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[Bullet22]

Dallas still shopping for help

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By Rick Herrin
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Star-Telegram Staff Writer
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IRVING - Cowboys owner Jerry Jones achieved his first goal in free agency Wednesday by signing veteran quarterback Drew Bledsoe.

The focus now shifts to the defense.

The Cowboys have defensive needs at every position, and Jones plans to be aggressive to find the right veteran and rookie pieces for either the 4-3 or 3-4 scheme. Dallas will have a little more than $15 million remaining in salary-cap space after signing Bledsoe.

"Drew gives us the opportunity to have the full repertoire of what's possible on offense," Jones said. "He allows us to focus on some things that we need in free agency, as well as in the draft, on defense."

March 2 is the first day restricted and unrestricted free agents can sign with other teams.

Jones said Bledsoe makes Dallas an instant contender, but the Cowboys will likely be measured most next season by their ability to revamp a playmaker-less defense.

Jones said Bledsoe's signing, which includes a modest $2.5 million salary-cap hit this season, does not compromise the Cowboys' spending ability in free agency.

Cornerback might be the first target and is a top priority. There are plenty of free-agent prospects to shop from, and it's a market the Cowboys don't expect to bypass, as they did last year.

Tennessee's Samari Rolle was released Tuesday and joins a long list of free agents that includes Baltimore's Gary Baxter, Washington's Fred Smoot, Seattle's Ken Lucas and Atlanta's Kevin Mathis. Mathis played for the Cowboys from 1997-1999.

The Cowboys were never stable at right cornerback last season, using four starters, and Pete Hunter is coming off reconstructive knee surgery.

The retirement of Darren Woodson after he sat out the entire 2004 season with a back injury, and the inability of Tony Dixon or Lynn Scott to prove they can be full-time starters, has the Cowboys in the market for a free safety. Baltimore's Will Demps and Tampa Bay's Dwight Smith are two free-agent options.

If the Cowboys use a 3-4 defense, a possible target could be New York Jets defensive tackle Jason Ferguson. Ferguson (6-foot-3, 305 pounds) was drafted by Cowboys coach Bill Parcells in 1997.

Another option is Buffalo's Pat Williams. Dallas will need bigger defensive linemen if they move to the new scheme.

A move to the 3-4 alignment also means an overhaul at linebacker. Edgerton Hartwell of Baltimore and Kendrell Bell of Pittsburgh are possibilities at that position.

Rick Herrin, (817) 390-7760 rickherrin@star-telegram.com


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[D41lasCowboys31]

repost

[Bullet22]

Sorry..

[Woods]

We have so many needs, it's not even funny. Here it goes,

DT - Ferguson or Pat Williams
FS - Must get a vet here, IMO
CB - Lucas would be nice. And isn't Henry going to be traded to Arizona for Shelton, OL?
DE - Burgess from Philly? Maybe Douglas from Balt.? + Draft.

LB - A. Pierce? Is always in place. Lots of tackles. Unlike Bell, Pierce was healthy last season.

OT - K. McKenzie
Guard - Any decent veteran. There are a few out there in FA.

WR - Coles. Not sure what the deal is with his toe, however.
Back-up RB - Prob. can't afford Jordan, but how about V. Hayes from Pitts?

Kicker - I bet BP brings someone in, esp. after cutting Hoffman.

Hey, that's only 10 positions!

[hockix]

We have so many needs, it's not even funny. Here it goes,

DT - Ferguson or Pat Williams
FS - Must get a vet here, IMO
CB - Lucas would be nice. And isn't Henry going to be traded to Arizona for Shelton, OL?
DE - Burgess from Philly? Maybe Douglas from Balt.? + Draft.

LB - A. Pierce? Is always in place. Lots of tackles. Unlike Bell, Pierce was healthy last season.

OT - K. McKenzie
Guard - Any decent veteran. There are a few out there in FA.

WR - Coles. Not sure what the deal is with his toe, however.
Back-up RB - Prob. can't afford Jordan, but how about V. Hayes from Pitts?

Kicker - I bet BP brings someone in, esp. after cutting Hoffman.

Hey, that's only 10 positions!

We need a RG, RT to protect our new post...
McKenzie would be a great start.
Or a LT and move Adams on the right side, where I think he would be better and would stop all those false start...

