With yesterday’s news that the Cowboys could be adding former 1st-round pick Malik Hooker in the coming days, what should the current safeties on Dallas’ roster be thinking? Who could be most hurt by this new arrival to the position?
Before yesterday, it wasn’t hard to imagine Damontae Kazee and Donovan Wilson as the starting safeties for 2021. Wilson was one of the few bright spots from last year and is only entering his third season. Kazee, a newly-arrived free agent himself, was a full-time starter for Defensive Coordinator Dan Quinn for the last several years with the Atlanta Falcons.
The likeliest candidate to make the roster as a backups is veteran Jayron Kearse. Dallas just signed Kearse this past March for his experience and special teams work, and generally the freshest faces have an edge on returning options.
Darian Thompson is one of those returning guys. He’s been here a few years as decent depth but has had enough changes to prove he’s nothing more. The hope is that 6th-round rookie Israel Mukuamu will be able to quickly transition from cornerback to safety and instill enough confidence that Dallas can easily move on from Thompson.
Also in camp right now are prospects Steven Parker and Tyler Coyle. While neither has yet shown enough to put them above Kearse, Mukuamu, or Thompson, the opportunity is certainly there in training camp and preseason for one of these guys to become less expendable.
Malik Hooker joining the group would be a dramatic change. While the first four years of his NFL career haven’t gone as hoped, Malik was one seen as an elite prospect and has consistently produced turnovers despite the series of injuries he’s had to play through.
Dallas would certainly be giving Hooker a chance to compete for a starting role against Kazee and Wilson. Neither has a firm hold on it; Donovan is still young and relatively unproven and Damontae only got about $1 million in his one-year contract to join the Cowboys. Everything is up for grabs at all points on the safety depth chart.
If Malik was to bump one of Kazee or Wilson from a starting role then they would likely remain on the roster for depth. That would certainly be bad news for Mukuamu or Thompson, and perhaps both if Dallas is only keeping four total safeties on the 2021 roster.
This would also make it much harder for Coyle or Parker to make the team. Beating out Thompson or even Mukuamu for a roster spot wasn’t hard to fathom but Kearse’s special teams value will make him much tougher competition.
Of course, this is all based on the assumption that Hooker will be signed and be what the Cowboys hoped. But we only have to look back to last year with Ha Ha Clinton-Dix to see that a well-known name only goes so far. Ha Ha went from being one of our top free agent additions in 2020 to not even making the roster, getting dumped in favor of Darian Thompson at final cuts.
Clearly, and especially with camp already underway, Dallas thinks enough of Malik Hooker’s potential to be in talks and make this late offseason move. If he’s still anything close to what people thought in the 2017 NFL Draft, Malik could easily walk in as the best safety on the team. It will almost assuredly mean that someone from the Cowboys’ current group will lose their roster spot and perhaps even a starting job.
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If Hooker does sign id like for Kazee, Wilson and Mukuamu to be our other S. Id like to keep Coyle maybe as a PS member. Give me these 4 with Joesph, Diggs, Wright, Robinson and Canady with Goodwin for ST and I’ll feel good about our Secondary this year.
hope hooker signs, def upgrade if he is healthy, finally a true safety!!!!!
Is Hooker full go right now with his Achilles issue or is he still rehabbing? I know they say Kazee is full participation, so could come down to who is the healthiest between the two. I know Kazee has history with Quinn, so Hooker won’t be just handed the job by any means. Kazee and Hooker are similar players. Both are playmakers coming off serious injuries.
Also looking forward- Kazee and Kearse are both FAs after this year and Hooker likely signs a 1 year contract. So we have to keep that in mind before we start cutting guys that have years on their contract. That said Thompson is likely gone as they are high on Israel M as a potential future starter. Wilson also has two more years on contract. I think they like Coyle too and he could be a candidate for the IR.
Meant Coyle is a candidate for the PS.
I don’t like the idea of depending on two safeties who would be coming off of achilles injuries. I like Malik as a player when he is healthy, but that has not been very often over the course of his career. I think he would be a good depth player and maybe a competitor for Kazee, but I would be hesitant to allow him to stand in the way of seeing what Wilson can do.
Assuming Malik is healthy and he is signed, its pretty amazing how our D backfield has evolved, in a relatively short period of time, from a weak position last year to a somewhat deep, above average to maybe even, dare I say, a solid one.
Of course the other FAs and draftees have also helped in this potential upgrade. The competition should really be interesting and hopefully it will produce some good positive results. gary b does bring up a good point about “who is the healthiest between the two”. IMO, if MH IS healthy, I would give him the edge. Big man, small man thing may play a part in the equation.
In any case, the bottom line for me is, at least, the depth appears to be much better than we have seen in the recent past.
If we sign Hooker, and then we only keep 4 on the 53 man roster, I hope we keep Hooker, Kazee, Wilson, and Mukuamu!! And for the people that don’t like the idea of having 2 recently injured safeties on the team…. Just because they are on the team it doesn’t mean they are both gonna start at the same time!! They can have Wilson start at one safety spot and then have Hooker and kazee rotate at the other spot so they have less of a chance to get injured, or they can play Wilson at one spot and then the best one out of Hooker and Kazee at the other spot until they are injured and then we’ll have the other one healthy and ready to replace the injured one!! If Hooker does sign with us he will be hands down the best safety on the team, the only problem is that he’s injured a lot, so having a player like kazee to back him up wouldn’t be a bad thing, or having them split reps so they have less of a chance to get injured wouldn’t be a bad thing either, they are both ball hawks and that’s something we haven’t had in a long time!! So idc how injury prone they are, as long as there’s 2 of them to back each other up through the season there’s a good chance that we’ll have at least one of them still standing by the end of the season!! And then we’ll have Donovan Wilson at the other safety position and Mukuamu backing him up!! That sounds like a good plan to me!! Either way, having a top 15 talent at safety is something we shouldn’t pass on!! That is too good of a talent to pass up on, especially when we have another talented safety in Kazee waiting in the wings or rotating in and out with him!! But that’s just my opinion!!
If Hooker is physically sound then he would be a good addition. Wilson, and Kazee are definitely roster-worthy. From there though, it is anybody’s guess. Kearse is good on special teams, but he’s not a starting safety. Between him, Thompson and Mukuamu, one will make the roster, one will be put on the Practice Squad. The other, along with Coyle will be released.