Who will be our top backup pass rushing DE this season?

Risen Star · Jun 20, 2021

Typhus said:
I polled for Armstrong, only because man do have some long arms and we know how important those vital intangibles are.
On a serious list... where do you place Anae and Rondell Carter at this point and thats why its very difficult unless you own one of those crazy 8 Balls from the 70s or whatever time that you shook up and it would tell you relevant info..lol
Golston and lets not forget about Azur Kamara, good ole Azur that gets zero love.

It's only a matter of time before the sacks come for Armstrong. Too much talent.

Typhus · Jun 20, 2021

Risen Star said:
Gholston or Ahnae.

Bullflop · Jun 20, 2021

Typhus said:
Last update on Anae I remember was that he was taking arm pulling and stretching exercises, and has progressed to the point where his middle finger now hangs around the ankle area.

So that arm pulling therapy only works on one finger at a time, huh?
Some folks will feel like he's being rude but that's life, for ya! :grin:

Whyjerry · Jun 20, 2021

It’s amazing to me that Armstrong hasn’t worked out as well. He was a hell of college player. He has no impact on the field at all. It’s just weird.

I voted for Anae. I like the idea of a productive try hard guy from a smaller football program. Guy should play with a chip on his shoulder. The DL should be a strength this year. I think a full season of Gregory changes the whole dynamic.

Bullflop · Jun 20, 2021

CowboyRoy said:
Dont forget that they just took Gholston in the 3rd round as a DE and the new staff is going to want to see what he can do. They also signed Basham to a 2 year deal. Anae is competing with both those guys for the backup DE positions. Gholston I see probably playing behind lawrence. Basham probably, Anae, Armstrong competing behind Gregory in the 4-3 alignments.

Sounds like maybe Anae might be sucking hind teat, with all that compelling talent around to compete with. Let's hope someone special gets the attention of the coaches this year. We like our guys -- all of 'em . . . some just a wee bit more than others, no doubt. I suspect they're all rotational talents. That should make for an interesting scenario.

gimmesix · Jun 20, 2021

Risen Star said:
Yeah I like it too. There's nothing more comforting than to know if either DE goes down we got a guy with nearly 8 sacks in 5 years waiting in the wings.

You think we should sign Richard Sherman or maybe trade for Stephon Gilmore?

What team has much more than that waiting in the wings? We're not talking about the starter. We're talking about the third guy. On top of that, we're stuck with the fact that Dallas isn't going to pay much in free agency.

So you've got to come up with a veteran better than Basham that will play for less than $3 million per year.

I'm OK with him. He's relatively young at 27, so he might still improve, but he has some starting experience under his belt while he wasn't brought in to start here. If we needed a starter and the front office signed Basham for that role, I'd be pretty upset with it. As a contributor, I don't see a big problem with the move.

Ideally, he helps hold down the primary backup spot until either Anae or Golston pushes him down the roster and eventually out.

Risen Star · Jun 20, 2021

gimmesix said:
What team has much more than that waiting in the wings? We're not talking about the starter. We're talking about the third guy. On top of that, we're stuck with the fact that Dallas isn't going to pay much in free agency.

So you've got to come up with a veteran better than Basham that will play for less than $3 million per year.

I'm OK with him. He's relatively young at 27, so he might still improve, but he has some starting experience under his belt while he wasn't brought in to start here. If we needed a starter and the front office signed Basham for that role, I'd be pretty upset with it. As a contributor, I don't see a big problem with the move.

Ideally, he helps hold down the primary backup spot until either Anae or Golston pushes him down the roster and eventually out.

I'd say Basham is probably one of the least accomplished 3rd DEs in the league. I can't imagine many teams top back up edge rusher is a guy who averages less than 2 sacks a season over a 5 year career.

If you're okay with him, you're okay with anyone.

FuzzyLumpkins · Jun 20, 2021

Risen Star said:
I'd say Basham is probably one of the least accomplished 3rd DEs in the league. I can't imagine many teams top back up edge rusher is a guy who averages less than 2 sacks a season over a 5 year career.

If you're okay with him, you're okay with anyone.

I'd say that given the scarcity of edge rushers in the NFL that you are just talking out your backside as usual trying to poopoo the team. Your inability to imagine something is just a lack of an imagination or rather an imagination that can only see your preferred outcomes.

gimmesix · Jun 21, 2021

Risen Star said:
I'd say Basham is probably one of the least accomplished 3rd DEs in the league. I can't imagine many teams top back up edge rusher is a guy who averages less than 2 sacks a season over a 5 year career.

If you're okay with him, you're okay with anyone.

I think the pickup is similar to Benson Mayowa. Mayowa had two sacks in three seasons when we picked him up to be part of the rotation based on both potential and shown ability. He had six sacks that first year with us.

