Mock 13Dec2012 and Free Agents

[xwalker]

Free Agents:
Desmond Bryant DE 6-6, 311 Age 26 (Oakland)

Terrance Knighton NT 6-3, 330 Age 26 (Jacksonville)
or
Sammie Lee Hill NT 6-4, 329 Age 26 (Detroit)

Matt Slauson OG 6-5, 315 Age 26 (NYJ)
or
Brandon Moore OG 6-3, 305 Age 32 (NYJ)

Draft:
Trade 16 for 26 and 58. Trade 176 for 186 and 218.

26 Jonathan Cooper OG 6-3, 310
Strong and very quick. Played Center in 2 games.

48 Dallas Thomas OT/OG 6-5, 310
Strong and very quick. Has played both LT and LG.

58 Best available OLB (Tank Carradine, Brandon Jenkins, M. Buchanan)

80 Khalad Holmes OC 6-3, 305
Very underrated player, IMO.

112 D.J.Swearinger S 5-11, 210
Solid build. Good in coverage and a big hitter. See video below.

144 Brandon Williams NT 6-2, 328
Great work ethic. Good quickness for this size.

176 Uber-Athletic CB, maybe Josh Johnson 5-11, 195

218 Quanterus Smith OLB 6-5, 248
Very talented but needs development. Out for 2012 with injury.

Video:

Jonathan Cooper #64
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4S5bcc0HQ0

Dallas Thomas #71
OG http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Xuxi2oLJgs
OT http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKja4ILzuaE

Khalad Holmes #78
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JV2TpVSkuBU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9UEyCD6hwo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-AwWiftV5M

D.J.Swearinger Highlights #36
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMVXXAF0u64
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4ZXQ0BqCMA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0-KmJK2GSk

Brandon Williams #66
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGSMeSZXQdM

Josh Johnson #28
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9C8zleE04HM

Quanterus Smith #93
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWCAavZMJBY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bnHyZFP0jM

Tank Carradine #91
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXmrBwNmRgA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOfp9p7Tbeg

Brandon Jenkins #4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZVl1rFjCpM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUQMcZDIutw

Michael Buchanan #99
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfLVhYFp020
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVrIjGI4TXg

[supercowboy8]

Love the Bryant pickup, and give me slauson and Knighton please.
Also love the draft, not a big fan of Holmes but there it will be good value.
Would like to see a safety added somewhere earlier, this is a pretty good safety class. If we resign Spencer I don't see a need in a OLB over safety

[Manwiththeplan]

FWIW, if we could sign any free agent, I'd sign Jarius Bryd. Unlike O-line and D-line, there isn't much proven talent there in free agency and there's lots of it in the draft.

[supercowboy8]

Originally Posted by Manwiththeplan

FWIW, if we could sign any free agent, I'd sign Jarius Bryd. Unlike O-line and D-line, there isn't much proven talent there in free agency and there's lots of it in the draft.

I would too but word is he will be franchised

[respectdatstar]

Looks good to me. Our O-Line for next season:

LT - Tyron Smith
LG - Johnathan Cooper
OC - Khaled Holmes
RG - Matt Slauson
RT - Dallas Thomas

This is assuming we cut Free June 1. Our front 7 next season:

DE - Tyrone Crawford
NT - Sammie Lee Hill
DE - Desmond Bryant

OLB - Anthony Spencer
ILB - Sean Lee
ILB - Bruce Carter
OLB - DeMarcus Ware

[supercowboy8]

Switch Hill with Knighton then that is a good DL. As a UT vol fan I think Thomas is a LG and not a OT in the NFL

[xwalker]

I was thinking about the following lineup that would keep Veterans next to the young players to start the season.

