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.
