Where does DLAW fit?

Verdict said:

What is DLaw’s cap hit on a trade situation? If it’s a reasonable hit, would the team consider trading him to a full time 4-3 team for a 2nd or 3rd round pick and save his cap hit, in part due to Daks’s massive deal?

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Doesn't matter
No
Dak's deal has nothing to do with DLaw.

plymkr said:

DLaw may have to step it up this year and play the run, and the pass. If he can step up and play better against the run and pass then he'll be fine.

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DLaw has always been pretty good playing the run as a 4-3 DE. The problem might be if they play a lot more 3-4 and they need bigger DE's, but in those cases he may play LB the way Ware played LB - with his hand in the dirt.

He doesn't fit. I said this months ago when Quinn's name first came up. He's not quick enough to play LEO, I do not believe, and he won't last at the 4Tech IMO because he will either have to get bigger, which I don't believe he can and stay quick enough, or he will get worn down. This means that you will have to use a platoon strategy with him and do you really want to pay that much money for a guy who is essentially playing the run and platooning? Something else that is not being considered here. Quinn, in Seattle brought the Leo off the Left side of the Defense, which is where Lawrence has pretty much played his entire Pro career. So if that stays the same, then you are talking about playing a different role, position and flipping sides. That's not as easy as you may think. Essentially, you are flipping everything and that's not always actionable. I know that Lawrence did play some right edge DE at Boise but that was a long time ago.

I could Lawrence getting traded after this year if he can't find a spot.

Doomsday101 said:

Nor do I but when a player is looking to be paid you notice it is sack leaders coming up with those big paydays. DLaw got his deal based on his overall play but also being one of the top sack men in the league when he got his deal. I need him to get back to that level, as for Gregory, he joined the team in Oct so he missed a good portion of time early on before he played a down. His snaps were limited because of that. This year he has the full off season, he will have training camp and pre season and he should be fully ready to go and hopefully live up to the billing he had when we drafted him.

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Of course.

The point was being able to pay both if that happens. Gregory's deal was obviously structured so that the coming offseason is decision time, and Gregory is free.

I can fully see a scenario where we all saw what a great 2021 DLaw had, and also Gregory having 10-15 sacks.

They won't be able to afford to keep both.

The smart move may be to take a shot at extending Gregory now....as absurd as that sounds.

But of things go well in the short term (2021), it may be the only way to keep it going without cutting a guy like Cooper.

OmerV said:

DLaw has always been pretty good playing the run as a 4-3 DE. The problem might be if they play a lot more 3-4 and they need bigger DE's, but in those cases he may play LB the way Ware played LB - with his hand in the dirt.

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DWare played with his hand in the dirt, in a 3 point stance when Marinelli had him playing exclusively as a 4-3 DE

DWare played standing up when he was the OLB in the 3-4 under Parcells and Wade.

Ironically Jack Del Rio had DWare playing standing up in his 4-3 scheme when Rio was
in Denver, along with having someone spelling his reps on the edge (Shane Rey?)
i believe Rio did this (standing up) to lessen wear toll on Dware as well as make him more comfortable

Either way, we made a mistake paying him that contract but more power to him. I think Amari is the most deserving of any of these high paid dudes.

quickccc said:

DWare played with his hand in the dirt, in a 3 point stance when Marinelli had him playing exclusively as a 4-3 DE

DWare played standing up when he was the OLB in the 3-4 under Parcells and Wade.

Ironically Jack Del Rio had DWare playing standing up in his 4-3 scheme when Rio was
in Denver, along with having someone spelling his reps on the edge (Shane Rey?)
i believe Rio did this (standing up) to lessen wear toll on Dware as well as make him more comfortable

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Maybe my memory is failing, but my recollection is that Ware played quite a bit with his hand in the dirt when they were running a 3-4 with Parcells and Wade, and also played that way in Denver's 3-4. I just don't remember Ware playing the bulk of his snaps standing up at any point in his career.

In any case, D-Law is agile enough that he could play the same way Ware did. Notice I didn't say he would be as good at it as Ware - we all know Ware was a better player. I'm just saying he could be used in a similar fashion.

I would not call a nickel player situational these days. It's the situation you find yourself in 70% of the time.

fivetwos said:

Of course.

The point was being able to pay both if that happens. Gregory's deal was obviously structured so that the coming offseason is decision time, and Gregory is free.

