Twitter: Broncos Poised to Make Cowboys' CB Byron Jones 'Top Target' in Free Agency

[BrAinPaiNt]

But you will get a 3rd or 4th round comp pick next year for letting Jones go, depending on the size of the contract someone else pays him.

Hopefully we get decent pick out of it. Getting an extra third would be nice, but I was talking about some in the thread thinking we would trade him or get picks from a tagged situation.

 

[Sydla]

You ultimately just answered your own questions and came to the same conclusions as the rest of us.

He's good but not worth the big money.

I should clarify. My feeling on not paying him a ton has very little to do with Jones himself. Philosophically I am against paying CBs and TBs huge money. Always have been. I am for plowing money into the DL, OL and QBs and to a lesser extent WRs.

Jones isn't good. He's a great CB IMO. But I just can't justify paying $15MM+ for a CB........... any CB.

 

[BrAinPaiNt]

I don't know that any player that gets top paid at their position is really what most of us would say is worth the money.
But they get what they market says they get.

 

[Adreme]

I should clarify. My feeling on not paying him a ton has very little to do with Jones himself. Philosophically I am against paying CBs and TBs huge money. Always have been. I am for plowing money into the DL, OL and QBs and to a lesser extent WRs.

Jones isn't good. He's a great CB IMO. But I just can't justify paying $15MM+ for a CB........... any CB.

Secondary wins games. Its a passing league and if you have a great secondary you win. Those 20M dollar pass rushers are just overrated because if you have an elite CB you just take their best player out of the game. Most of the great defenses in the NFL today are built on great secondaries. The 49ers are closest to being balanced and even they have a very good one. You need those elite CBs to truly be great and its much cheaper to get them then pass rushers.

 

[cern]

Or teams are 'letting their intentions' be known early to get the Cowboys to panic and do something stupid and overpay a player not worth it?

I'm going with that one because otherwise, there's zero gained by showing your hand before free agency can even begin.

as I said, shrewd negotiating tactic by the broncos.

 

[ABQCOWBOY]

There’s this thing called Free Agency and the Draft

Who do you see in FA that can step in and replace Jones? I do think an FA would cost more then Jones would.

 

[CouchCoach]

I am in the minority but I do not rate a DB by picks but by preventing plays and he has been a good one, the best by far on this team, ever since they moved him to CB.

Losing him forces the #1 pick to be CB and the "splash" the media is referring to might be a trade up for Akudah, by far the best CB in this draft class. Then hope for a S in the 2nd, unless that pick is gone. And what about the middle of the DL?

I might be wrong but keeping Jones would be a priority to me over Cooper. This draft is deep in WR's and Gallup has been improving.

Here's the way I look at this, they've got the money and need the player, they do not need to replace D players, they need to add to it.

 

[Sydla]

Secondary wins games. Its a passing league and if you have a great secondary you win. Those 20M dollar pass rushers are just overrated because if you have an elite CB you just take their best player out of the game. Most of the great defenses in the NFL today are built on great secondaries. The 49ers are closest to being balanced and even they have a very good one. You need those elite CBs to truly be great and its much cheaper to get them then pass rushers.

We had an elite level CB this year and he took away a side of the field and the defense wasn't all that good because they couldn't get consistent pressure on the QB, consistently stop the run, etc.

 

[Stash]

Hopefully we get decent pick out of it. Getting an extra third would be nice, but I was talking about some in the thread thinking we would trade him or get picks from a tagged situation.

Oh. No I don;t see that happening at all. If the Cowboys tagged him, I think the Cowboys would be stuck paying him.

I honestly see these 'leaks' as teams trying to put some chum in the water to get Dallas to do something stupid. There's no advantage to showing your hand ahead of time, before free agency even begins.

 

[ABQCOWBOY]

I am in the minority but I do not rate a DB by picks but by preventing plays and he has been a good one, the best by far on this team, ever since they moved him to CB.

Losing him forces the #1 pick to be CB and the "splash" the media is referring to might be a trade up for Akudah, by far the best CB in this draft class. Then hope for a S in the 2nd, unless that pick is gone. And what about the middle of the DL?

I might be wrong but keeping Jones would be a priority to me over Cooper. This draft is deep in WR's and Gallup has been improving.

