Archer: Cowboys now in must-have mode at cornerback in the draft

Cowboys now in must-have mode at cornerback in the draft
5:37 PM ET

Todd Archer
ESPN Staff Writer

FRISCO, Texas -- The Dallas Cowboys knew they were taking a chance in 2016 by having Barry Church, J.J. Wilcox, Brandon Carr and Morris Claiborne in the last year of their respective contracts. Now they have to replace all four of them.

Church signed with the Jacksonville Jaguars. Wilcox signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Carr has agreed to a four-year deal with the Baltimore Ravens, and Claiborne is expected to sign with the New York Jets.

That’s 2,679 defensive snaps in 2016 gone from the team.

That’s a lot to replace.

The Cowboys have held to their fiscal sanity during the free-agency period, but will it cost them?

The Cowboys have made it clear that they don’t believe safeties should be paid big (or maybe medium) dollars. Church put up four straight seasons with 100 tackles and was one of their best playmakers and a defensive captain. They could have gotten something done with him last offseason if they truly wanted. Wilcox never developed, so his departure was expected.

The Cowboys had talks with the agents for Carr and Claiborne, but they held firm on their price.

Carr was the Cowboys’ last big-money free agent at five years and $50 million in 2012. He did not live up to the value of the contract -- and took a pay cut to remain with the team last year -- but he played in every game. His biggest asset was availability.

The Cowboys traded up to the No. 6 pick in the draft to get Claiborne in 2012, but he never played to that level. And he never played a full season. He showed glimpses of his potential in 2016, but missed the last nine games of the regular season with a groin injury. He leaves with four interceptions in five seasons.
The Cowboys added Nolan Carroll at cornerback last week and will team him up with Orlando Scandrick and Anthony Brown, but the Cowboys need more at the position. Carroll and Scandrick are 30. Scandrick missed four games last season because of hamstring strains and did not play in 2015 because of a serious knee injury. Carroll started all 16 games for the first time in his career last season, but the Cowboys did not sign him a year ago after he visited the club, in part because of worries over an ankle injury. Brown outperformed the expectations of a sixth-round pick last year, but he is far from a lock to develop into a true starter.

As the roster sits right now, the Cowboys must find a cornerback in the draft, and they must find one early.

The good news? It appears to be a strong year for corners in the draft.

The bad news? The Cowboys have struggled in evaluating cornerbacks.

Between taking Scandrick in the fifth round of the 2008 draft and Brown in the sixth round last year, the Cowboys have drafted seven cornerbacks and none made a large impact: DeAngelo Smith (fifth round, 2009), Mike Mickens (seventh round, 2009), Jamar Wall (sixth round, 2010), Josh Thomas (fifth round, 2011), Claiborne, B.W. Webb (fourth round, 2013) and Terrance Mitchell (seventh round, 2014).

Byron Jones was drafted as a corner in the first round in 2015, but he was moved to safety by the end of his rookie year.

That’s a poor run by any measure, even if most of them were late-round picks. They couldn’t find one to stick?

That’s another reason why their approach to cornerback this offseason appears, to be kind, curious.

It’s one thing to be fiscally responsible. It’s another to ignore a position that takes on even greater importance with a pass rush that has been, to be kind again, lacking since DeMarcus Ware left town.

Fuck.

Love how they say we must draft corners and then use Church and Wilcox as the reason why. Umm duh, doesn't that mean we should draft a safety?

We could have Richard Sherman on one side and Patrick Peterson on the other and it isn't going to matter until we find a pass rush. I think the talent at edge rusher and DB is going to be about the same at #28. If it's me I take the pass rusher first and address the back end after that. Our record selecting DB's a little later is better than taking them early anyway.

Bluestar71 said:

We could have Richard Sherman on one side and Patrick Peterson on the other and it isn't going to matter until we find a pass rush.

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Yep, but that won't stop this organization.

Bluestar71 said:

We could have Richard Sherman on one side and Patrick Peterson on the other and it isn't going to matter until we find a pass rush.

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This just isn't true. I can show you multiple examples of really good pass defenses last year that had worse pass rushes than ours. Hell look no further then the New York Giants in our own division. They had a far superior pass defense but had fewer sacks than Dallas.

