The Dallas Cowboys got a lot accomplished in the first two parts of player acquisition opportunities; the initial phase of free agency and the NFL Draft. However, they still have some holes to fill on the depth chart.
Tight End
With the imminent retirement of future Hall of Famer Jason Witten to join the Monday Night Football crew, there is a sizable hole at tight end. Sure, even I have spoken of the decline of one of the best to ever play the position, but that doesn’t change the fact that he was the best player on the roster at the tight end position, even entering his 16th season.
Rico Gathers has some raw natural ability for the position, but hasn’t earned enough trust from the coaching staff for them to consider him a viable long-term option at the position.
Geoff Swaim is a really good depth player at tight end, but at this point it would only be speculation to assume he could be a starter in the NFL.
The team really likes the potential of Blake Jarwin, who they signed as a UDFA after the 2017 NFL Draft, but at this point, we’re still just talking potential. He spent most of 2017 on the practice squad.
Dalton Schultz, the rookie tight end out of Stanford, could very well be the guy to take the lead as he has very refined blocking skills from playing in Stanford’s pro-style offense. Schultz didn’t get many opportunities in the passing game, but that’s not because he didn’t have the ability. Stanford’s offense just didn’t throw the ball a ton in their run-first scheme.
There is some nice potential for the Dallas Cowboys at tight end, but they’re lacking anyone with experience. I’d look to add a veteran free agent to compete with the young guys and see what shakes out.
Defensive Tackle
The Dallas Cowboys went into the draft with David Irving and Maliek Collins as their primary interior defensive line players. On passing downs, that’s a pretty solid twosome. Collins played through injuries in 2017 but was solid when asked to play as the 1T defensive tackle. Ideally, you’d play him at 3T.
They added Jihad Ward, the former second round pick of the Oakland Raiders, in a trade for Ryan Switzer, but he hasn’t shown the consistency at the position to live up to where the Raiders selected him.
In his rookie season, Ward started 13 games and played in all 16, and registered 30 combined tackles. He didn’t register a sack. His 2017 was derailed by injuries.
He has good size at 6-5, 295 lbs, but needs to develop his game and get some injury good luck. He could be another David Irving-like diamond in the rough for the front office. As a rotational player, it should allow him the ability to shine.
After those three, we’re talking about David Ash, Datone Jones, and Brian Price. The Dallas Cowboys like to throw numbers at the defensive line to see who will flash and stick with the team. We all clamored for them to add a 1T defensive tackle this offseason, and they still can in the next wave of free agency, or after training camp cuts take place.
Safety
The Dallas Cowboys passed on the opportunity to add Pro Bowl Safety Earl Thomas when they declined the Seattle Seahawks’ offer of Thomas for Dallas’ second round pick. It’s easy to say they should have pulled the trigger, but by keeping pick #50 and selecting Offensive Lineman Connor Williams, the Dallas Cowboys solidified their offense to be a contender in 2018.
No Earl Thomas only leaves three viable safety options on the current roster with the move of Byron Jones to cornerback confirmed by new secondary coach Kris Richard. Jeff Heath, Kavon Frazier, and Xavier Woods are a pretty solid threesome at safety, but teams typically carry at least four.
Now, they could move Chidobe Awuzie to safety, but I think that would be a mistake given his play in 2017. He’s an aggressive corner who will make plays on the football.
Jones could go back to safety in a pinch, but you want to be able to put a guy at a position and leave him there. Jones has been moved around a lot throughout his career, it’s time to see what he can do at cornerback. For better or worse.
The Dallas Cowboys could still make a move for Earl Thomas. Until the Seahawks extend him or take him off the trading block, he remains an option for the Cowboys.
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As Stephen Jones and Will McClay like to say, player acquisition is a 365 day a year business. While the team looks pretty solid at the moment, the Dallas Cowboys still have some areas they can address, and it wouldn’t surprise me to see them add veterans to address those areas.
