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ESPN's Ed Werder reported Wednesday that the Cowboys have agreed to a one-year deal with linebacker Rolando McClain, who will return to Dallas after reviving his tumultuous career with the Cowboys last season. One of the more underrated defensive players in football in 2014, McClain will now have the opportunity to team up with a healthy Sean Lee and create a formidable linebacker tandem for defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli.
There's even icing on the cake, as the move won't break the bank for the Cowboys. Per Werder, the deal is worth only $3 million in total salary, with another $1 million available to McClain through incentives. Those extra dollars are tied to McClain being active and on the field.
When between the white lines last season, McClain was nothing short of a playmaker for a defense that was in drastic need of one.
The Cowboys entered 2014 on the heels of a disastrous defensive effort in 2013, in which Dallas gave up 27.0 points per game and ranked dead last in the NFL in yards allowed. The rebound under Marinelli gained further complication when Lee—the team's best linebacker—tore his ACL during OTAs in late May and was lost for the season.
Insert McClain.
In sudden need of a linebacker, the Cowboys swung a low-risk deal with the Baltimore Ravens for the fading former first-round pick. Twice retired and years removed from any kind of tangible on-field impact, McClain might have been one more missed opportunity away from exiting the NFL stage altogether.
His chance to prove he can play wasn't squandered.
Over 13 starts, McClain made 81 tackles—including a team-high 10 for loss—with one sack, two interceptions and one forced fumble. He finished second in the Comeback Player of the Year voting, which was won by New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski. Meanwhile, the Cowboys allowed just 22.0 points per game and improved to 19th in total yards.
Metrics considered McClain's season one of the best by an inside linebacker.
According to Pro Football Focus, McClain played 654 snaps and graded out as the site's eighth-best player at his position. He earned positive grades against the run, in coverage and rushing the passer.
In fact, McClain's versatility helped him finish in a rare group statistically. His 46 stops (or a tackle that constitutes an offensive failure), 15 quarterback disruptions (sack, hit or hurry) and 84.4 opposing pass rating made McClain one of just six inside linebackers to tally 40 or more stops, 10 or more disruptions and an opposing passer rating under 90.0.
The entire list is below:
McClain's best work came against the run, where it could be argued he was one of the more impactful players in football last season.
Tackles can be a misused and overvalued statistic, especially when applied without context. Pro Football Focus helps eliminate these problems with its "Run Stop Percentage" metric. In this model, McClain shone.
According to PFF, McClain made 37 run stops over just 244 run snaps last season. His RSP finished at a ridiculous 15.2, which led all inside linebackers by a considerable margin (next closest was Luke Kuechly, at 12.3).
His 15.2 mark has historical significance. PFF has been charting games since 2007, and no inside linebacker has produced a mark better than McClain's in 2014 (minimum 50 percent of team's run snaps played). The next best on the list is from Bobby Wagner, who produced a run stop on 14.4 percent of run snaps back in 2012.
It's easy to understand the importance of the stat. Not only does it provide a volume metric on the number of impact tackles (important note: not all tackles are created the same), but it does so on a per-snap basis. Translation: McClain made an impactful tackle against the run at a higher rate than any other linebacker in the game last season.
There's an idea that the NFL's running game is going the way of the dinosaur, but such an idea is based far more in fantasy than reality. The Cowboys from last season—with rushing champion DeMarco Murray carrying the offense—are proof of its survival. Overall, five of the top eight rushing offenses in 2014 made the postseason.
And don't discount the value in stopping the run. The top four rushing defenses from last season all made the playoffs. In fact, seven of the 12 postseason qualifiers finished in the top 10 in run defense—including the Cowboys.
Dallas could get even better stopping the run next season with McClain back and Lee healthy.
Staying on the field has been an obvious issue for Lee, but he's a defensive dynamo when right.
In 2013, Lee played in just 11 games but still finished as PFF's seventh-best inside linebacker. While he didn't qualify under the 50 percent minimum due to injury, Lee did tally 38 run stops over just 221 run snaps—giving him an off-the-charts RSP of 17.2.
The year prior, Lee was well on his way to a Pro Bowl nod before his season ended after just seven weeks.
Re-signing McClain likely means that Dallas will keep him inside and move Lee to the weak side. Either way, Dallas should enter next season (barring another injury) with an attractive pair of versatile, productive and run-stuffing linebackers at its disposal.
The reunion between the Cowboys and McClain took much longer than most of the other impact re-signings this offseason. He didn't spurn big money elsewhere to come back, nor did he find big money in Dallas. His situation—which includes the retirements, arrests and head injuries in both playoff games last season—complicated his stay on the open market.
The result was the best one for all parties. The Cowboys get another low-risk year with a verified playmaker at linebacker, and McClain gets a decent (but incentivized) chunk of change to play in a place where he clearly felt comfortable last season.
Re-signings get high marks when everybody wins. The Cowboys returning McClain ranks as one of the best of this sort from this offseason.
Zach Kruse covers the NFC North for Bleacher Report.
Follow @zachkruse2
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