xwalker
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This is for outside free agents, not the Cowboys own free agents that were re-signed.
Any misses on free agents in recent years have been very limited in terms of cost/cap-hits.
I reviewed going back to the the 2015 off-season to now. In that time frame they signed several free agents worth the contracts they received.
Note: If I ommitted any significant player, let me know.
I didn't include all low level, non-guaranteed type free agents that might have been on/off the roster like Darian Thompson.
The fails were basically 3 players.
CB Carroll, 4M
DT Thorton, 9M
LB Brinkley, 2M
I'm not including injured players as fails unless they were failing when healthy; although Carroll's 1 terrible half game might have been injury related.
The 3 "fails" listed above cost 15M total and Thorton did start 13 games and was actually a bit better than Nick Hayden had been in that role.
Last year they signed:
DT Woods: Exceeded expectations.
OT Flemming: Met expectations.
WR Deonte Thompson: Met expectations but once they acquired Cooper, they didn't want to lose a comp pick by keeping Thompson.
LB Joe Thomas: Performance was very good for a backup but he had an injury issue. He was an upgrade over Wilber.
OG/OC Marcus Martin: Based on snaps played in the pre-season and position on the depth chart in TC practices, appeared to be on track to pass Looney on the depth chart at OC but he went to IR during TC.
OG/OC Sua-Filo: Started until injured.
OG/OC Adam Redmond: Minimum salary type that became the top interior backup and played most of the snaps in 1 game when Zack Martin was injured plus some snaps in two other games without major problems.
Hurns: Just signed as a stopgap. His 6.25M salary was #2 or #3 WR type money considering the WR market value with Sammy Watkins getting 18M per. Hurns was a bit of a disappointment but not really a fail considering he was not expected to be a #1 WR but ended up in that role by default until they traded for Cooper. They appear to have liked him enough to want him back.
Primary Free agents from 2015 to 2017:
OG Cooper: Started most of the season for about 2M.
DT Paea: Played well until injured. Would have been well worth the 1-year, 2M contract if not for the injury.
Datone Jones: Exceeded expectations for a mid-season acquisition in 2017. Injured in 2018 TC and ended up on IR.
LB Rolando McClain: He was a quality starter in 2014 and 2015. He got about 2M in 2016 for nothing but the total for all years was 6M which is still a good value for his 2014 and 2015 performances which included starting 2 playoff games.
RB McFadden: Made about 6M total for 3 years with the Cowboys. He was very good in 2015 then Zeke took almost all of the snaps in 2016.
RB Morris
Solid backup for 2 years at a total of 3.5M.
LB Gachkar: Solid backup and top ST player. Never missed a game.
DE Greg Hardy: Very good on the field. His quality performance was overshadowed by the media coverage of his off-field issues. He had 20 QB hits which is a good number especially for only 12 games played. He also had 6 sacks and 1 INT. The blocking attention he received allowed DLaw to flourish on the other side.
DE Mayowa
A bit of a disappointment but did contribute as a sometimes starter and other times rotational DE. He ended up averaging 2.75M per season played with the Cowboys which for DEs is 4th on the depth chart type money.
LB Keith Rivers: Only paid a total of 80K. I can't call that a fail. It was just a cheap look at a player that had been a top 10 pick years earlier.
CB Nolan Carroll: The top "fail" in the past few years 1 year, 4M). He was good in game 1 then horrible in the 1st half of game 2 before leaving the game with an injury. It appeared he might have been initially injured early in the game leading to the horrible performance. He did come out of the game due to an injury, then returned before leaving for good around half time. They avoided him counting against the comp pick calculation by cutting him after the injury. They had drafted 2 CBs after he was signed in March and they liked a low level free agent CB they had signed.
DT Thorton: The other free agent fail; although he did contribute and was better than Nick Golden cock Hayden had been. He started 13 games in his one season with the team. He signed for 4M per which was a good price for a guy that had been a starter for the Eagles. Just the previous year he had been good going against Zack Martin in terms of run defense. Against Martin on zone runs, he had been better than any other DTs I saw when reviewing reviewing Martin after that season. After he signed with the Cowboys he appeared to lose significant weight despite the Cowboys intentions to play him at 1-tech. He ended up getting 9M total for his 1 season and 13 starts.