Bluestar71 said:

I think the talent at edge rusher and DB is going to be about the same at #28. If it's me I take the pass rusher first and address the back end after that. Our record selecting DB's a little later is better than taking them early anyway.

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Ultimately I do agree that pass rushers are more important than your DBs. But even more importantly I look at the talent in this draft and frankly I just think you're better off with a first round pass rush and a second round DB as opposed to a first round DB and a second round pass rusher. I just think there is a big drop off in terms of pass rushers after Carl Lawson there is a drop off at DE. And I don't think Carl Lawson lasts until the late second for our pick there.

On the other hand I think there are first round talent corners who could be around in the late second. Guys that legitimately could go in the first but there are so many that some will fall. It's going to all be about preference. Someone like Adoree Jackson, Marlon Humphry, Quincy Wilson, Gareon Conley, Fabian Moreau or Chidobe Awuzie are just as good as the first round corners in my opinion. And maybe some of them will go in the first. But the list goes on and on and someone has to fall.

Hell later on someone like Jourdan Lewis would be a perfect nickle corner. Give me two middle round corners and one first round DE and I'm way happier then one first round corner and a couple middle round DEs.

Our secondary was lacking, but replacing Claiborne, Carr, Church and Wilcox with Nolan Carroll and a bunch of rookies in one offseason isn't likely the answer we were hoping for.
And the last time we were desperate in the secondary we ended up with Goodrich, Larrimore and Edwards.

Cowboysrock55 said:

This just isn't true. I can show you multiple examples of really good pass defenses last year that had worse pass rushes then ours. Hell look no further then the New York Giants in our own division. They had a far superior pass defense but had fewer sacks then Dallas.



Ultimately I do agree that pass rushers are more important then your DBs. But even more importantly I look at the talent in this draft and frankly I just think you're better off with a first round pass rush and a second round DB as opposed to a first round DB and a second round pass rusher. I just think there is a big drop off in terms of pass rushers after Carl Lawson there is a drop off at DE. And I don't think Carl Lawson lasts until the late second for our pick there.

On the other hand I think there are first round talent corners who could be around in the late second. Guys that legitimately could go in the first but there are so many that some will fall. It's going to all be about preference. Someone like Adoree Jackson, Marlon Humphry, Quincy Wilson, Gareon Conley, Fabian Moreau or Chidobe Awuzie are just as good as the first round corners in my opinion. And maybe some of them will go in the first. But the list goes on and on and someone has to fall.

Hell later on someone like Jourdan Lewis would be a perfect nickle corner. Give me too middle round corners and one first round DE and I'm way happier then one first round corner and a couple middle round DEs.

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Does your spell checker change " than". to then? Not being facetious I have noticed it for some time. I probably used the wrong post as an example. Look in first paregraph.

VA Cowboy said:

Our secondary was lacking, but replacing Claiborne, Carr, Church and Wilcox with Nolan Carroll and a bunch of rookies in one offseason isn't likely the answer we were hoping for.
And the last time we were desperate in the secondary we ended up with Goodrich, Larrimore and Edwards.

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God that was like a lifetime ago.

Its funny our secondary kind of sucked last year. If we resign Carr and Claiborne the word would be our corners suck and it's more of the same. We let them go and instead its a freak out that we have total suckage back there. If we want to get better on defense we have to make changes.

L.T. Fan said:

Does your spell checker change " than". to then? Not being facetious I have noticed it for some time. I probably used the wrong post as an example. Look in first paregraph.

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I make that mistake a lot but I also post from my phone a lot and make a lot of mistakes that I have to go back and change or fix after I read my posts.

Cowboysrock55 said:

I make that mistake a lot but I also post from my phone a lot and make a lot of mistakes that I have to go back and change or fix after I read my posts.

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Indeed we all have typos. This has jumped out at me and it appeared it might be a spell checker villain.

L.T. Fan said:

Indeed we all have typos. This has jumped out at me and it appeared it might be a spell checker villain.

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My phone doesn't even suggest than as an option most of the time.