Start the season with these:
LT Tyron Smith
LG Jonathan Cooper
OC Phil Costa
RG Matt Slauson
RT Jermey Parnell

Future Starters:
OC/OG Khalad Holmes
OG/OT Dallas Thomas

Keep the best 3 of these after Training Camp:
OC/OG Kevin Kowalski
OT Darrion Weems
OG Ronald Leary
OG/OC Mackenzy Bernadeau
OG David Arkin
OG Nate Livings
OC Ryan Cook

Cut:
Doug Free

FA:
Derrick Dockery

[xwalker]

DL would be:

3-man DLine:
Jason Hatcher/Tyrone Crawford
Terrance Knighton/Robert Calloway/Brandon Williams
Desmond Bryant/Sean Lissemore

Nickel 4-man Line:
Ware
Jay Ratliff/Tyrone Crawford
Jason Hatcher/Desmond Bryant
Spencer

Ratliff stays one more year but only plays the on the Nickel 4-man line.

[burmafrd]

Slauson would be the FA I would go after for the O line. Draft a guard and a center. That would replace three slots in the middle. Now as regards Free and Parnell have them fight it out in camp; though if we can get rid of Free i would. Depends on the cap hit.

[Macnalty]

Originally Posted by burmafrd

Slauson would be the FA I would go after for the O line. Draft a guard and a center. That would replace three slots in the middle. Now as regards Free and Parnell have them fight it out in camp; though if we can get rid of Free i would. Depends on the cap hit.

I thought the consensus was the cap hit was prohibitive on Free being released, I must say I have a lot of respect for that Bengals Dline and Free got handed his butt a couple of times, I was surprised he hit back, did not know he would and could. He seems to get baffled with that first move as to how to position his body. If he can withstand that initial blow he turns into a reasonable(average) facsimile of a RT. He is trending rapidly into the player he replaced, Marc Columbo near the end of his career playing the Vikings.

When you look at this years draft and FA we filled in one huge gap CB, the 2013 situation looks like Offense is on deck and can we really expect to fix more than one area of concern as our core players age and become a shadow of their peak. I hope we strike the lottery again similar to our LB corp.

[jobberone]

No way I'm starting the season with Parnell as a starter.

[VACowboy]

Cooper's my #1 choice in the first round, and I like him at center. Round two is a good spot for a safety. A lot depends on the combine, but Kenny Vaccaro would be a great selection there. In round three a guy like Alvin Baily is a great fit (OG, Arkansas). Kyle Long in the fourth is an athletic OT with big upside.

But it just depends who's there. If Zach Eifert is still on the board in the second he'd be tough to pass up. If Hankins or Williams is there in the mid-first, go DL and maybe Oday Aboushi/Baily then in 2/3. Swearinger in round four would be pretty good value at a position of high need, but Vaccaro and Reid are much better players, IMHO.

Smith
Baily
Cooper
Kowalski
Long

That's a pretty darn athletic future OL. I think Kowalski can play.

[Oh_Canada]

Cowboys are apparently up against the cap so don't hold your breath on any significant signings.

If that's the case there's not a snowball's chance in hell they pick three consecutive olineman. Holmes is vastly overrated in my opinion, no better than Costa or Bernadeau at center.

I like Thomas better than Cooper, but both should be regulars on Sundays.

Brandon Williams would be a inspired choice in the 4th.

Smith at #218 would be a steal.

[xwalker]

Originally Posted by Macnalty

I thought the consensus was the cap hit was prohibitive on Free being released, I must say I have a lot of respect for that Bengals Dline and Free got handed his butt a couple of times, I was surprised he hit back, did not know he would and could.

No,it's the opposite.

2013 cap charge to keep: 11.175M

2013 cap charge to cut: 4.175M

[xwalker]

Originally Posted by Oh_Canada

Cowboys are apparently up against the cap so don't hold your breath on any significant signings.

If that's the case there's not a snowball's chance in hell they pick three consecutive olineman. Holmes is vastly overrated in my opinion, no better than Costa or Bernadeau at center.

I like Thomas better than Cooper, but both should be regulars on Sundays.

Brandon Williams would be a inspired choice in the 4th.

Smith at #218 would be a steal.

They are only up against the cap because they have not restructured contracts yet. The key is that they had 29.77M of dead-money in 2012 and only 2M in 2013.

I disagree on Holmes. Here is my analysis of him against Star Lotulelei: http://www.walker-texas.com/holmes-vs-star.pdf

.