LB Jasper Brinkley: The 3rd fail. He got 2M and was cut before the season.
Any misses on free agents in recent years have been very limited in terms of cost/cap-hits.
I reviewed going back to the the 2015 off-season to now. In that time frame they signed several free agents worth the contracts they received.
Note: If I ommitted any significant player, let me know.
I didn't include all low level, non-guaranteed type free agents that might have been on/off the roster like Darian Thompson.
The fails were basically 3 players.
CB Carroll, 4M
DT Thorton, 9M
LB Brinkley, 2M
I'm not including injured players as fails unless they were failing when healthy; although Carroll's 1 terrible half game might have been injury related.
The 3 "fails" listed above cost 15M total and Thorton did start 13 games and was actually a bit better than Nick Hayden had been in that role.
Last year they signed:
DT Woods: Exceeded expectations.
OT Flemming: Met expectations.
WR Deonte Thompson: Met expectations but once they acquired Cooper, they didn't want to lose a comp pick by keeping Thompson.
LB Joe Thomas: Performance was very good for a backup but he had an injury issue. He was an upgrade over Wilber.
OG/OC Marcus Martin: Based on snaps played in the pre-season and position on the depth chart in TC practices, appeared to be on track to pass Looney on the depth chart at OC but he went to IR during TC.
OG/OC Sua-Filo: Started until injured.
OG/OC Adam Redmond: Minimum salary type that became the top interior backup and played most of the snaps in 1 game when Zack Martin was injured plus some snaps in two other games without major problems.
Hurns: Just signed as a stopgap. His 6.25M salary was #2 or #3 WR type money considering the WR market value with Sammy Watkins getting 18M per. Hurns was a bit of a disappointment but not really a fail considering he was not expected to be a #1 WR but ended up in that role by default until they traded for Cooper. They appear to have liked him enough to want him back.
Primary Free agents from 2015 to 2017:
OG Cooper: Started most of the season for about 2M.
DT Paea: Played well until injured. Would have been well worth the 1-year, 2M contract if not for the injury.
Datone Jones: Exceeded expectations for a mid-season acquisition in 2017. Injured in 2018 TC and ended up on IR.
LB Rolando McClain: He was a quality starter in 2014 and 2015. He got about 2M in 2016 for nothing but the total for all years was 6M which is still a good value for his 2014 and 2015 performances which included starting 2 playoff games.
RB McFadden: Made about 6M total for 3 years with the Cowboys. He was very good in 2015 then Zeke took almost all of the snaps in 2016.
RB Morris
Solid backup for 2 years at a total of 3.5M.
LB Gachkar: Solid backup and top ST player. Never missed a game.
DE Greg Hardy: Very good on the field. His quality performance was overshadowed by the media coverage of his off-field issues. He had 20 QB hits which is a good number especially for only 12 games played. He also had 6 sacks and 1 INT. The blocking attention he received allowed DLaw to flourish on the other side.
DE Mayowa
A bit of a disappointment but did contribute as a sometimes starter and other times rotational DE. He ended up averaging 2.75M per season played with the Cowboys which for DEs is 4th on the depth chart type money.
LB Keith Rivers: Only paid a total of 80K. I can't call that a fail. It was just a cheap look at a player that had been a top 10 pick years earlier.
CB Nolan Carroll: The top "fail" in the past few years 1 year, 4M). He was good in game 1 then horrible in the 1st half of game 2 before leaving the game with an injury. It appeared he might have been initially injured early in the game leading to the horrible performance. He did come out of the game due to an injury, then returned before leaving for good around half time. They avoided him counting against the comp pick calculation by cutting him after the injury. They had drafted 2 CBs after he was signed in March and they liked a low level free agent CB they had signed.
DT Thorton: The other free agent fail; although he did contribute and was better than Nick Golden cock Hayden had been. He started 13 games in his one season with the team. He signed for 4M per which was a good price for a guy that had been a starter for the Eagles. Just the previous year he had been good going against Zack Martin in terms of run defense. Against Martin on zone runs, he had been better than any other DTs I saw when reviewing reviewing Martin after that season. After he signed with the Cowboys he appeared to lose significant weight despite the Cowboys intentions to play him at 1-tech. He ended up getting 9M total for his 1 season and 13 starts.
LB Jasper Brinkley: The 3rd fail. He got 2M and was cut before the season.
