Cowboys Free Agents

Figured we might as well start a thread about our free agents and if they should stay or go. Here is a list of our free agents:

NRESTRICTED FREE AGENTS
Read
Player Pos.
Morris Claiborne CB
Greg Hardy DE
Mackenzy Bernadeau OL
Jeremy Mincey DE
Rolando McClain LB
Kyle Wilber LB
James Hanna TE
Matt Cassel Read QB
Lance Dunbar RB
Jack Crawford DE
Nick Hayden DT
Danny McCray S
Charles Brown OT
Josh Thomas CB
Robert Turbin RB
Tyler Clutts FB
Rodney Smith WR
Casey Walker DT

RESTRICTED FREE AGENTS

Player Pos. Status
Ronald Leary OG
Jeff Heath S

So who would you try and keep? Who would you kick to the curb?

Morris Claiborne CB (Keep)
Greg Hardy DE (Keep)
Mackenzy Bernadeau OL (Piece out, it was a nice little run but time to move on)
Jeremy Mincey DE (Goodbye)
Rolando McClain LB (Goodbye, just way too up and down)
Kyle Wilber LB (Goodbye, just no need to be bring back)
James Hanna TE (Might try to keep for decent depth)
Matt Cassel Read QB (Goodbye, you suck)
Lance Dunbar RB (Keep on a minimum contract, if not then who gives a shit)
Jack Crawford DE (Keep)
Nick Hayden DT (Good god go away)
Danny McCray S (Why the hell he is even on the roster is beyond me)
Charles Brown OT (Good bye)
Josh Thomas CB (Good bye)
Robert Turbin RB (I'd bring back on a one year deal to compete)
Tyler Clutts FB (Never like him, good bye)
Rodney Smith WR (Don't care)
Casey Walker DT (Don't care)

RESTRICTED FREE AGENTS

Ronald Leary OG (Tender, why the hell not?)
Jeff Heath S(Oddly enough, I would tender him. Before this year I despised him as a player but he actually had some moments that have shown me he has grown and developed and is at least worth bringing back)

Honestly, we don't have many big name free agents to worry about this year. We could let all of these guys walk and I wouldn't shed a tear. I'd like Claiborne back to prevent corner from being a top need. Same thing with Hardy. There rest I don't care much about.

Morris Claiborne CB - Keep, I think he can be kept fairly cheap
Greg Hardy DE - Keep
Mackenzy Bernadeau OL - Goodbye
Jeremy Mincey DE - Goodbye
Rolando McClain LB - Keep, we are thin at LB as it is and he is a playmaker when healthy and on the field, no insuing suspensions this year that I know of.
Kyle Wilber LB - Either Way
James Hanna TE - Good Bye
Matt Cassel Read QB - Good Bye
Lance Dunbar RB - Don't Care
Jack Crawford DE - Keep
Nick Hayden DT - Good bye
Danny McCray S - Good bye
Charles Brown OT - Good bye
Josh Thomas CB - Don't care
Robert Turbin RB - Keep
Tyler Clutts FB - Good bye
Rodney Smith WR - Good bye
Casey Walker DT - Good bye

RESTRICTED FREE AGENTS

Player Pos. Status
Ronald Leary OG - Keep
Jeff Heath S - Good bye, With Byron Jones, Wilcox and Church I think we could draft a safety and be better off without Heath

Keep: Crawford, Hardy, Dunbar, and Leary.

Is Hardy really worth his expected salary? The guy wasn't even the best lineman on the team. Unless he's willing to take much cheaper contract that last year, he can GTFO.

Morris Claiborne - CB - Keep if he's willing to accept a prove-it deal, 1-2 years, no more than about 4 million a year.
Greg Hardy - DE - Keep, already discussed in other thread.
Mackenzy Bernadeau - OL - Bye
Jeremy Mincey - DE - Bye, progress stopper at this point although if he takes a 1 year, 800K deal, I wouldn't care.
Rolando McClain - LB - Keep if he's willing to take the same type of 1 year deal as last year, cheap insurance for Lee and doesn't force our hand too much in the draft. I definitely would like to move on from him though.
Kyle Wilber - LB - Bye
James Hanna - TE - Keep if he's willing to accept a very minimal deal, don't really care though.
Matt Cassel - QB - Bye
Lance Dunbar - RB - Same as Hanna.
Jack Crawford - DE - Keep. Solid, somewhat versatile rotational DL.
Nick Hayden - DT - Same as Hanna and Dunbar. I don't like the guy but he has been a starter on a defense for 2 years that has been generally decent against the run. He's horrific as a pass-rusher but if he takes a 1 year deal, 800K deal or something we could do alot worse than him as our 4th or 5th DT.
Danny McCray - S - Bye
Charles Brown - OT - Bye
Josh Thomas - CB - Bye
Robert Turbin - RB - Don't care.
Tyler Clutts - FB - Don't care.
Rodney Smith - WR - Bye
Casey Walker - DT - Don't care.