Here's the way I look at this, they've got the money and need the player, they do not need to replace D players, they need to add to it.

Exactly.

 

[LifetimeBoysFan]

I must admit. I didn’t see Jones being pursued for Ramsey like numbers unless the team was nicknamed the Browns, Jets or Dolphins. Denver would be a solid spot for him. 15M+ is about 5M+/year more than his numbers dictate to me though. Solid player but not great. At least as far as generating turnovers go. He does prevent more big plays than he allows, but that seems like that is unworthy of Ramsey type salary to me.

 

[Manwiththeplan]

Maybe it's just me.....but they can have him. Guy as ZERO INTS in the last 40 games....

While I agree...bet he gets 4 next year

I just don't want to see him in Philly

 

[Stash]

I should clarify. My feeling on not paying him a ton has very little to do with Jones himself. Philosophically I am against paying CBs and TBs huge money. Always have been. I am for plowing money into the DL, OL and QBs and to a lesser extent WRs.

Jones isn't good. He's a great CB IMO. But I just can't justify paying $15MM+ for a CB........... any CB.

'Great' cornerbacks make game-changing plays. They force turnovers. Jones doesn't, therefore he isn't.

 

[Stash]

Who do you see in FA that can step in and replace Jones? I do think an FA would cost more then Jones would.

Can you clarify that statement?

 

[Manwiththeplan]

This board doesn’t like Byron Jones because he didn’t have 2 or 3 interceptions a season so they deem him not good because of that.

I’m sure Jordan Lewis will have those 2 or 3 INTs they are looking for when he’s getting targeted all game.

While you are right in that posters here are way to down on Jones, I think quite a few of us just feel he won't be worth the money he'll ultimately receive on the open market. If we get a deal done with Dak prior to March 10th, I'm all for FTagging Cooper and TTagging Jones, but I don't think this happens.

 

[Adreme]

We had an elite level CB this year and he took away a side of the field and the defense wasn't all that good because they couldn't get consistent pressure on the QB, consistently stop the run, etc.

Here is how you build a great defense: Build a great secondary and get a big run stuffer DLinemen to force teams to pass on you (they are sort of relatively cheap tbh the great ones are only 10M because they are run stuffers). If you can lock down a pair of star CBs then everything else falls into place. As it stood the Cowboys had one good CB, very bad S play, and not great play opposite of him.

Its not even that unique a formula. The Rams, the Seahawks, the Patriots (pretty much every time since 2010), the Broncos were known for a great pass rush but their best defense was when they had 2 of the 5 best corners in the NFL, and heck if you look at last year the top teams in defense were also the top secondaries.

 

[cern]

I am in the minority but I do not rate a DB by picks but by preventing plays and he has been a good one, the best by far on this team, ever since they moved him to CB.

Losing him forces the #1 pick to be CB and the "splash" the media is referring to might be a trade up for Akudah, by far the best CB in this draft class. Then hope for a S in the 2nd, unless that pick is gone. And what about the middle of the DL?

I might be wrong but keeping Jones would be a priority to me over Cooper. This draft is deep in WR's and Gallup has been improving.

Here's the way I look at this, they've got the money and need the player, they do not need to replace D players, they need to add to it.

we might not agree on Stephen, but i'm with you on this one. cooper gets more problematic by the day. I would also prefer we keep jones over cooper if we can only have one.

 

[ondaedg]

I would argue that Byron's INT issues are not due to scheme because of his coverage technique. He covers with his back to the QB and reacts to the WRs eyes and movements. He's basically sacrificed INTs for tight coverage. In some respects it's probably the right move for him.

And I've noticed improvement in his tackling. He is still poor against the run but he has improved the last two seasons. The big question is how much money are teams going to throw at him? He is an odd duck in the type of CB he is and everything will depend on how much teams think a cover guy like that is worth.

 

[Proof]

Denver is a better fit because he went to UConn?

Austin, Massachusetts

 

[ondaedg]

we might not agree on Stephen, but i'm with you on this one. cooper gets more problematic by the day. I would also prefer we keep jones over cooper if we can only have one.

No-one really knows right now if Cooper is in fact a problem or has attitude issues. For all we know he warriored through an injury during the latter half of the season.