I can fully see a scenario where we all saw what a great 2021 DLaw had, and also Gregory having 10-15 sacks.

They won't be able to afford to keep both.

The smart move may be to take a shot at extending Gregory now....as absurd as that sounds.

But of things go well in the short term (2021), it may be the only way to keep it going without cutting a guy like Cooper.

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How would you know that now ? The NFL league team salary cap is not gonna be the same past years scale and in fact when the very lucrative TV deal is here, it's expected
the league cap is expected to escalate dramatically. higher.
The thing i believe i keep reminding you of is it's a way and method you have to manage your team cap and plans.
you don't commit to signing/resigning average joe players ala Crawford, and you have to make hard careful decisions on Byron Jones,

If anything that warrants a new lucrative long term contract, we'd have to see how Gregory performs in a starting role on a full 17 game basis, yes sacks are gonna be a leading figure in his evaluations.
but yes also turnovers caused, fumble strips, tackles for loss, how he often disrupt blocking schemes, commands double team, chip blocks, how he holds up and
produces vs run, hurry-pressures.

Good thing is Gregory has been suspended- absence from so many games, seasons that he does not have a lot of the usual wear-tear toll on his body of a player his age and years
in the NFL.
Bad news is Randy will be 29 years this coming November so that's just a 3 year window for his most productive years left.
But during that period stretch, if we both acquire quality depth that could spell him well, as well maintain quality coaching ,then we could possibly still make the best of that still.

jaythecowboy said:

Yes it does. Teams choose which side to put a tight end or running back to help block in pass protection. I even saw D Law getting triple teamed on one play. If the Cowboys don't find a good replacement for D Law leaves all that focus would switch to Gregory.

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and again when your RT is the usually the lesser pass blocking OT, that makes it a quicker forcibly decision to have to help the RT

there's a reason why Dlaw hasn't had many quality games vs the more stellar RTs such as Philly Lane Johnson (when he was healthy) only before per
2019 season. Before that October game vs Lane it was well noted that he's always struggled vs Lane Johnson. and it had nuthin; to do with double team.

when Marinelli decided to switch DLaw over to the RDE in an effort to free him up from expected chip/double.. more than naught DLaw was nullified- primarily because
he was going against the better pass blocking OT (again usually that's teams' LT)

quickccc said:

How would you know that now ? The NFL league team salary cap is not gonna be the same past years scale and in fact when the very lucrative TV deal is here, it's expected
the league cap is expected to escalate dramatically. higher.
The thing i believe i keep reminding you of is it's a way and method you have to manage your team cap and plans.
you don't commit to signing/resigning average joe players ala Crawford, and you have to make hard careful decisions on Byron Jones,

If anything that warrants a new lucrative long term contract, we'd have to see how Gregory performs in a starting role on a full 17 game basis, yes sacks are gonna be a leading figure in his evaluations.
but yes also turnovers caused, fumble strips, tackles for loss, how he often disrupt blocking schemes, commands double team, chip blocks, how he holds up and
produces vs run, hurry-pressures.

Good thing is Gregory has been suspended- absence from so many games, seasons that he does not have a lot of the usual wear-tear toll on his body of a player his age and years
in the NFL.
Bad news is Randy will be 29 years this coming November so that's just a 3 year window for his most productive years left.
But during that period stretch, if we both acquire quality depth that could spell him well, as well maintain quality coaching ,then we could possibly still make the best of that still.

Click to expand...

I give you that, but having one DE in need of serious restructure and the other a free agent coming off a double digit sack season is not a great spot to be in

I actually wanted to address DE earlier in this draft, amd maybe it sort of was with Golston.

Lots of ball to be played, but it looks to me like we are getting into those back ended fluff years with Lawrence, and that'll need to be addressed.

fivetwos said:

I give you that, but having one DE in need of serious restructure and the other a free agent coming off a double digit sack season is not a great spot to be in

I actually wanted to address DE earlier in this draft, amd maybe it sort of was with Golston.

Lots of ball to be played, but it looks to me like we are getting into those back ended fluff years with Lawrence, and that'll need to be addressed.

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Depending on how the season goes Cowboys may end up restructuring Dlaw contract to lessen the cap hit and to free up money, next season.

sjmike said:

Both Dlaw and Gregory are very good against the run. Most teams don't have that situation

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I think people underestimate how well Tank plays the run. Unfortunately the edge can't make up for weak interior D.