RESTRICTED FREE AGENTS

Ronald Leary - OG - Keep on a tender in hopes of trading him, if not he's great depth.
Jeff Heath - S - Keep on a low tender, he seemingly knows the scheme and can play ST's, don't really care though.

Does it really matter? Flush them all.

I would think about tendering Leary if he has any trade value.

BipolarFan said:

Does it really matter? Flush them all.

I would think about tendering Leary if he has any trade value.

Click to expand...

No, it doesn't really matter.

The only guy who I think is an impact player and that I really want to keep is Hardy and that's only if he comes back on a reasonable deal.

Other than that I would only keep some of these guys because I'm assuming they will come cheap.

Cowboysrock55 said:

Figured we might as well start a thread about our free agents and if they should stay or go. Here is a list of our free agents:

UNRESTRICTED FREE AGENTS

Player Pos.
Morris Claiborne CB Let him go. I know he looked improved earlier in the year, but he was actually pretty bad throughout and graded out really poorly according to PFF. I see no reason to bring him back.
Greg Hardy DE Bring him back if it's a reasonable deal. I don't think he's going to have a huge market in free agency, he didn't do enough to earn a big long-term deal from someone else.
Mackenzy Bernadeau OL Churn him, he's a JAG who can easily be replaced by a younger, cheaper guy.
Jeremy Mincey DE Churn him, we've got enough depth at DE now that Mincey wouldn't bring us much for the money he's going to want.
Rolando McClain LB Probably the toughest one on the list, I'd like to bring him back on a short term deal but I'm not sure he's worth the headache as it seems like his heart really isn't into football.
Kyle Wilber LB No thanks, he's another JAG who doesn't have any upside. Can easily be replaced by a minimum salary young guy or late draft pick / UDFA
James Hanna TE Get rid of, Swaim should be able to step into his (minimal) role next year.
Matt Cassel QB Adios, not worth the veteran price tag from what we saw of him this year.
Lance Dunbar RB Bring back as long as he's cheap, he was pretty valuable in the passing game before he got hurt.
Jack Crawford DE Keep, he's pretty solid rotational depth along the DL and won't be expensive.
Nick Hayden DT Good fucking riddance, he's consistently graded out as one of the worst DTs in the NFL over the past couple years. Wouldn't keep him if he wanted to play for free.
Danny McCray S No thanks, he brings nothing other than ST and that's not worth a veteran contract.
Charles Brown OT Don't think he did anything all year. See no reason to bring him back.
Josh Thomas CB Same as Brown.
Robert Turbin RB Keep him on a short term deal if we can, he looked decent as a change of pace back.
Tyler Clutts FB Doesn't matter either way, didn't seem like we utilized him much this year. Probably just find a younger, cheaper UDFA who can do exactly the same job.
Rodney Smith WR Who? Goodbye.
Casey Walker DT Same as Rodney Smith.

RESTRICTED FREE AGENTS

Player Pos. Status
Ronald Leary OG Tender but willing to deal him if a team wants to give up a mid-round draft pick.
Jeff Heath S Would give him the minimum tender, he's actually improved from last year and can play on ST.

So who would you try and keep? Who would you kick to the curb?

Click to expand...

See above.

