Barring a superbowl run, expect a lot of housecleaning on the defensive side

[theogt]

crap. I thought this was his last year for some reason. I can't wait for it to be 2010.

And people couldn't wait to replace Kosier either. Spears is very underrated.

 

[Sasquatch]

I hope so as what is proposed would suggest that our personnel evaluators have no clue as to what they are doing.

And very few people want to admit that possibility.

 

[TNCowboy]

Brady James
Bobby Carpenter
Pat Watkins
Courtney Brown
S Roy Williams
Anthony Henry
Kevin Burnett
Zach Thomas
Alan Ball
LB Polk
LB Rogers
Greg Ellis

Did I miss anyone? That's 12 defensive players who will have a hard time staying with the team next year, imo.

1) Brady James and Carp may compete for one position. The loser is definetly out. Perhaps both are gone. Both suck, imo.
2) Pat Watkins is out! 15 yd facemask and pancaked by a QB and injury-prone. Sayonara!
3) Courtney Brown is out. A safety who can't tackle. Forget it.
4) Roy Williams can't cover or tackle. Show something at LB or cut him.
5) Anthony Henry likely gone unless he shows something at safety.
6) Burnett is just a mediocre LB. Should get better LB in draft.
7) Zach is too old and injury prone to rely on. Possibly one more year.
8) 6th and 7th rd LBs are better than Polk and Rogers (Walden should have stayed). Is Rogers still on the team?
9) Good riddance to Ellis and get a true 3-4 LB. Ellis would look nice in a Bengal uniform.

It is a good thing the Cowboys have a lot of draft picks because we are going to need them. Look for the Cowboys to draft athletic, true 3-4 potential LBs this year. James/Carp/Ellis/Burnett/Thomas/Rogers/Polk.

Except for Ware and Spencer, the whole LB corps may be gone.
Except for Davis and Hamlin, all new safeties.

Change is coming regardless of the coach.

This list is ridiculous. You can't change that many players.

The most obvious players who won't be back are Canty and Burnett, since they're free agents. Burnett might make a pretty good 4-3 LBer, and some nutjob GM will pay Canty way more than he's worth. Hopefully it won't be our's.

I'd say Roy Williams and Anthony Henry may be salary decisions. Lotta bucks for little bang from those two. Cheap players like Ellis, Carpenter, and Spears will almost certainly be back, and I'd say Zach Thomas will be back, if he wants to keep playing.

 

[jobberone]

I have to make something of the fact they tried to move Spears to NT and put Ratliff at DE. I'm not certain which player or both couldn't adapt to that. Wade has given some clues but I'm not smart enough to connect the dots.

I'm not certain we'll attack NT although I'm sure everyone running a 3-4 is always looking. It's a shame Tank hasn't done more. I don't think either Canty or Spears get enough credit. When healthy and esp when the offense is healthy this defense is pretty good.

I don't think you can make any real movement on the DL and somewhat LBs until they play with a healthy offense and stable set of DBs.

QB is going to be addressed in the offseason and I think Beck will show up. That may cost us Carpenter or Henry. Maybe Burnett. No not all but one of them. Probably Henry. Esp if AJ comes back and stays out of trouble.

 

[Stash]

And very few people want to admit that possibility.

It's tough for me when I look at the team's online roster and see:


14 Johnson, Brad QB 6-5 235 17 Florida State

 

[AdamJT13]

Has a player ever voluntarily restructured his contract such that his take home was less? There may be an examples of this, but I'm not aware of it happening.

If by voluntarily, you mean taking a paycut when the team asks him to, then yes, it has happened quite often. (Some players get an incentive that could allow them to earn back the money they gave up, but others have taken a flat paycut.)

If you mean a player walking into the GM's office and asking for a paycut, I don't think anyone has done that.

 

[Yakuza Rich]

Did I miss anyone? That's 12 defensive players who will have a hard time staying with the team next year, imo.

Average roster turnover is around 25%. That's an average of 13 new players on the 53 man roster. You have 12 gone from the defense, so it's a bit unlikely all of these guys are gone and that another team would do the same...unless they went like 3-13 or worse.

1) Brady James and Carp may compete for one position. The loser is definetly out. Perhaps both are gone. Both suck, imo.

James will stay. Sucks is a strong word for him. He also knows the system, has a nice contract and can take on blockers...which you need one of the ILB's to do. Carp is gone, but I'd be surprised if Bradie was. At best, they'd have to draft an ILB and him be so good that he forces Bradie out in 2010.

2) Pat Watkins is out! 15 yd facemask and pancaked by a QB and injury-prone. Sayonara!

A quality special teams guy who is a quality backup safety probably isn't going anywhere. He also knows the system and the coaches.

3) Courtney Brown is out. A safety who can't tackle. Forget it.

I wouldn't be so sure. I'm not a big fan either, but the coaching staff is. And he can play special teams and some backup safety.

4) Roy Williams can't cover or tackle. Show something at LB or cut him.
5) Anthony Henry likely gone unless he shows something at safety.

I agree.

6) Burnett is just a mediocre LB. Should get better LB in draft.

So you have Dallas losing Burnett, Carp and Bradie and expect them to be replaced in the draft? Not going to happen. They'll probably stick with Bradie and Burnett and dump Carp.

7) Zach is too old and injury prone to rely on. Possibly one more year.

