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The Cowboys need major upgrades at defensive end and defensive tackle in the draft and free agency.
It was the biggest question mark heading into the season after the team released defensive end DeMarcus Ware, the franchise leader in sacks, in a cost-cutting move last spring and let Pro Bowl defensive tackle Jason Hatcher walk in free agency.
It proved to be the biggest weakness at the end of the season, the main one that held the Cowboys back from turning a good season into a special one.
The Cowboys recorded a paltry 28 sacks in 2014, ranking 28th in the league.
And their inability to get pressure on one-legged quarterback Aaron Rodgers in the 26-21 loss to the Green Bay Packers in the NFC divisional playoffs proved to be a bigger difference in missing out on their first trip to the NFC Championship Game since 1995 than the controversial Bryant no-catch.
“We need to upgrade our defensive front,” vice president Stephen Jones said. “It’s pretty obvious to anybody who knows football. We need to get better there. I think if we can get some pressure and get some players in there who can help us get pressure then we have a great opportunity to win a championship.”
Defensive end Jeremy Mincey led the Cowboys with six sacks in 2014, a career-low number for Ware last season that proved to be so disappointing it paved the way for his departure.
Of course, Ware recorded 10 for the Denver Broncos in 2014, earning his eighth double-digit sack season and eighth trip to the Pro Bowl.
But give the Cowboys credit. They knew they would be challenged along the defensive line and addressed the position numbers, keeping 10 linemen on the active roster for much of the season and rotating eight on game day.
The Cowboys played better than expected because of hustle, youth and effort, but again the overall production was disappointing.
"I think you could look at the numbers of players that we rotated in our defensive line and say, 'Well that’s an area that someone could be drafted in any round and have a good chance to make this team and play,'" owner Jerry Jones said.
“That’s not taking anything away from the guys that we’ve had, but there are numbers there. And there are numbers that are playing. We should look to there. We should look there in the draft and look in free agency. So I’d say, yeah. Right there, looking at the defensive line.”
It’s an acute area of need because defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli doesn’t like to blitz and prefers to get pressure on the quarterback with his front four.
Defensive tackle Henry Melton, their top free-agent signee of a year ago, didn’t provide the spark up front that the Cowboys had hoped.
A former Pro Bowler with the Chicago Bears, Melton was slow to recover from a 2013 knee injury and never hit his stride. He totaled five sacks to rank second on the team. He was benched in favor of Tyrone Crawford in Week 3, recorded no sacks over the final seven games of the season and was placed on injured reserve for the playoffs.
“I think we all had hoped from the day that he got there and OTAs that he would be at Pro Bowl form,” Jerry Jones said. “That was probably unrealistic but that’s a goal. As he went on through the season, he evolved and improved. He had a setback or two that I would call nixed, probably impacted his overall steady progression to get back to where he was that year in Chicago before he got hurt.”
It also didn’t help that rookie defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence, picked in the second round out of Boise State to replace Ware’s production off the edge, suffered a fractured foot in training camp and missed the first eight games of the season. He went sackless for the regular season, though he provided a lift in the playoffs with two in two games.
Mincey proved to be a blessing in disguise as the starter in place of Lawrence at right end, considering he was largely a free-agent throw-in to give the Cowboys experience at the position.
But he is an unrestricted free agent—as are defensive ends Anthony Spencer and George Selvie, who rotated at left end, and starting nose tackle Nick Hayden.
Melton will also be a free agent, as the Cowboys have no intention of picking up the option on his deal guaranteeing him $9 million in 2015.
All together it has the Cowboys looking to address the defensive line with vigor in the draft and free agency.
It’s unlikely the Cowboys will go after the big-ticket items on the free-market like Detroit defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh. Their big money is targeted for Bryant and Murray. But there is no question improving the defense is a priority, and it starts up front with the defensive line.
“Our goal here, more than anything, more than the obvious of Dez and DeMarco, is to improve our defense,” Stephen Jones said. “That’s where our focus will be.”
Clarence Hill covers the Cowboys for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. All quotations obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.
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