Basham is slightly more accomplished with 7.5 sacks in four seasons, but he's another young player who the team knows can play in this league but doesn't know how well. This has generally been Dallas' MO with defensive line signees. Last year, it tried to do things differently by signing washed-up vets, trying to squeeze another year out of them, and it backfired. So they returned to this formula.

Given what they are going to pay in FA, I'm OK with the move. Would I prefer to have a player at least averaging 5 or 6 sacks a season backing up our starters? Absolutely. Show me one we could have had as a backup for $2.5 million a season. I mean, we could have gotten Kerry Hyder for $3.4 million per year since he had 8.5 sacks for San Fran last year, but we did have Hyder the year before and he had one sack for us.

And maybe you can't imagine many teams with a top backup edge rusher averaging fewer sacks than Basham, but I just picked one at random (Washington, which had a much better defense than ours last year). According to the team's depth chart, its top backups at DE are James Smith-Williams, who had a half-sack as a rookie last year, and a foreign exchange player, David Bada, brought over this season. Beyond that, they have Jalen Jelks and rookies William Bradley-King and Shaka Toney.

I think if I continued to look at other teams' depth charts, I'd find that having DEs average 5 or 6 sacks per season backing up the starters is the exception, not the rule.

Risen Star · Jun 21, 2021

gimmesix said:
I think the pickup is similar to Benson Mayowa. Mayowa had two sacks in three seasons when we picked him up to be part of the rotation based on both potential and shown ability. He had six sacks that first year with us.

Basham is slightly more accomplished with 7.5 sacks in four seasons, but he's another young player who the team knows can play in this league but doesn't know how well. This has generally been Dallas' MO with defensive line signees. Last year, it tried to do things differently by signing washed-up vets, trying to squeeze another year out of them, and it backfired. So they returned to this formula.

Given what they are going to pay in FA, I'm OK with the move. Would I prefer to have a player at least averaging 5 or 6 sacks a season backing up our starters? Absolutely. Show me one we could have had as a backup for $2.5 million a season. I mean, we could have gotten Kerry Hyder for $3.4 million per year since he had 8.5 sacks for San Fran last year, but we did have Hyder the year before and he had one sack for us.

And maybe you can't imagine many teams with a top backup edge rusher averaging fewer sacks than Basham, but I just picked one at random (Washington, which had a much better defense than ours last year). According to the team's depth chart, its top backups at DE are James Smith-Williams, who had a half-sack as a rookie last year, and a foreign exchange player, David Bada, brought over this season. Beyond that, they have Jalen Jelks and rookies William Bradley-King and Shaka Toney.

I think if I continues to look at other teams' depth charts, I'd find that having DEs average 5 or 6 sacks per season backing up the starters is the exception, not the rule.

Oh. He's Benson Mayowa? Well now I'm just embarrassed. Who can argue with that kind of success?

You keep tying to tie salary to this. Show me someone at that salary! I don't have to show you anything other than you saying you are fine with a guy who has never been anything other than a dogcrap pass rusher over five full seasons in the league. That's not opinion. That is fact. He's an edge rusher with NT stats and he's one play away from starting on this team.

You being fine with that tells me all I need to know about you.

gimmesix · Jun 21, 2021

Risen Star said:
Oh. He's Benson Mayowa? Well now I'm just embarrassed. Who can argue with that kind of success?

You keep tying to tie salary to this. Show me someone at that salary! I don't have to show you anything other than you saying you are fine with a guy who has never been anything other than a dogcrap pass rusher over five full seasons in the league. That's not opinion. That is fact. He's an edge rusher with NT stats and he's one play away from starting on this team.

You being fine with that tells me all I need to know about you.

You have to tie salary into this, because of the reality of what Dallas is willing to pay. It's easy to speculate that Dallas should have picked up this player or that player regardless of salary, but that was never going to happen. Shopping in the dumpster, which is what Dallas does in FA, Basham is a decent pickup. He's a player who still has potential and has shown that he can play in the league better than any other backups we have. Getting him is better than just relying on Anae, Golston, Armstrong and Carter.

If the purpose of this thread is to identify who will be our top backup pass-rushing DE this season, then Basham is the player we brought in for that role. He has a leg up on it over the younger players who have proven less than he has. He certainly has proven to be a better option than the only DE backup we have with experience (Dorance Armstrong). My level of preference stops there. I prefer him over Armstrong and the unproven players right now. That's not a ringing endorsement, and shouldn't be taken as one.

Given that this team was going to dumpster dive, I'm OK with this pickup. I'm not exactly championing him as the next great thing. If you think Dallas is going to go out and sign someone better, though, you are fooling yourself.

