Dallas Cowboys
Biggest Post-Draft Weakness: Safety
It would be nice if Dallas could add a runner to replace DeMarco Murray, but it's clear that you don't need a dominant running back to win a championship in today's NFL. You do, however, need great play from your defense—or at least better play than what the Cowboys got last year, when their defense finished 22nd against the run, the pass, and overall by Football Outsiders' DVOA metric. The additions of free agent Greg Hardy (pending his suspension) and second-round draftee Randy Gregory should boost the pass rush, while first-round cornerback Byron Jones will help Brandon Carr and Orlando Scandrick handle spread formations. At safety, though, the Cowboys are stuck with the eminently mediocre duo of J.J. Wilcox and Barry Church.
Safeties are hard to analyze statistically, because their assignments can vary wildly from team to team. By and large, though, we can say they are asked to prevent opposing offenses from making big plays, and the Cowboys' pair didn't offer much help there, especially in the running game. Church was 25th among safeties in run stops (tackles that stopped an offense from gaining 45 percent of yards to go on first down, 60 percent on second, and 100 percent on third or fourth); Wilcox was 61st. That would be fine if their conservative play was taking away home runs, but Dallas gave up 1.03 Open-Field Yards per carry last year, third-worst in the league. (Open-Field Yards are rushing yards gained at least 10 yards beyond the line of scrimmage.) The Cowboys also struggled to stop deep passes, ranking 20th in pass coverage on throws that traveled at least 16 yards past the line of scrimmage.
