- Joined
- Apr 7, 2013
- Messages
- 120,136
By Jon Machota 2h ago
With NFL free agency quickly approaching, we’re breaking down the Cowboys roster to see where it has depth and where it needs to find help in the near future.
This is the third installment of a nine-part series split up among position groups.
Part 1: Defensive line
Part 2: Linebackers
We are now finishing up the defense by taking a look at the defensive backs.
How the defensive backs performed in 2020:
Entering the season, there was a lot of focus on cornerbacks Chidobe Awuzie and Jourdan Lewis and safety Xavier Woods. All three were selected in the same 2017 draft class that was supposed to help fix the defense. All three played similarly to how they have the previous three seasons. Awuzie missed half the season with a hamstring injury. He finished with one interception and five passes defended in eight games. Lewis played a career-high 778 defensive snaps, starting 13 games, the same number he started the three previous seasons combined. He didn’t record an interception and finished with only two passes defended. Woods started throughout the entire season for the third consecutive year. He did not intercept a pass and finished with only one pass defended, but he was second on the team with 72 total tackles.
Two bright spots in the secondary were rookie cornerback Trevon Diggs and second-year strong safety Donovan Wilson. Diggs, last year’s second-round pick, led the team in interceptions with three, passes defended with 14, and he did that despite missing four games with a foot injury. Wilson didn’t open the season as a starter, but by Week 5 he proved to the coaching staff that he was their best option. Wilson ended up with two interceptions, three forced fumbles, 3.5 sacks and 71 total tackles in 14 games.
Veteran cornerback Anthony Brown started eight of the 10 games he played in, intercepting two passes and defending three others. Veteran safety Darian Thompson opened the season as a starter and ended up playing in 15 games. He totaled one interception and one pass defended.
In all, it wasn’t a great year for the Cowboys defensive backs, something that has become common in Dallas for most of the last decade.
Donovan Wilson (37) and Trevon Diggs (27) (Tim Heitman / USA Today)
The future:
Diggs is clearly the future at one of the starting cornerback spots. Wilson seems to be in pretty good shape at strong safety. That basically leaves three other positions, considering how often teams are in nickel and dime packages, for the Cowboys to fill out in the starting lineup entering the 2021 season.
Brown could claim one of the other starting cornerback roles. Awuzie, Lewis and Woods are each unrestricted free agents and could all be gone. That doesn’t mean they are guaranteed to leave, though. Judging by how limited the spending is expected to be this year in free agency because of the projected reduced salary cap, returning to Dallas on a one-year, team-friendly deal can’t be ruled out for any of them. But that doesn’t necessarily fix the need for another future starting cornerback to build around opposite of Diggs. And it doesn’t fill arguably the biggest need on the Cowboys roster, a play-making free safety.
No NFL team has invested less at safety than the Cowboys. Could that change under new defensive coordinator Dan Quinn?
How things could change this offseason:
The most significant changes are expected to come in the draft. Even if the Cowboys had money to spend on one of the top free safeties or cornerbacks in free agency, it’s unlikely they would. Judging by where they are currently set to pick in April’s draft, the Cowboys could address cornerback and then safety with their first two picks. Many mock drafts have suggested as much.
Taking a top cornerback with the 10th overall pick is certainly in play. Although they didn’t get great results, the Cowboys traded up to draft Morris Claiborne sixth overall in 2012. They also drafted Byron Jones at the back end of the first round in 2015. The top three corners in this year’s draft are Virginia Tech’s Caleb Farley, Alabama’s Patrick Surtain II and South Carolina’s Jaycee Horn.
Two other cornerback names to remember are veteran Maurice Canady and last year’s fourth-round pick Reggie Robinson II. Canady opted out last season because of COVID-19 after signing a one-year deal. Robinson was drafted to play corner but was moved to safety in training camp. He has the ideal size to play cornerback in Quinn’s scheme. A move back shouldn’t come as a surprise.
Drafting a safety in one of the first two rounds hasn’t been done by the Cowboys since Roy Williams went eighth overall in 2002. Jones played safety after being drafted in 2015, but his projected long-term position was cornerback. There isn’t a top safety prospect expected to go near the 10th pick, but early in the second round could be a spot to potentially land TCU’s Trevon Moehrig or UCF’s Richie Grant.
Like with any new coach, Quinn could have his eye on some free agents he previously coached. Keanu Neal was a starting safety for Quinn in Atlanta. Richard Sherman was one of Seattle’s starting cornerbacks when Quinn was the Seahawks’ defensive coordinator. Neither seems likely, but at the right price, anything is possible. Free-agent cornerbacks and safeties haven’t given the Cowboys much recently. Ha Ha Clinton-Dix was cut before the season started last year. Daryl Worley was released in October. The previous season, veteran safety George Iloka was released before the season started after signing a one-year deal.
If the secondary problems are going to be corrected, it’s likely going to happen with multiple picks early in the draft. And the players they choose should be prepared to immediately step into starting roles.
