The Dallas Cowboys nearly hit another trade out of the park for the second year in a row. Unfortunately they were unable to woo the New York Jets enough to bring All Pro Safety Jamal Adams to Dallas. That shouldn’t stop them from trying to upgrade the safety position though. Maybe it’s time to resort to Plan B?
Now, I don’t know if the Dallas Cowboys actually have a Plan B in place after failing to acquire Jamal Adams via trade or if they just plan on sticking with status quo. The one thing I do know is that there is a safety still out there with an even better track record/reputation than Adams…Eric Berry.
As strange as it may be, former Kansas City Chiefs Safety Eric Berry is still available on the open market. He was once considered one of the best, if not the best, players at his position in the NFL and that wasn’t that long ago. Now though it seems as if he’s damaged goods, incapable of playing in the league any longer. After all, he still available for reason… Right!?
For a player of Eric Berry’s caliber to not be on a team at this point in the season is a bit odd. Maybe he is washed up. Maybe his recent injuries and battle with cancer took more of a toll on his body then we’d all like to believe. But, what harm would it do to test the waters and see if he has anything left in the tank?
As much as many of us around Cowboys Nation would like to see the Dallas Cowboys at the very least inquire about Eric Berry, I just don’t think it’s going to happen. If they were going to make such a move they probably would’ve done it at some point in the bye week. That’s not to mean it’s not completely off the table, but I do believe it’s unlikely.
For one, signing Eric Berry shakes things up quite a bit more than it would have if the Cowboys would’ve been able to add Jamal Adams to the roster. Adams simply would’ve replaced Jeff Heath at strong safety, but Berry’s addition will more than likely change the entire safety position.
You see, Eric Berry and Xavier Woods would play the same position with the Cowboys. Both are free safeties, meaning one of them would have to play a little bit out of position. That player would more than likely be Woods, who would be asked to take over at SS for Jeff Heath and play more around the line of scrimmage.
As you can see, that’s a lot of moving pieces and there’s no way of knowing whether or not it would improve the backend of the Cowboys defense. Xavier Woods would be playing a position he’s never really played and there is a lot of unknown about Eric Berry, his health, and whether or not he can still play at high level.
I think this would fall under the category of one of those risk/reward moves Jerry Jones likes to make. If Eric Berry can still played a high level, great! If not, the Cowboys can cut ties without having invested much. Sounds like a win-win to me!