Cowboysrock55 said:

This just isn't true. I can show you multiple examples of really good pass defenses last year that had worse pass rushes than ours. Hell look no further then the New York Giants in our own division. They had a far superior pass defense but had fewer sacks than Dallas.

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I don't care about sack totals. I care about letting Aaron Rodgers kill us at the end of games when he has all the time in the world for his receivers to get open because we can't even get hurry ups much less sacks. We may not be the worst pass rushing team but we're certainly not where we need to be either. We need that one guy teams have to fear every down and those guys are easiest to find in the first round.

I just don't want us to panic and go DB too early in a fit of desperation and miss out on possibly a really good pass rusher. As you rightly point out the good ones are going to start getting really scarce right around where we pick in the first whereas quality DB's should be available well into the 3rd round this draft. For the first time in a long time on defense the strength of this draft matches up well with what we need if Jerry and company don't blow it.

Bluestar71 said:

I don't care about sack totals. I care about letting Aaron Rodgers kill us at the end of games when he has all the time in the world for his receivers to get open because we can't even get hurry ups much less sacks. We may not be the worst pass rushing team but we're certainly not where we need to be either. We need that one guy teams have to fear every down and those guys are easiest to find in the first round.

I just don't want us to panic and go DB too early in a fit of desperation and miss out on possibly a really good pass rusher. As you rightly point out the good ones are going to start getting really scarce right around where we pick in the first whereas quality DB's should be available well into the 3rd round this draft. For the first time in a long time on defense the strength of this draft matches up well with what we need if Jerry and company don't blow it.

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If the BPA is a DE I don't think we will pass them up just for the sake of a DB.

If Barnett or Charlton is there and we pass them up for Tre'Davious White or some such, I'll be quite pissed. But what if Charles Harris is the best DE on the board?

Would you be upset if we went with Budda Baker or Marlon Humphrey?

I wouldn't be.

Simpleton said:

If the BPA is a DE I don't think we will pass them up just for the sake of a DB.

If Barnett or Charlton is there and we pass them up for Tre'Davious White or some such, I'll be quite pissed. But what if Charles Harris is the best DE on the board?

Would you be upset if we went with Budda Baker or Marlon Humphrey?

I wouldn't be.

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I really like Charles Harris but I wouldn't say I'd be upset. Just more disappointed than anything. Probably more so if the pick is Marlon Humphrey. There are certain things aboit him that just scare me a little.

Now if Carl Lawson is the best you have at 28, I'm ok going DB. I'd rather a 10 year starting safety/CB over an injury prone DE any day.

Bluestar71 said:

We could have Richard Sherman on one side and Patrick Peterson on the other and it isn't going to matter until we find a pass rush. I think the talent at edge rusher and DB is going to be about the same at #28. If it's me I take the pass rusher first and address the back end after that. Our record selecting DB's a little later is better than taking them early anyway.

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This.

Simpleton said:

If the BPA is a DE I don't think we will pass them up just for the sake of a DB.

If Barnett or Charlton is there and we pass them up for Tre'Davious White or some such, I'll be quite pissed. But what if Charles Harris is the best DE on the board?

Would you be upset if we went with Budda Baker or Marlon Humphrey?

I wouldn't be.

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Since when is the consensus that Taco Charlton is better than Charles Harris?

I do not think that is clear.... I think a lot of sources like Harris better... he is at least on near-equal footing.

mschmidt64 said:

Since when is the consensus that Taco Charlton is better than Charles Harris?

I do not think that is clear.... I think a lot of sources like Harris better... he is at least on near-equal footing.

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Maybe, I don't think he is. I like Charlton's athletic profile a lot better and I worry that Harris basically had all of his sacks this year in about 3 games.

Simpleton said:

If the BPA is a DE I don't think we will pass them up just for the sake of a DB.

If Barnett or Charlton is there and we pass them up for Tre'Davious White or some such, I'll be quite pissed. But what if Charles Harris is the best DE on the board?

Would you be upset if we went with Budda Baker or Marlon Humphrey?

I wouldn't be.

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Agreed. I don't think we are in a situation where we HAVE to draft a CB early. I actually think they have learned their lesson with forcing shit like that anyway.

Harris had a bad combine. He'll probably be there to take.