BTW, Basham has only played four seasons. This will be his fifth. Dallas is taking a shot that his best is still in front of him. It might completely fail, but this is what the Cowboys do in free agency. You can rage against it if you want, but that's not going to change anything. He has the best shot at being our top backup at this point. No one is saying we shouldn't want better, but this is what we've got. Your outrage doesn't seem to be based on that reality.

kskboys · Jun 21, 2021

gimmesix said:
You have to tie salary into this, because of the reality of what Dallas is willing to pay. It's easy to speculate that Dallas should have picked up this player or that player regardless of salary, but that was never going to happen. Shopping in the dumpster, which is what Dallas does in FA, Basham is a decent pickup. He's a player who still has potential and has shown that he can play in the league better than any other backups we have. Getting him is better than just relying on Anae, Golston, Armstrong and Carter.

If the purpose of this thread is to identify who will be our top backup pass-rushing DE this season, then Basham is the player we brought in for that role. He has a leg up on it over the younger players who have proven less than he has. He certainly has proven to be a better option than the only DE backup we have with experience (Dorance Armstrong). My level of preference stops there. I prefer him over Armstrong and the unproven players right now. That's not a ringing endorsement, and shouldn't be taken as one.

Given that this team was going to dumpster dive, I'm OK with this pickup. I'm not exactly championing him as the next great thing. If you think Dallas is going to go out and sign someone better, though, you are fooling yourself.

BTW, Basham has only played four seasons. This will be his fifth. Dallas is taking a shot that his best is still in front of him. It might completely fail, but this is what the Cowboys do in free agency. You can rage against it if you want, but that's not going to change anything. He has the best shot at being our top backup at this point. No one is saying we shouldn't want better, but this is what we've got. Your outrage doesn't seem to be based on that reality.

He's an affordable FA w/ upside. Great pickup.

gimmesix · Jun 21, 2021

Risen Star said:
Oh. He's Benson Mayowa? Well now I'm just embarrassed. Who can argue with that kind of success?

So is your complaint that he can't be Benson Mayowa or that Mayowa wasn't very good? We got a pretty decent season out of him that first year and he's gone on to have four- and seven-sack seasons since his time here went south. I'll gladly take another Mayowa, especially if we're not relying on him to start. I don't know if Basham will be one, but I think that's the level Dallas is aiming for in this dumpster dive. Or a George Selvie (3 sacks in 3 seasons before we signed him and he had 7).

Risen Star · Jun 21, 2021

kskboys said:
He's an affordable FA w/ upside. Great pickup.

I agree. It's comforting to know we have that kind of pass rusher one play away from starting.

9darter · Jun 21, 2021

Risen Star said:
I'm surprised only one guy thinks we'll end up bringing someone in later. This isn't exactly a quality list of options.

Most people either believe that the back up turds are good enough just because they are on the roster (option 1-4, the homer position), or realize that the Clownboys FO isn't capable of bringing in anything better than Basham et al (rules out option 5, the realist position).

Pair this with your wording "top backup" (as in someone who is actually a trustworthy pass rusher) and you're not getting many option 5 votes.

darthseinfeld · Jun 21, 2021

Risen Star said:
A lot of Tarell Basham believers.

It's the name. They hear Bash'em and assume he will.

Unfortunately for us, Basham is a Whack A Mole stud. He is pretty usless outside a Dave and Busters

darthseinfeld · Jun 21, 2021

Risen Star said:
No. Micah Parsons doesn't count. He will be doing LB things even on the pass rush. I'm talking about a hand in the dirt, down defensive end.

Dorance Armstrong has gotten alot of snaps the last two years and has been terrible

Anae couldn't even get on the field on defense featuring Dorance Armstrong

Tarrel Basham has been unproductive his whole carrer on a near Armstrong level.

Golston is an unknown, but people often talk about his effort and hussle. Meaning he has no real pass rush ability.

So it's got to be Basham. He has is just slightly less unproductive than Armstrong

jnday · Jun 21, 2021

Risen Star said:
I haven't been this excited since we drafted Jason Whitten.

Has your excitement for Armstrong wavered?

jnday · Jun 21, 2021

darthseinfeld said:
Dorance Armstrong has gotten alot of snaps the last two years and has been terrible

Anae couldn't even get on the field on defense featuring Dorance Armstrong

Tarrel Basham has been unproductive his whole carrer on a near Armstrong level.

Golston is an unknown, but people often talk about his effort and hussle. Meaning he has no real pass rush ability.

So it's got to be Basham. He has is just slightly less unproductive than Armstrong

Great analysis.

HighTechDave · Jun 21, 2021

I'm just replying to this to see if my account still works after all these years, so to reengage

Who will be our top backup pass rushing DE this season?

Who will be our top backup pass rushing DE this season?

Tarell Basham

Chauncey Golston

Bradlee Anae

Dorance Armstrong

Player not yet on the roster (Trade or camp cut)

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