2022 Cowboys Free Agency Thread

[Genghis Khan]

They could be better due to internal improvement, another year under Quinn, so on and so forth, but ultimately I think we'll probably get a roughly similar defense with maybe 20% less turnovers.

Could be, sure. I wouldn't assume that though. It's a point of concern for me.

We do have the luxury of a great coordinator so that helps but without adding talent and losing some in fact, there a lot of variables going on.

 

[Genghis Khan]

I look at it as they went from Gregory to Armstrong, and while Gregory is better than Armstrong, Gregory is never consistent and reliable/available. He teases with his ability, but has never had more than 6 sacks in a season. I can get 6 sacks with Armstrong and Fowler.

They didn't go from Gregory to Armstrong though. They had both last year.

If you want to include Armstrong, they went from Gregory and Armstrong to Fowler and Armstrong. The difference is Gregory vs Fowler and that's a clear downgrade.

 

[Cowboysrock55]

Based on what? They went from Gregory to Fowler, which is a huge downgrade, they're likely losing Kazee and Neal (not super huge losses but they haven't replaced them yet either), and haven't really added anyone.

I don't see an improvement at all.

I think you also have to factor in Lawrence who played in what 7 games last year? And probably even less considering he got hurt and was working his way back from injury. The previous 4 seasons Lawrence played basically the entire seasons. So yeah, I'd say getting Lawrence back for a full season is a pretty big upgrade at LE compared to what we had there the majority of last season (Except when Parsons played LE because he is a monster no matter where you put him).

So yeah, we could actually overall be better already on defense.

 

[p1_]

They didn't go from Gregory to Armstrong though. They had both last year.

If you want to include Armstrong, they went from Gregory and Armstrong to Fowler and Armstrong. The difference is Gregory vs Fowler and that's a clear downgrade.

They didn’t plan on losing Gregory, but I’m not gonna say that our success is dependent on him.

 

[Cotton]

 

[Genghis Khan]

I think you also have to factor in Lawrence who played in what 7 games last year? And probably even less considering he got hurt and was working his way back from injury. The previous 4 seasons Lawrence played basically the entire seasons. So yeah, I'd say getting Lawrence back for a full season is a pretty big upgrade at LE compared to what we had there the majority of last season (Except when Parsons played LE because he is a monster no matter where you put him).

So yeah, we could actually overall be better already on defense.

The key word you're using is "could". That's different and I don't disagree that it's possible.

I was responding to P1 who said he was "expecting" the defense to be better.

I don't see why anyone would expect that based on the player movement we've had so far.

As far as getting a full year of Lawrence, that could offset the loss of Gregory a bit, but honestly outside of the turnovers the defense last year didn't really excite me much until Lawrence came back and they could run him, Gregory and Parsons together. THAT defense looked like a nightmare pressure situation for offenses to deal with.

I don't see how we're going to be better than that without replacing Gregory with a quality pass rusher. And I doubt a player of that quality is coming.

 

[Chocolate Lab]

 

[Genghis Khan]

They didn’t plan on losing Gregory, but I’m not gonna say that our success is dependent on him.

That's not what you said.

I'm not arguing that we're going to suck defensively without Gregory. I think we'll be ok.

But you said you expected we'll be better. I don't see how we'll be better given our personnel decisions, and I really don't see how you could expect it.

Granted, maybe some of the young guys like Osa and Golston step way up. Maybe they draft another Parsons. Maybe Armstrong turns into something he's never been. A lot of things are possible. But I wouldn't expect that.

 

[Cotton]

Okay, I now love this dude.

 

[Cowboysrock55]

I don't see how we're going to be better than that without replacing Gregory with a quality pass rusher. And I doubt a player of that quality is coming.

I don't know but I'm crossing my fingers we can get Ojabo or Sam Williams. Ojabo would probably be like Lawrence last year. He might only play the second half of the season but his pass rush could be a massive boost. I'm also a big fan of Sam Williams in the draft. Sexual assault allegation aside I think the guy could be stud pass rusher. Give me one of those two and I could see an elite pass rush again.

I'm with you though, Lawrence, Gregory and Parsons all healthy at the same time was really exciting. I wanted a full season of that this year because I think it could have made our defense elite. And yet we let that all go over a fucking clause in a contract.

