2021 Defensive Offseason

ThatJerryKid

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Look at this list of names that were not on the team last year. Add that to Diggs huge 2nd year jump.

Draft: Parsons, Joseph, Odighizuwa, Golston, Wright, Cox, Bohanna, Mukuamu
Free Agents: Neal, Kazee, Hooker, Kearse, Urban, Watkins, Basham
Coach: Quinn
 
Look at this list of names that were not on the team last year. Add that to Diggs huge 2nd year jump.

Draft: Parsons, Joseph, Odighizuwa, Golston, Wright, Cox, Bohanna, Mukuamu
Free Agents: Neal, Kazee, Hooker, Kearse, Urban, Watkins, Basham
Coach: Quinn

That is 7 plus additions in free agency and at least 5 hits in the draft (Parsons, Odig, Golston, Cox, and Bohanna). Jury still out on Joseph, Farniok, and Mukuamu but they look pretty good too. Need more data on Ball.

Biadasz also made a second year jump too, just not as big as Diggs.

There are some good players on the PS too. I am surprised some teams haven't poached some of the players on the Cowboy PS.
 
In college, I would hear if you put two good recruiting classes back-to-back you'll have a chance to win big. Well, the Dallas Cowboys have put together two good drafts in the Pros, and so far so good.

The next draft will be more balanced is my prediction, but another defense heavy draft would be awesome...DE, S, NT.

Quinn n McClay knocked this draft out the park, yet there's still 2 CBs developing who were premium picks. Keep stacking.
 
To be honest, it’s not much different than we’ve done in previous years. The difference is that our cheap free agents and mid-round draft picks are actually contributing. If Kazee and Kearse were sucking, people would be complaining that we were bargain shopping like every year. But we hit on almost everyone, so far, and that’s the difference.
 
Look at this list of names that were not on the team last year. Add that to Diggs huge 2nd year jump.

Draft: Parsons, Joseph, Odighizuwa, Golston, Wright, Cox, Bohanna, Mukuamu
Free Agents: Neal, Kazee, Hooker, Kearse, Urban, Watkins, Basham
Coach: Quinn
Big off season!!!
 
Look at this list of names that were not on the team last year. Add that to Diggs huge 2nd year jump.

Draft: Parsons, Joseph, Odighizuwa, Golston, Wright, Cox, Bohanna, Mukuamu
Free Agents: Neal, Kazee, Hooker, Kearse, Urban, Watkins, Basham
Coach: Quinn
We have really improved at Safety!

They should get better and better the more familiar they get with Quinn’s system.
 
Look at this list of names that were not on the team last year. Add that to Diggs huge 2nd year jump.

Draft: Parsons, Joseph, Odighizuwa, Golston, Wright, Cox, Bohanna, Mukuamu
Free Agents: Neal, Kazee, Hooker, Kearse, Urban, Watkins, Basham
Coach: Quinn

It seems to be our best FA haul in a while. I've been critical of the bargain shopping philosophy, but it seems to be working this year. I still wouldn't have minded a splash on the line, but hitting on Odighizuwa has mitigated that some. If Gallimore comes back strong from his injury, then going low on the line won't have been a bad call.
 
We all knew it couldn’t be worse, but who knew they’d be this fast and this good all while losing a top 5 /$100m DE to a broken foot. We haven’t even seen this defense healthy yet: our #2 Corner hasn’t even played 1 snap, Gallimore hasn’t played, Jeff Heath is no longer here, I mean come on man! No ONE person gets all the credit, but let’s start with the front office for choosing Dan Quinn as the defensive coordinator & Will McClay for doing his job better than anyone else in professional football - he deserves the GM title in my opinion. Also, thank you Jesus for Micah Parsons and the draft not really falling the way we wanted it to fall (they were certainly going to take Surtain and Horn was possibly their backup plan).
 
We all knew it couldn’t be worse, but who knew they’d be this fast and this good all while losing a top 5 /$100m DE to a broken foot. We haven’t even seen this defense healthy yet: our #2 Corner hasn’t even played 1 snap, Gallimore hasn’t played, Jeff Heath is no longer here, I mean come on man! No ONE person gets all the credit, but let’s start with the front office for choosing Dan Quinn as the defensive coordinator & Will McClay for doing his job better than anyone else in professional football - he deserves the GM title in my opinion. Also, thank you Jesus for Micah Parsons and the draft not really falling the way we wanted it to fall (they were certainly going to take Surtain and Horn was possibly their backup plan).