Verdict said:

I don’t think this is being talked about enough. DLaw may not fit neatly into the package that Quinn wants to implement. He’s a good (but not great) player with a bloated contract.

He isn’t a DT. He’s not a 3/4 DE. In the nickel he can be a pass rusher (and of course teams are in nickel a lot) but that’s a situational player making $20m plus per year.

What is DLaw’s cap hit on a trade situation? If it’s a reasonable hit, would the team consider trading him to a full time 4-3 team for a 2nd or 3rd round pick and save his cap hit, in part due to Daks’s massive deal?

Click to expand...

First, if Quinn can't find a place for him, he's not a very good defensive coordinator.

Second, I think he ends up essentially being a DPR in a "three-man front." In other words, we'll have the bigs at DE, NT, DE and then we'll have Lawrence in a down lineman position. He might be considered an OLB in that scheme, but he'll be playing on the line either in a two-point or three-point stance.

fivetwos said:

I give you that, but having one DE in need of serious restructure and the other a free agent coming off a double digit sack season is not a great spot to be in

I actually wanted to address DE earlier in this draft, amd maybe it sort of was with Golston.

Lots of ball to be played, but it looks to me like we are getting into those back ended fluff years with Lawrence, and that'll need to be addressed.

Click to expand...

Managing well the team salary cap while having a vastly impact player that can change how teams have to play us is exactly
the kind of challenge of being in a great spot, I would feel most teams would gladly like to take on. It's just much of a rarity to even have that kind of luxury,
so it only makes sense to take advantage.

My wonder is by the time Gregory should be in position to take advantage for a quest for a lucrative long term contract ..what will it be like on the other end of the DL ?

Will Dlaw get back to the guy they thought they had when he was getting double digit sacks and being franchised tagged two consecutive years in a row while
having to endure troublesome shoulder that he'd refuse to have corrective surgery on.... for whatever reasons. ?

Because should this lag continue to go with Dlaw as been the case the last couple of years- the Jones are not gonna want to endure listening to excuses like injuries and double teams
they are gonna want the same results, presence and impact as the same elite guys that Dlaw wanted to be paid on the same scale as them.

gimmesix said:

First, if Quinn can't find a place for him, he's not a very good defensive coordinator.

Second, I think he ends up essentially being a DPR in a "three-man front." In other words, we'll have the bigs at DE, NT, DE and then we'll have Lawrence in a down lineman position. He might be considered an OLB in that scheme, but he'll be playing on the line either in a two-point or three-point stance.

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I don’t think that Lawrence will be considered an OLB in any shape, form or fashion. He will be a DL.

Think he'll see a lot of 4-tech.

AsthmaField said:

I don’t think that Lawrence will be considered an OLB in any shape, form or fashion. He will be a DL.

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I think for 3-4 accounting purposes he will. In actuality, he'll be a DL.

If Quinn calls the base a 3-4, it will be something like:

DE Odighizuwa
NT Bohanna
DE Urban

OLB LVE
ILB Parsons
ILB Smith
DPR Lawrence

Again, to be clear, that doesn't mean that Lawrence will play like a linebacker. It's likely that he'll shift from side to side as a pass rusher, with the linebackers sliding and the other OLB changing, so that you might have Smith rushing off the other edge or LVE or Parsons.

Verdict said:

I don’t think this is being talked about enough. DLaw may not fit neatly into the package that Quinn wants to implement. He’s a good (but not great) player with a bloated contract.

He isn’t a DT. He’s not a 3/4 DE. In the nickel he can be a pass rusher (and of course teams are in nickel a lot) but that’s a situational player making $20m plus per year.

What is DLaw’s cap hit on a trade situation? If it’s a reasonable hit, would the team consider trading him to a full time 4-3 team for a 2nd or 3rd round pick and save his cap hit, in part due to Daks’s massive deal?

Click to expand...

quickccc said:

DWare played with his hand in the dirt, in a 3 point stance when Marinelli had him playing exclusively as a 4-3 DE

DWare played standing up when he was the OLB in the 3-4 under Parcells and Wade.

Ironically Jack Del Rio had DWare playing standing up in his 4-3 scheme when Rio was
in Denver, along with having someone spelling his reps on the edge (Shane Rey?)
i believe Rio did this (standing up) to lessen wear toll on Dware as well as make him more comfortable

Click to expand...

I don't think DLaw can play standing up. I think he has to play with his hand in the dirt but we will see.