I doubt he'll be cut, but they'll probably (or *should*) draft an ILB and have him spell Zach and hopefully eventually take over.

9) Good riddance to Ellis and get a true 3-4 LB. Ellis would look nice in a Bengal uniform.

I think they are slowly fazing him out.







YAKUZA

 

[Chocolate Lab]

I think Canty is gone, maybe even to Miami. I don't know what's happened to him, but he seems to have regressed big time this year.

Isn't Olshansky a FA after this year? Wonder what kind of contract he'll get? He's one of those quietly underrated guys IMO, and he knows Wade's system. (Of course, there's a good chance Wade won't be back.)

Also, Adam, have you looked at possible compensatory picks lately? Have they changed much based on your earlier projections? I'm really looking forward to those, because they can't be traded. I generally like Jerry's trading, but I'm glad he can't use those to trade around. I like knowing we have a few picks where we just sit and take the best player. Even though they aren't high picks, I think we need a bunch of guys like that to replace the Justin Rogers and Courtney Browns of the team in the kicking game and for future development.

 

[ThatsmyQB]

Brady James

Having one of his best years to date, and will only be better if we FINALLY get a true 3-4 N.T. to keep O-lineman off of him!

Bobby Carpenter

Good special teams player, don't see any real reason to cut him, especially since he would probably cost us money to cut hi.

Pat Watkins

Cause of one play where he thought the Q.B. was gonna take a Q.B. slide?

Courtney Brown

Did he do something wrong? Did I miss hom screw something up?

S Roy Williams
Anthony Henry

Finally I agree, both are a liability for our defense!

Kevin Burnett

He's our nickle LB. and is doing a great job in that spot and is a good special teamer also.

Zach Thomas

He's making tackles all over the field, I would give him anohter one year deal!

Alan Ball

not bad for a 5th string C.B.

LB Polk
LB Rogers
Greg Ellis

I could live without them!



Except for Ware and Spencer, the whole LB corps may be gone.
Except for Davis and Hamlin, all new safeties.

Change is coming regardless of the coach.

I see more of a change on the D-line, I want Tank/Spears gone, I want to move Ratliff to D.E., draft another pass rushing 3-4 D.E. (probably a 4-3 D.T. in college and convert him to D.E. like New England does) and then of course draft TWO 3-4 N.T.'s who weigh in the 330 range.

I could live with
L.O.L.B. Anthony Spencer
L.I.L.B. Bradie James
R.I.L.B. Zach thomas
R.O.L.B. Demarcus Ware

I think you'll see Zach and James have a lot better season when we have a REAL 3-4 N.T. who can take on double teams and free up the I.LB.'s like a 3-4 defensive N.T. is supposed to do, I love Ratliff, but he's no N.T., he gets KILLED on most running plays when they double team him, whihc makes James and Thomas look worse.

I am really starting to like Keith Davis as our S.S., I mean, no one even knows he's been there, WHICH IS A GOOD THING, I can't recall any pass play he has given up and seen him put the smackdown on a few plays in the box also, he's doing a great job at S.S. thus far, now while I wouldn't mind an upgrade, you gotta gie a lot of credit to Davis thus far, he's having a great year and making all of us forget we even had Roy Williams or actually needing to find his replacement.

 

[TwoCentPlain]

I laugh at some of these posts about some guy sticking around because he can play special teams(e.g. Watkins, Burnett, and Carp).

The Cowboy special teams have sucked all year. Our special teams needs a government bailout. No one on our special teams except Folk and McBriar are worth much.

 

[theogt]

If by voluntarily, you mean taking a paycut when the team asks him to, then yes, it has happened quite often. (Some players get an incentive that could allow them to earn back the money they gave up, but others have taken a flat paycut.)

If you mean a player walking into the GM's office and asking for a paycut, I don't think anyone has done that.

Any highly publicized types? I could see bubble players doing this, but I just can't remember this being reported.

 

[ChrisCanty99]

Bradie James - good player when he can flow to the ball instead of fighting guards.
Bobby Carpenter - an overpriced special teamer, but he is at least good at that.
Pat Watkins - Dumb, dumb, and dumber is no way to go through life, son. You broke my heart, Pat.
Courtney Brown- still developing, has impressive physical gifts.
S Roy Williams - not the same guy. Maybe a Tampa Two team is his best fit.
Anthony Henry - his gas gauge has been on E since his injury last year.
Kevin Burnett - solid special teamer and good utility LB- remember the 46 look from Sunday?
Zach Thomas - seasoned vet, relatively cheap, can be great if gets more cover from DT
Alan Ball - ST, ok in brief appearance
LB Polk - ST prospect
LB Rogers - solid special teamer, almost nothing on D.
Greg Ellis - seasoned vet and leader, for the right price can be valuable.
Chris Canty - where's the beef? Few plays from Canty this year. More batted balls, TFLs, please.

Did I miss anyone? That's 12 defensive players who will have a hard time staying with the team next year, imo.

All of them are possibilities. I bolded the likely "sticks", underlined the special teamers who could stick for that reason and added myself to the list.

I think the offseason will give us a renewed focus on line depth; I am not impressed with second stringers on either line. Cutting Watkins, Williams, Henry, and Carpenter and not giving huge deals to Tank and Canty would free some cash and send a message that Jerry doesn't pay for mediocrity.

Of course we know he does, but hey, we can dream, right?