 

[Genghis Khan]

Several of those passes he wasn't really open and the QB threw him open or allowed him to make a contested catch. I wouldn't expect a lot of that here.

There was also a busted coverage that left him wide open, and another where he was wide open and he didn't have the speed to catch up to it.

To be fair, a couple of passes weren't good passes and he made the catch anyway.

All in all, he doesn't seem great at getting open (which is maybe the number one most important trait for a WR and oh by the way Cooper was great at). I'm not expecting much.

 

[Genghis Khan]

I'm with you though, Lawrence, Gregory and Parsons all healthy at the same time was really exciting. I wanted a full season of that this year because I think it could have made our defense elite. And yet we let that all go over a fucking clause in a contract.

Yep.

And as if that's not maddening enough, we still had a chance to redeem it by signing one of the other pass rushers on the market and be in a similar or better position for similar money or maybe a little more.

But chose not to do that.

For some god forsaken reason.

 

[Simpleton]

Could be, sure. I wouldn't assume that though. It's a point of concern for me.

We do have the luxury of a great coordinator so that helps but without adding talent and losing some in fact, there a lot of variables going on.

Yea you never really know, we could be worse for any number of reasons, but I don't think losing Gregory is a crippling loss necessarily. My problem is that we didn't re-invest that money elsewhere to upgrade the roster and potentially make the defense a special unit.

Gregory is clearly significantly better than both Armstrong and Fowler, and I'd still rather have him at his price than these other two, but at the end of the day production does matter and his production isn't significantly different than what Armstrong/Fowler did last year.

In 437 snaps last year Gregory put up 6 sacks, 17 QB hits, 4 TFL and 3 FF.

In 507 snaps Armstrong put up 5 sacks, 12 QB hits, 3 TFL and 0 FF.

In 509 snaps Fowler put up 4.5 sacks, 8 QB hits, 6 TFL and 3 FF.

The real issue is that we could've used the savings on Gregory to sign Marcus Williams to the exact same contract, or obviously Bobby Wagner, and added a playmaker at a different position while still being pretty much fine with our edge rush.

 

[NoDak]

I think people are overrating Randy Gregory because he is gone and mainly because they are pissed with the way he left.

He flashed. Sure. Made some highlight plays. But he was not consistent and was pretty hard to count on. If we look at it objectively, his actual on field production will not be that hard to reproduce.

 

[boozeman]

I think people are overrating Randy Gregory because he is gone and mainly because they are pissed with the way he left.

He flashed. Sure. Made some highlight plays. But he was not consistent and was pretty hard to count on. If we look at it objectively, his actual on field production will not be that hard to reproduce.

I kind of feel the same way. After plastering Mac Jones, he wasn't dominant like he could have been. Yeah he feasted on the Redskins just like everyone else. Don't ask me what the fuck he was doing in the 49ers game.

 

[Chocolate Lab]

Don't ask me what the fuck he was doing in the 49ers game.

Leading the team in unassisted form tackles on the Niners OL.

 

[bbgun]

remember his personal foul right before the half in Seattle? they got a cheap 3 because of that.

 

[p1_]

 

[Cowboysrock55]

Several of those passes he wasn't really open and the QB threw him open or allowed him to make a contested catch. I wouldn't expect a lot of that here.

There was also a busted coverage that left him wide open, and another where he was wide open and he didn't have the speed to catch up to it.

To be fair, a couple of passes weren't good passes and he made the catch anyway.

All in all, he doesn't seem great at getting open (which is maybe the number one most important trait for a WR and oh by the way Cooper was great at). I'm not expecting much.

He honestly reminds me of Gallup a lot. Gallup doesn't always get a ton of separation. He isn't overly fast but he gets open deep. But Gallup can make some crazy catches. It's basically a worse version of Gallup who is 2 inches shorter.

Basically WR is still a massive hole. Washington is a nice shot in the dark. He seems cool and he was killer in college so I have no problem signing him. But I'm not expecting a lot. Just a guy who you can take some deep shots with against single coverage.

 

[data]

I’m still floored we got rid of Amari Cooper.

I’m still floored we only got a fifth. We couldn’t have even swapped our #56 for their #44?