Twitter: Clarence Hill: Anthony Barr is an option for the Cowboys per source

[xwalker]

If Barr can provide some off ball plays and additional blitzing and doesn't mind that role, and the price is right then .maybe.

Barr has been an off-ball LB his entire career.

Early on, he had more pass rush snaps than average for an off-ball LB, but his primary role had always been off-ball.

 

[plasticman]

At this point these guys aren’t being paid and they know.

Jarvis Landry wanted $20 million but settled on $6. Id take Barr at 5-7 million without hesitation

I'm certainly on board with that.

 

[xwalker]

I wonder if Quinn could get more out of him as a pass rusher. He was thought to be an edge as a rookie and then Zimmer put him at OLB in his 4-3 and he now has 16 career sacks (7 seasons).

He’s not what we need. We need a pure LB that can play some against the run and the pass. Barr is horrible in coverage. He can go forward but not back.

His name came up a possible free agent signing back before the draft.

Since then I've reviewed all of his snaps in multiple games including some games in 2021 as well as games from his 1st two seasons.

Today I reviewed game 16 from 2021 which was against the Packers.

• 2021
• Coverage:
  • The way they used him would suggest that the Vikings coaches trusted his coverage ability.
  • Because of how the Vikings used him, his 'grade' in coverage was probably not good.
  • That's because they put him in situations that coaches tend to avoid with many LBs.
  • He frequently lined up against slot WRs or TEs split wide.
  • His coverage in those situations was more man-under than zone.
  • i.e. He played off-man until the WR moved past the short area.
  • He often ended up in coverage against RBs in the open field with no help.
  • Obviously he is not the type of LB that's going to carry a WR deep, but in man-under and zone he was OK.
  • Against the Packers, the Vikings defensive game plan was to focus on intermediate & deep coverage.
    • They were content to basically concede many underneath passes.
  • Because the Packers have 2 good RBs, they Vikings kept both LBs on the field for 100% of the snaps.
    • Most teams play a lot of snaps vs the Packers with only 1 LB on the field. Usually a Safety comes in to replace the 2nd LB.
    • i.e. The role Kearse played with the Cowboys.
• Run Plays
  • He is the type of big LB that can stack-and-shed blocks from OLinemen.
  • He can play like a MLB and he can line up at the end of the line and set the edge.
  • Those types of LBs usually come off the field in obvious passing situations.
  • However, Barr played over 90% of snaps in all but 1 game that he played in 2021 and he played 100% in 8 games.

• Summary:
  • He looks like a Belichick type LB.
  • Big, physical LB that can shed blocks by OLinemen and that can manage in short area coverage and has pass rush ability.

• Fit with the Cowboys
  • Similar to the role Dan Quinn created for Vander Esch; although, Barr would likely get more pass rush snaps.
  • Dan Quinn used Vander Esch as a run downs LB playing a stack-and-shed role.
  • Vander Esch looked much better in the 2nd half of the season than early.
  • Playing stack-and-shed is basically equivalent to a DLineman playing 2-gap.
  • Vander Esch in that role freed up Parsons to not have a defined gap vs the run on many snaps.
  • That allowed Parsons more opportunities as a play maker.
  • Vander Esch was replaced on passing downs by Neal.
  • They also played big Dime with 1 LB (Parsons) and 3 Safeties with Kearse as a pseudo LB.
  • Late in the season, Vander Esch often lined up at the end up the line.
  • This gave him the responsibility to set the edge vs the run.
  • This gave the DE on that side more freedom to jump inside off the snap a pass rusher without getting gashed if it was an outside run.
  • Vander Esch even had a few pass rush snaps from that alignment.
  • The Cowboys don't really have a backup to Vander Esch.
  • If Vander Esch is out, Parsons would likely play that role on run downs with another LB playing Parsons normal role on run downs.
  • Obviously Parsons is terrific in any role, but playing stack-and-shed would limit his play making opportunities on run downs.
  • Barr would benefit from playing a limited role instead of playing 100% of snaps like he did with the Vikings.
  • However, with Vander Esch already in the run downs role, Parsons as the all downs LB and Cox/Kearse in coverage LB roles, Barr likely has more $ value to some other teams.

 

[quickccc]

So Anthony Barr has missed 26 games over a 4 year period ?
That's what is/will make his price tag significantly. Durability is not reliable.

kwon alexander durability concerns me too.
And he's probably a better off the ball LB than Barr. - But again .. durability- liability issues.

 

[ClappingCarrot]

Could be something to this story actually.

They loved Barr coming out of school and were wanting to take him, Aaron Donald, or Shazier.

 

[chagus]

they may be interested in him, but i think they feel they dont necessarily NEED him. He's be a luxury signing. So... just wait him out. The price will drop.