For OTAs, your favorite S is still starting

Heath’s not mediocre. He’s awful on STs, too.

Fredbeard said:

If heath remains in cowboys starting lineup, then the cowboys are not serious about
Becoming a legit contender

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The same thing with carrot top still being the head coach.

Chuck 54 said:

Personally, I don’t think safety is a big issue. We aren’t losing games over our safeties.
I hope we get better at the position and every position, but our safeties are not terrible.

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Heath is!

Sydla said:

According to some reports, Heath was the starting SS with Iloka backing him up.

Now it's OTAs, so it might only be a familiarity thing with Heath running with the 1s while Iloka and some of the young guys get up to speed.

But my god, if Jeff Heath is our opening day starting SS. These guys just can't "quit" mediocre players when they became coaches' pet cats.

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You don't watch the Safeties play anyway...

Datruth88 said:

Church and scandrick landed jobs right away after they left though. Church got a nice contract from the jags. Also to be fair Orlando was a nice player for us. Church was a coveted piece in free agency.

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He was and then he lasted 1 year and a half of a 4 year deal lol. Orlando was a bum. We unfortunately had such a bad secondary he had to start

JoeKing said:

I'll never understand the amount of hate expressed here by posters as there is for Jeff Heath. He's not bad enough to get that much hate.

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He was ranked one of the worst safeties in football last season. Sorry fam

Has it ever occurred to anyone that they overrated Iloka?

This team is desirous that Jeff Heath is a starter. Period.

Jake said:

Zimmer letting Iloka walk after last season is interesting. He brought Iloka to Minnesota after having coached him in Cincinnati, yet didn't seem very interested in keeping him there after one season. Declining skills?

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It is not really interesting. More telling than anything else.

stasheroo said:

I'm sure he looks just great in drills that prohibit tackling. Besides, it helps Tony Pollard look awesome!

Win-win!

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Tackling or spying on the QB. Bart Starr could get 11 yards on Heath and he just passed.

Sydla said:

According to some reports, Heath was the starting SS with Iloka backing him up.

Now it's OTAs, so it might only be a familiarity thing with Heath running with the 1s while Iloka and some of the young guys get up to speed.

But my god, if Jeff Heath is our opening day starting SS. These guys just can't "quit" mediocre players when they became coaches' pet cats.

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How many times do you guys have to be told by everyone from Jason and Jerry to Steven and even Spagnola that Heath is the Cowboys starting safety??? Holy crap, every single staff member has publicly said so and all the vets have pretty much made sure he will wear a C on his chest!! Regardless of what any one of us thinks they love him and are. It going to change it. The only way a change was happening was with ET. We have got to Get over it

There's a pretty clear list of positions the Cowboys value on defense, and in turn, positions they do not value on defense. You can't have first round picks starting at every position - where do you make the sacrifices at?

Since 2014, Dallas's draft picks have told us that DE, 3 tech, Will LB (and by extension Mike - Marinelli has said they are similar in our scheme), and CB are the positions we will invest in. 1T, Sam LB, FS, and SS are the positions we will go cheap on.

I consider the first three rounds to be the "primo" rounds, where the starting talent is found at. From 2014-2019, we have spent 12 premium picks on defense, and every single one has gone to one of those priority positions. We spent 3 picks on LBs, 3 picks on CBs, 4 picks on DEs, and 2 picks on 3 techs. How many picks did we spend on the latter list? Zero.

Heath sticks around because he is a nice "go cheap" guy. He's durable, he's versatile, and he seldom makes catastrophic mistakes (although he did totally freaking blow the Jared Goff run in the playoffs). You can plug him in for $2M a season and get mediocre safety play at two spots, allowing you to go hunt for more front-seven players with your more valuable resources. Yes, he blows a ton of tackles, but who can you find to replace him for a day 3 pick or a sub-$3M salary?

Hennessy_King said:

I like to think of him as the new barry church or orlando scandrick. A jag that somehow can't be replaced. But will be jobless as soon as they leave.

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That’s an insult to those two. They were league average starters, slightly better at times.

JoeKing said:

I'll never understand the amount of hate expressed here by posters as there is for Jeff Heath. He's not bad enough to get that much hate.

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*the #38 is fixin' to ignite all these Haters hayloft & smirk at their pleading bleats for relief,JoeKing, and we can pop-a- top and LOAO at em' Too

kumizi said:

That’s an insult to those two. They were league average starters, slightly better at times.

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Lol yeh ok. I said for years those 2 wouldn't start on any other team in the league and would be jobless shortly after leaving. Where they at now?

George Iloka isn't very good.

Posters here thinking he is kam#2 Cos he is 6'4". He is more pat Watkins than kam chancellor....

Sydla said:

According to some reports, Heath was the starting SS with Iloka backing him up.

Now it's OTAs, so it might only be a familiarity thing with Heath running with the 1s while Iloka and some of the young guys get up to speed.

But my god, if Jeff Heath is our opening day starting SS. These guys just can't "quit" mediocre players when they became coaches' pet cats.

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You mean ET decided to come down the run way again? I'll have to check nfl.com for the news

stasheroo said:

I'll take Iloka. He held down a job with the Bengals for quite some time and was a solid, if not spectacular player. I've never seen that from Heath and it's head-scratching that the Cowboys continue to stubbornly support a player everyone else can see is a liability.

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Raiders game, he has had some exceptional plays and some head scratchers. Heath is definitely the better athlete though

It's OTA's lol If any starter loses his job in ota's he may as well go outside and hang himself.

Falco78 said:

Raiders game, he has had some exceptional plays and some head scratchers. Heath is definitely the better athlete though

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The "better athlete" for sure. He's always been a very good athlete but the problem is that the mental,side of his game has never caught up. Running fast doesn't mean much when you don't know where to run to.

Sydla said:

According to some reports, Heath was the starting SS with Iloka backing him up.

Now it's OTAs, so it might only be a familiarity thing with Heath running with the 1s while Iloka and some of the young guys get up to speed.

But my god, if Jeff Heath is our opening day starting SS. These guys just can't "quit" mediocre players when they became coaches' pet cats.

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If Iloka cant out play Heath then this is a mute point....