Twitter: Clarence Hill: Anthony Barr is an option for the Cowboys per source

quickccc said:

If Barr can provide some off ball plays and additional blitzing and doesn't mind that role, and the price is right then .maybe.

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Carson said:

At this point these guys aren’t being paid and they know.

Jarvis Landry wanted $20 million but settled on $6. Id take Barr at 5-7 million without hesitation

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speedkilz88 said:

I wonder if Quinn could get more out of him as a pass rusher. He was thought to be an edge as a rookie and then Zimmer put him at OLB in his 4-3 and he now has 16 career sacks (7 seasons).

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nycowboyfan said:

He’s not what we need. We need a pure LB that can play some against the run and the pass. Barr is horrible in coverage. He can go forward but not back.

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• 2021
• Coverage:
  • The way they used him would suggest that the Vikings coaches trusted his coverage ability.
  • Because of how the Vikings used him, his 'grade' in coverage was probably not good.
  • That's because they put him in situations that coaches tend to avoid with many LBs.
  • He frequently lined up against slot WRs or TEs split wide.
  • His coverage in those situations was more man-under than zone.
  • i.e. He played off-man until the WR moved past the short area.
  • He often ended up in coverage against RBs in the open field with no help.
  • Obviously he is not the type of LB that's going to carry a WR deep, but in man-under and zone he was OK.
  • Against the Packers, the Vikings defensive game plan was to focus on intermediate & deep coverage.
    • They were content to basically concede many underneath passes.
  • Because the Packers have 2 good RBs, they Vikings kept both LBs on the field for 100% of the snaps.
    • Most teams play a lot of snaps vs the Packers with only 1 LB on the field. Usually a Safety comes in to replace the 2nd LB.
    • i.e. The role Kearse played with the Cowboys.
• Run Plays
  • He is the type of big LB that can stack-and-shed blocks from OLinemen.
  • He can play like a MLB and he can line up at the end of the line and set the edge.
  • Those types of LBs usually come off the field in obvious passing situations.
  • However, Barr played over 90% of snaps in all but 1 game that he played in 2021 and he played 100% in 8 games.

• Summary:
  • He looks like a Belichick type LB.
  • Big, physical LB that can shed blocks by OLinemen and that can manage in short area coverage and has pass rush ability.

• Fit with the Cowboys
  • Similar to the role Dan Quinn created for Vander Esch; although, Barr would likely get more pass rush snaps.
  • Dan Quinn used Vander Esch as a run downs LB playing a stack-and-shed role.
  • Vander Esch looked much better in the 2nd half of the season than early.
  • Playing stack-and-shed is basically equivalent to a DLineman playing 2-gap.
  • Vander Esch in that role freed up Parsons to not have a defined gap vs the run on many snaps.
  • That allowed Parsons more opportunities as a play maker.
  • Vander Esch was replaced on passing downs by Neal.
  • They also played big Dime with 1 LB (Parsons) and 3 Safeties with Kearse as a pseudo LB.
  • Late in the season, Vander Esch often lined up at the end up the line.
  • This gave him the responsibility to set the edge vs the run.
  • This gave the DE on that side more freedom to jump inside off the snap a pass rusher without getting gashed if it was an outside run.
  • Vander Esch even had a few pass rush snaps from that alignment.
  • The Cowboys don't really have a backup to Vander Esch.
  • If Vander Esch is out, Parsons would likely play that role on run downs with another LB playing Parsons normal role on run downs.
  • Obviously Parsons is terrific in any role, but playing stack-and-shed would limit his play making opportunities on run downs.
  • Barr would benefit from playing a limited role instead of playing 100% of snaps like he did with the Vikings.
  • However, with Vander Esch already in the run downs role, Parsons as the all downs LB and Cox/Kearse in coverage LB roles, Barr likely has more $ value to some other teams.