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Rockport

Rockport

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The Cowboys, in the Stephen Jones era, have been notorious for not going after big time, high priced free agents. Instead they go for the middle of the pack more financially sound players. They choose to spend big on keeping their own players. Lot’s of fans have criticized them for their belief in how to manage the salary cap. This year it is paying off in spades so far. I mean Aces of spades. All of these guys have been contributing at a high level. Kudo’s to the front office.

Keanu Neal
Demonte Kazee
Jaylon Kearse
Malik Hooker
And even Brent Urbana
And Carlos Watkins.
 
Rockport said:
The Cowboys, in the Stephen Jones era, have been notorious for not going after big time, high priced free agents. Instead they go for the middle of the pack more financially sound players. They choose to spend big on keeping their own players. Lot’s of fans have criticized them for their belief in how to manage the salary cap. This year it is paying off in spades so far. I mean Aces of spades. All of these guys have been contributing at a high level. Kudo’s to the front office.

Keanu Neal
Demonte Kazee
Jaylon Kearse
Malik Hooker
And even Brent Urbana
And Carlos Watkins.
Click to expand...

Like what I’ve seen from first 4 last 2 not sold on them .
 
Rockport said:
The Cowboys, in the Stephen Jones era, have been notorious for not going after big time, high priced free agents. Instead they go for the middle of the pack more financially sound players. They choose to spend big on keeping their own players. Lot’s of fans have criticized them for their belief in how to manage the salary cap. This year it is paying off in spades so far. I mean Aces of spades. All of these guys have been contributing at a high level. Kudo’s to the front office.

Keanu Neal
Demonte Kazee
Jaylon Kearse
Malik Hooker
And even Brent Urbana
And Carlos Watkins.
Click to expand...

Most of the time it proves to be a terrible strategy. This year, it seems to be working out well so far. Maybe it's because of the change in defensive coordinator. He identified players he thought would fit what he wants to do and seems to have been right about it ... of course, he knew what to expect from Neal and Kazee.
 
gimmesix said:
Most of the time it proves to be a terrible strategy. This year, it seems to be working out well so far. Maybe it's because of the change in defensive coordinator. He identified players he thought would fit what he wants to do and seems to have been right about it ... of course, he knew what to expect from Neal and Kazee.
Click to expand...
Can’t argue that it hasn’t worked in the past. It hasn’t. I think you’re on to something with the coaching. Watching Quinn’s pressers and listening to the players talk about him just gives a warm and fuzzy. I haven’t seen a Cowboys defense play like they did last night in I don’t know how long. And they’ve shown glimpses since the Bucs game. They’ve gotten better every game playing against some of the best offenses in the NFL in the Bucs and Chargers. Eagles not so much but they did what a good defense should do against a sub par offense like that. Dominate.
 
Rockport said:
Can’t argue that it hasn’t worked in the past. It hasn’t. I think you’re on to something with the coaching. Watching Quinn’s pressers and listening to the players talk about him just gives a warm and fuzzy. I haven’t seen a Cowboys defense play like they did last night in I don’t know how long. And they’ve shown glimpses since the Bucs game. They’ve gotten better every game playing against some of the best offenses in the NFL in the Bucs and Chargers. Eagles not so much but they did what a good defense should do against a sub par offense like that. Dominate.
Click to expand...

Some of it comes down to coaches putting players in the right position to succeed. Kearse has had a subpar backup career up until now, but Quinn is using him in a role that seems to really suit his abilities. He brought over Neal, but doesn't want to play him as a strong safety where he's somewhat of a liability in the coverage that position demands, but in a linebacker role where he's not. You can't completely make up for signing less talented players, but when you use them to their strength and scheme to hide their weaknesses, that can make a pretty big difference.

That's what seemed to be expected of Nolan last year, but then he pretty much installed a multiple scheme and then tried to fit the players that he had into it instead of maximizing their abilities. I like what I'm seeing so far. Obviously, there's still some work to be done, but the direction ahead looks bright for this defense. Quinn is in the role that suits him and I hope he sees that and doesn't try to leave for a head coaching job.
 
Rockport said:
The Cowboys, in the Stephen Jones era, have been notorious for not going after big time, high priced free agents. Instead they go for the middle of the pack more financially sound players. They choose to spend big on keeping their own players. Lot’s of fans have criticized them for their belief in how to manage the salary cap. This year it is paying off in spades so far. I mean Aces of spades. All of these guys have been contributing at a high level. Kudo’s to the front office.

Keanu Neal
Demonte Kazee
Jaylon Kearse
Malik Hooker
And even Brent Urbana
And Carlos Watkins.
Click to expand...

After years of this strategy not bearing fruit, I'll leave the "kudos to the front office" to you after a 2-1 start.

Encouraging? Yes. But there's a lot of football left to be played this season.
 
Would love to get Javon Hardgrave from the Eagles. If they go to tank latter in the year maybe they would part ways with him. I remember him now as being a possible first round draft pick out of South Carolina for us a couple of years ago. After seeing what he did to us on Monday night, I wish he played for us. He has 4 sacks on the season from the 1 tech position.

I don’t think anyone would part with a great edge pass rusher. So that is probably a pipe dream.

Maybe a veteran corner, but I think we’re set everywhere else.
 
gimmesix said:
Most of the time it proves to be a terrible strategy. This year, it seems to be working out well so far. Maybe it's because of the change in defensive coordinator. He identified players he thought would fit what he wants to do and seems to have been right about it ... of course, he knew what to expect from Neal and Kazee.
Click to expand...

How is it terrible? What's terrible is paying someone else's FA $15m and missing on it. There is no risk to these signing and only upside. If they fail then who cares?
 
Rockport said:
The Cowboys, in the Stephen Jones era, have been notorious for not going after big time, high priced free agents. Instead they go for the middle of the pack more financially sound players. They choose to spend big on keeping their own players. Lot’s of fans have criticized them for their belief in how to manage the salary cap. This year it is paying off in spades so far. I mean Aces of spades. All of these guys have been contributing at a high level. Kudo’s to the front office.

Keanu Neal
Demonte Kazee
Jaylon Kearse
Malik Hooker
And even Brent Urbana
And Carlos Watkins.
Click to expand...
All of them other than Watkins seem to be paying significant dividends. I would sure like to know why this class of free agents is so much better than our norm. These are all still bargain basement players, they just aren’t playing like they were bought at Dollar General.
 
IIRC over time Jerry has gone after high priced free agents (e.g. Deion Sanders, and a former GB guard I can't remember) and some dumpster diving. As far as I can tell, the cowboys has gotten about the same result either way they've tried.
 
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