After losing All Pro cornerback Byron Jones to Miami in free agency earlier this week, the Dallas Cowboys were expected to be aggressive in the cornerback market. After all, their cornerback room was rather unsettled heading into free agency.
Instead, Dallas signed 25 year old Maurice Canady and re-signed their own Anthony Brown. While these were solid depth creating moves, they certainly weren’t the “splash” Cowboys Twitter may have been rooting for.
Still, retaining Brown is an excellent move, as he has really come into his own since moving into the slot full time. And Canady is a Pro Football Focus darling, who the local Jets media was rather optimistic about in 2019.
The rival Philadelphia Eagles did take a big swing at the cornerback market, however. According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the Eagles have traded for Detroit Lions cornerback Darius Slay.
https://twitter.com/AdamSchefter/status/1240625969314050048
Slay and the Eagles then immediately agreed upon a three year extension worth up to $50 million, according to reports.
Darius Slay had been top-of-mind for Cowboys fans this offseason, with hopes of replacing Byron Jones with either he or former Broncos cornerback Chris Harris. Harris is also off the market, however, signing a new deal with the Los Angeles Chargers.
The Cowboys will now likely look to the 2020 draft to bolster their cornerback room, though they may have more faith in Chidobe Awuzie taking a step forward than the fanbase does.
Awuzie and Jourdan Lewis have shown signs of how high their ceilings can be at times during their young careers, and they may be relied upon heavily in 2020.