Actually went through this list and couldn't find a single playmaker we can't survive without. There are a couple that I would keep for the right deal: hardy, Claiborne, Crawford, Hannah, McClain. But I'm not losing sleep over any of them unless letting them go forces our hand somewhere

Keep for cheap:

Morris Claiborne CB
Greg Hardy DE (if he's finding the FA market is cold and/or a prove-it contract can be had)
James Hanna TE
Lance Dunbar RB
Jack Crawford - DE
Nick Hayden DT

Offer Tender

Ronald Leary

ravidubey said:

Keep for cheap:

Morris Claiborne CB
Greg Hardy DE (if he's finding the FA market is cold and/or a prove-it contract can be had)
James Hanna TE
Lance Dunbar RB
Jack Crawford - DE
Nick Hayden DT

Offer Tender

Ronald Leary

Click to expand...

I would agree with this.

ravidubey said:

Keep for cheap:

Morris Claiborne CB
Greg Hardy DE (if he's finding the FA market is cold and/or a prove-it contract can be had)
James Hanna TE
Lance Dunbar RB
Jack Crawford - DE
Nick Hayden DT

Offer Tender

Ronald Leary

Click to expand...

For someone who hates Nick Hayden so much, I'm very surprised you want him back. Personally I think he is a massive progress stopper and a crutch for this staff.

Hayden is a fucking bum. The best defenses that I can remember always had a massive run stopper in the middle of the DL. It is time to invest a draft pick into trying to find one.

Yeah, let Hayden walk. I'd let Claiborne walk too. I may be in the minority here but I wasn't impressed with Claiborne this year.

Assuming we keep Carr, even if we let Claiborne go we'll be in a better situation at corner than 2015 by replacing him with scandrick. Sign a moderately priced free agent, add a midrounder, and we're fine.

I thought Claiborne showed something. Just not best defensive player in the draft something. Only reason I wouldn't want him back is that he is always hurt. You just can't count on him and before anybody brings up Lee I will just say that he produces at a high level when he does play.

Genghis Khan said:

Yeah, let Hayden walk. I'd let Claiborne walk too. I may be in the minority here but I wasn't impressed with Claiborne this year.

Assuming we keep Carr, even if we let Claiborne go we'll be in a better situation at corner than 2015 by replacing him with scandrick. Sign a moderately priced free agent, add a midrounder, and we're fine.

Click to expand...

I think you have to keep either Claiborne or Carr. Personally Carr's 13 + mil cap hit next year pisses me off a lot. But I guess cutting him really only saves us about 6.5 mil. If you then turn around and spend most of that on Claiborne is it really worth the swap? I don't know. Plus Carr is at least reliable when it comes to injuries and Claiborne isn't. I think next year is the last year with Carr regardless, so we will be getting his money off the books soon enough.

Anyway, just some random thoughts. And Hayden absolutely needs to go. Hell I wouldn't mind Barry Church going either. These are two shitty starters who our team seems to cling to like they are good. I think them being on the roster just gives our organization an excuse to not take finding their replacements seriously.

Rev said:

I thought Claiborne showed something. Just not best defensive player in the draft something. Only reason I wouldn't want him back is that he is always hurt. You just can't count on him and before anybody brings up Lee I will just say that he produces at a high level when he does play.

Click to expand...

This is where I go back and forth on Claiborne. I think at times he really did look decent and better then Carr. But he is just so unreliable with the injuries. I don't want to pencil the guy in as a starter and then have to scramble to fill his spot for 6 games of the season. If the cost is right though, I see no reason not to bring him back.

I think Church could have a chance to be a decent player if put in a traditional SS role while Jones plays FS.

Carr almost never misses games, we should probably just stick with him and hope he takes a lesser deal if the choice is between him and Claiborne. Even if he doesn't take a lesser deal we can easily cut him after next season and save a huge amount on the cap. I'd be fine rolling with Carr, Scandrick, the Mitchell dude from Oregon and a 3rd-5th rounder in the draft.

This is one of the deepest CB classes I can remember with a whole boatload of guys that are 6-0+, we could easily snag a guy like Xavien Howard in the 4th, who I'd be perfectly comfortable with as our 3rd/4th CB.

As for Hayden, I feel like people have unfair hatred for him because the coaching staff insists on playing him huge snaps/making him the starter. He signed a 1 year deal last offseason for less than a million, assuming he takes that again why wouldn't you want a guy like that as your 4th or 5th DT? A guy who has started, been passable enough to where our run defense was decent these last 2 seasons, and knows the scheme?

The problem is that the staff insists on starting him and not looking for an upgrade, but if it was up to me I'd be totally fine having him back as depth and nothing more.