Yeah, as it turns out, it was definitely fortuitous that both corners went before pick 10, ensuring that Parsons would be the choice. His impact is big and by the second half of the season, it will be even bigger.

However, I’m not so sure that Surtain was the pick over Horn. I have a suspicion that Dallas liked Horn the best out of those two blue-chip corners, although they never just came out and proclaimed Horn was their 1A at CB. I think that Quinn liked the aggression that Horn played with and his slightly higher ceiling.

We will probably never know for sure now.

Anyway, if Parsons continues to make impact plays and keeps improving at his current rate, he will be the slam-dunk Defensive Rookie of the Year. Having him applying pressure in the backfield has helped transform the Dallas defense.
 
Yeah, as it turns out, it was definitely fortuitous that both corners went before pick 10, ensuring that Parsons would be the choice. His impact is big and by the second half of the season, it will be even bigger.

However, I’m not so sure that Surtain was the pick over Horn. I have a suspicion that Dallas liked Horn the best out of those two blue-chip corners, although they never just came out and proclaimed Horn was their 1A at CB. I think that Quinn liked the aggression that Horn played with and his slightly higher ceiling.

We will probably never know for sure now.

Anyway, if Parsons continues to make impact plays and keeps improving at his current rate, he will be the slam-dunk Defensive Rookie of the Year. Having him applying pressure in the backfield has helped transform the Dallas defense.

You put Horn or Surtain alongside Diggs with Lewis, Kearse and Kazee and the secondary would be fantastic. I prefer Parsons, he’s special but even (a healthy) Horn or Surtain would have still seen a big jump in the performance of the defense.
 
Everyone talking about Kearse and Kazee, for good reason, but another Safety has also stepped up.

Hooker is looking good out there in an area that surprised me.

Stopping the run.


 
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Belt claims McCarthy told the Joneses he didn't want a hand in roster building? That's the exact opposite of what I remember. I remember Mike saying at that first pc that he was looking forward to having a say because in Green Bay he didn't.

I'm not saying Mike is choosing each individual player, but come on. Why do so many people minimize everything he does?
 
Everyone talking about Kearse and Kazee, for good reason, but another Safety has also stepped up.

Hooker is looking good out there in an area that surprised me.

Stopping the run.




I feel that being aggressive and more physical is contagious with a defensive team. When you see Parsons, Gregory, Diggs, Osa, Kearse, Kazee, Cox, etc punishing people, you have no choice but to emulate and conform to that type of play as well. Dallas has become a very physical and tough team before our eyes. And will only get better, that is the best part.
 
Look at this list of names that were not on the team last year. Add that to Diggs huge 2nd year jump.

Draft: Parsons, Joseph, Odighizuwa, Golston, Wright, Cox, Bohanna, Mukuamu
Free Agents: Neal, Kazee, Hooker, Kearse, Urban, Watkins, Basham
Coach: Quinn

The best addition to the defense was the return of Dak, a healthy offensive line, and a RB that decided to get in shape this offseason. All of those additions you mentioned have been great but I think we would still be experiencing some of the same issues we had last year if we had Dalton, Gilbert, or Dinucci behind center, a broken down OLine, and a fat RB leading the way. Don't get me wrong, I feel we have improved the defense by adding these players. There is no question that Quinn is a huge upgrade over Nolan. However, we still have some warts on defense that need cleaned up. I think this defense will improve as the season goes along and I think it will definitely improve when we get DLaw and Gallimore back. Hopefully, Joseph can grow into the CB that we need but it tough for rookie CBs especially when they miss as much time as he has. The defensive unit is heading in the right direction but we still need the offensive unit to keep some of the pressure off them. We haven't gotten to the point where we can win many low scoring games against quality teams. The Chargers game was a great start.
 
Belt claims McCarthy told the Joneses he didn't want a hand in roster building? That's the exact opposite of what I remember. I remember Mike saying at that first pc that he was looking forward to having a say because in Green Bay he didn't.

I'm not saying Mike is choosing each individual player, but come on. Why do so many people minimize everything he does?

I'm learning that McCarthy is a phenomenal collaborator, at least right now.
 

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