2026 Cowboys Free Agency Thread…

Jalen Thompson is going to be our best safety in a very long time, probably in at least about 10-15 years going back to I guess Hamlin or something.

He only has average size so he doesn't always take bigger ball carriers down on contact, but aside from that he can do everything in terms of being the single-high safety, coming down into the box attacking the LOS, blitzing, and even playing man out of the slot against WR's at times. He consistently held up well against Kupp, Parker Washington and Tucker Kraft, which is quite impressive.

The real shame of it is that we could easily afford to sign a guy like him most years because his price is very reasonable for the player I think he'll be, it just took 15 years to do it.
 
boozeman said:
And from we keep hearing, Thompson will be a slot back monster in soooper genius’ defense. Color me unconvinced with a shade of oh please.
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I don't think that's exactly what he's going to be doing full time, I just think he has the versatility to do it at times.

Arizona had him playing about a 60/40 split as the single high safety vs. moving him around in the box, in the slot and so forth.

I think that's probably close to what he'll do here.

I wouldn't be surprised at all if Thompson and Locke were the starters with Hooker rotating in.
 
Simpleton said:
I don't think that's exactly what he's going to be doing full time, I just think he has the versatility to do it at times.

Arizona had him playing about a 60/40 split as the single high safety vs. moving him around in the box, in the slot and so forth.

I think that's probably close to what he'll do here.

I wouldn't be surprised at all if Thompson and Locke were the starters with Hooker rotating in.
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Booze is just crabby. He will play some slot. You'll see some three safety stuff. You'll see him lined up as a FS deep. It's the unpredictability that our defensive coordinator likes. Which a good thing, a guy like Thompson allows him to be creative.

Either way going from a box safety who can't cover to a guy like this is going to be a massive difference.

I think my low key favorite signing might end up being Durant though. I think he is going to have a much bigger impact than his contract implies. Fiesty dude. He just makes plays.
 
Cowboysrock55 said:
Booze is just crabby. He will play some slot. You'll see some three safety stuff. You'll see him lined up as a FS deep. It's the unpredictability that our defensive coordinator likes. Which a good thing, a guy like Thompson allows him to be creative.

Either way going from a box safety who can't cover to a guy like this is going to be a massive difference.

I think my low key favorite signing might end up being Durant though. I think he is going to have a much bigger impact than his contract implies. Fiesty dude. He just makes plays.
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Durant will be nice, he'll give up some plays but I saw him consistently make more splash plays than plays given up except for the NFCC.
 
Genghis Khan said:
Our safety play was very good under Quinn. I'll be happy if we get back to that.
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I also agree with that. I remember at one point it felt like we had so many safeties we didn't know how to get them all on the field. A career Jag had a badass season or two with Quinn in Kearse.

The man just knew how to put those guys in situations they could succeed. I'd love to see that again.
 
Simpleton said:
I wouldn't be surprised at all if Thompson and Locke were the starters with Hooker rotating in.
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Hard to see that happening. Hooker is just the better player, if anything it would be Locke rotating in.

In any case, the LB corps in front of them and the quality of corners to the sides of them have to get a lot better if it’s even going to matter.

Until that happens these guys are going to feel like they have to do other peoples’ jobs, which will make them much less effective at their own.
 
ravidubey said:
Hard to see that happening. Hooker is just the better player, if anything it would be Locke rotating in.

In any case, the LB corps in front of them and the quality of corners to the sides of them have to get a lot better if it’s even going to matter.

Until that happens these guys are going to feel like they have to do other peoples’ jobs, which will make them much less effective at their own.
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Yeah I have a feeling Hooker will look much better this year. He's underrated at this point, he's better than he's getting credit for.
 
ravidubey said:
Until that happens these guys are going to feel like they have to do other peoples’ jobs, which will make them much less effective at their own.
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How many times last year did we see a pass completed to WR that didn't have a Dallas defender within 10 yards of him? I think that's a combination of horrific coaching and piss poor talent. Hooker wasn't the problem. And, I really think we will see a true breakout year from him this year. A DC with extensive experience coaching the secondary to massage his talent is going to quiet the detractors.
 
Cotton said:
How many times last year did we see a pass completed to WR that didn't have a Dallas defender within 10 yards of him? I think that's a combination of horrific coaching and piss poor talent. Hooker wasn't the problem. And, I really think we will see a true breakout year from him this year. A DC with extensive experience coaching the secondary to massage his talent is going to quiet the detractors.
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Bad, bad coaching, and when you lose confidence in your teammates ability to do their job/cover their assignment, you tend to mess up your own because your attention is diverted.
 
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