The safety position will be the difference between a top defense and a middle of the pack one
Not true. They were the number 8 defense in the league last year and virtually nothing has changed in the secondary except all those young guys got better including the safety’s. (http://www.espn.com/nfl/statistics/team/_/stat/total/position/defense)
No 8 sounds great in all but look at how many big plays they gave up. All the playoff teams had good safety play throughout the season. Xavier Woods and Jeff Heath are just not going to cut it, lets be real here
I disagree. Both players played well last year and they will only be better this year. That being said yes I would love to see Earl Thomas in a Cowboys uniform. The Cowboys finished 11th in the league in passing defense last year with a bunch of rookies and first time starters except for scandrick.
I disagree with your assessment.
No expected Jason Witten to be a superstar when he was drafted. He went in the 3rd round. Swaim has played a lot the last few years including passing downs and has proven he isn’t a liability in any part of his game. Given the opportunity he will do a good job and so will Jarwin and the rookie. Gathers is the question mark. This is a running offense and if they make it to the playoffs it will be because of their running game not how well the TE’s catch the ball but I think they will do well in the passing game.
We are in good shape at DT. I never wanted the Cowboys to draft or sign a high dollar DT. Collins is good, he held his own with a broken foot all year. He will have a really good year this year. Also, the Cowboys have Richard Ash 6-3 333, Brian Price 6-3 303, and Daniel Ross 6-4 325 as backup 1 techniques. Price and Ash both held their own as backups/rotational players and now they have Ward to throw in the mix. Not to mention UDFA Osborne 6-0 300.
As far as safety goes… Would I love to see Earl Thomas in a Cowboys uniform heck yeah I would but Woods, Frazier, and Heath will do fine. I think Heath is highly underrated he runs a 4.3 40 and showed it several times last year. They also signed a S and a few CB’s that could be moved to S.
The Cowboys finished with the number 8 defense in the NFL last year and they only got better in the offseason with the new additions.
All the players you mentioned are below average NFL players, Ash, Price, Ward, Ross and Swaim, All have been cut or released by other teams. The exception is Gathers, and you listed him as a question mark which is rediculous. Gathers was awesome in the preseason but was not put on the active roster because Witten was getting all the reps. Gathers is so talented that the Super Bowl Champion Eagles tried to steal him away from Dallas a couple of years ago. In order to have a successful team you have to utilize your talent, an area where Dallas has fallen short in recent years. It was not until the losses started piling up last year that they started playing talented Jourdan Lewis, Xavier Woods. Removing slow footed, late reacting Jeff Heath from the lineup and inserting Awuzie and Frazier shored up the secondary. When D.Lawerence and D.Irving played together along with S. Lee and Jaylon Smith the defense became a formidable, talented defense. You win with talent, let go of the favortism and personal feelings which has hindered the Cowboys. There is enough talent on the roster to be a force in the division, it just has to be utilized properly. GM’s and coaches for teams like the Eagles, Falcons, Rams, Jaguars, are realizing this and are building winning programs.
Jeff Heath never has and never will run a 4.3, not in this lifetime.
http://draftscout.com/ratings/dsprofile.php?pyid=97368&draftyear=2013&genpos=fs
He runs between a 4.38 and 4.48 40 per the reference above. He didn’t lose his job last year Jones did. Heath started throughout the year and was in a majority of the defensive snaps and played really well. He had a game winning tackle due to his speed and quickness.
Also, Swaim was drafted by the Cowboys in 2015. Swaim played really well when Witten was out. Gathers is a question mark – Swaim is A LOT better TE at this point. Maybe Gathers will develop into a complete TE maybe he will never be more than a backup/special teams player he hasn’t done anything yet but pre-season games and training camp. So it remains to be seen if he will pan out which makes home a question mark. I hope he does pan out though.
Collins is above average NFL player as a 1 technique and def as a 3 technique. Ash and Price play well when they get their opportunities. The Cowboys have 1 good 1 technique DT and at least 2 backup 1 techniques that aren’t a liability and possibly more with the UDFA and Ross.
Dallas doesn’t really need “Defensive tackle”, they need a 1 Tech, that player who is between the C and OG and forces a double team, clogs up the middle. We got LOADS of outside tackles, 3 techs or 5 techs, we needed a 1, we could have had (this later in the draft) Tim Settle, Foley F UConn, kid from Tenn and POONA Ford. All very productive 1 techs in college. Yes sorry, I’m still ranting. . . but the draft was SO CLOSE to a home run