For the FS, I think if we improve our front seven and add Lucas, I can live with Hunter and Davis as FS.

[Woods]

We need a RG, RT to protect our new post...
McKenzie would be a great start.
Or a LT and move Adams on the right side, where I think he would be better and would stop all those false start...

For the FS, I think if we improve our front seven and add Lucas, I can live with Hunter and Davis as FS.

I'd still like to add a FS. I'm having nightmares of Dixon to this day . . . .

If not FA, maybe we use a 2nd rounder in the draft . . . .

[hockix]

I'd still like to add a FS. I'm having nightmares of Dixon to this day . . . .

If not FA, maybe we use a 2nd rounder in the draft . . . .

Do you prefer Scott? :D

[Woods]

Do you prefer Scott? :D

Scott should be a back-up at best. :banghead: :D

In any case, I sure wouldn't mind an upgrade and some better depth!

[Yakuza Rich]

According to ESPN’s John Clayton, we saved a little over $3.6 million from the cuts of DiNapoli and Wiley along with the retirement of Woodson. The author (Herrin) didn’t account for these figures. Plus, the new salary cap figure is supposed to go up to an estimate $85 million this season.

So I’m assuming that Bledsoe’s cap hit is correct at $2.5 million this year. Thus I estimate the following:

$18.4 million cap room (as of today according to http://www.askthecommish.com/salarycap/numbers.asp)

+ 2.7 million for Woodson’s retirement

+ 3 million estimate for extra cap room provided by the high cap number from the NFL

- 2.5 million for Bledsoe

- 4.5 million estimated for rookie pool.


According to www.theredzone.org, we’ve got 17 Exclusive Rights Free Agents that we need to tender offers to. I’m guessing we will with all of them and these guys are relatively cheap (i.e. Shanle, McBriar, Kalen Thornton, etc).

We have 2 RFA’s that shouldn’t be too expensive in Pete Hunter and Tyson Walter. And if they are signed by another team, we get a draft pick for them.

Then the UFA’s left are:

Eddie George
Lynn Scott
Tony Dixon
Vinny Testaverde

George and Dixon are gone and we’ll save money on them. Scott will probably be re-signed to a cheap deal, and there’s no work on VT as of yet.

Either way, the cap is looking really good if the Bledsoe $2.5 cap hit his true and looking superb if we only gave him a $2 million signing bonus. The one thing that works for us compared to teams that currently have more cap room than us is that we don’t have any big time free agents to re-sign that will cost us a ton of cash. Woodson didn’t play at all last year and it’s not too difficult to sign a good safety for say a $1.5 million cap hit and still wind up paying $1.2 million less for the new safety than if we kept Woodson around.

Furthermore, we’ll probably either cut Coakley or get a reduction in his salary.

So when all is said and done, the Bledsoe deal seems almost painless and whether we like Bledsoe or not (I personally do not), Jerrah and Tuna would’ve been stupid to not get him for this price.


Rich……………

[Yakuza Rich]

For the FS, I think if we improve our front seven and add Lucas, I can live with Hunter and Davis as FS

I agree with you to a point, but I think it's very important that we get some experience in our secondary.

Personally I would love Darren Sharper if he gets released.

According to John Clayton at ESPN, the Cowboys will save $2.7 million when Woodson's retirement is worked into the cap.

Thus, they could/should be able to get a very good safety for a $1.5 million or less cap hit and would still be paying $1.2 million less with the new safety than if they kept Woodson around.

Rich..........

[hockix]

I agree with you to a point, but I think it's very important that we get some experience in our secondary.

Personally I would love Darren Sharper if he gets released.

According to John Clayton at ESPN, the Cowboys will save $2.7 million when Woodson's retirement is worked into the cap.

Thus, they could/should be able to get a very good safety for a $1.5 million or less cap hit and would still be paying $1.2 million less with the new safety than if they kept Woodson around.

Rich..........


I'd like it if we improve the position.
But we have so many needs.

WR, RG, RT, RB, DT, DE, RCB 1 or 2 LB

We can get 3 of them in the draft so it is still 5 or 6 others to fill with FA.
I really think Hunter can be a good FS and Davis can still improve and he won't have to play two seasons in the same year.