments and tried others – the interest is there clear as day, unless one just blindly embraces media narratives that gets repeated often.
So let me ask you this, if there was a report by Ian Rapaport who said that the Cowboys have offered 5 first round picks for Mahomes , would you say they tried to fix QB ? STOP IT
All these reports of them trying to trade for a Safety is just for show, to cover their ass when they don’t address it, it’s painfully obvious that they prioritize Splash over actual need, time and time again, such as signing a RB with 2 years left on contract, instead of signing a Byron Jones back
We did NOT address the safety position this off season!! The only SAFETY we signed that even has a chance at playing is Kazee, one other is moving to LB and the other one is a nobody, that mite not even make the team, and Kazee isn’t even guaranteed to play either cause of the injury he’s coming back from!! We still NEED a free safety and there have been reports that Dan Quinn will be looking for a good safety in the draft this year!! And if you haven’t noticed from the passed, Dan Quinn actually prioritizes the safety position!! So you can’t sit there and say we won’t draft one early this year!!
Terrible…. First trade for all future picks?? None this year, even the 3rd rounder is in 2023!! I can see the future 1st round picks, that’s obvious, they only have 1 this year, but I would rather gain more picks for this draft, not 2 years from now!! I would’ve made the 3rd round pick in 2023 a 2nd round pick this year!! And then you do all that trading for a backup LB!! You could’ve at least picked JOK…. Somebody that can get on the field in his 1st year!! I’d rather have taken Newsome or Moehrig…. Even either one of them could be starters in year one!! But you chose a LB that will be a backup his first year!! Like I said…. Terrible