Cowboys losing Ground? For the Record . reinforces how 2016 was a missed opportunity ***MERGED***

[Sydla]

I share your sentiments to some degree. I have stated I would rather sign one FA of significance than 4 or 5 middling players.

I do believe the F.O. is now forced to address the areas I wanted addressed.

They will have to draft a CB early. They will have to draft a SS. They will have to draft a DE/Edge type and they will have to play someone at RT other than Free.(whether this is done using current players or through the draft remains to be seen)
These are the areas I wanted to address. Outside of throwing a hail mary with Moore, none of them have been addressed. That means the draft should look something like I wanted it to.

If they do it right then the 4 positions I wanted to see upgraded will be.
I am happy they re-signed Terrance and was pleasantly surprised.
I wanted them to re-sign Claiborne but it looks like that won't happen.

CB, SS, DE.

The expectation that this draft will hit and fill all three of those holes is quite a stretch.

I think this has been a shoddy job by the FO this offseason. IMO, we'll be heading into the 2017 season with a roster that very possibly could be worse than the one we had at the end of the 2016 season.

Seems they are playing the fingers crossed game - Smith is healthy, Tapper is as good as they hope, etc.

 

[waldoputty]

Our two biggest needs heading into the offseason was the fact we still needed a better pass rush and that we needed to upgrade the secondary.

Thus far, we've done nothing to upgrade the pass rush. And we've signed one CB who is probably not as good as Carr or Claiborne. And what's left on the market isn't likely to improve our needs. So it's all about the draft.

Some will write this off as a woe is me post but it's a real discussion point. The goal in the offseason is to get better and right now, we have not. We seem to be throwing all our hopes at improving at our draft.

That's a risky proposition IMO.

they know that and essentially put 2017 (and 2018) at risk.
they dont spend, they pay the price.
out of DE, CB, S and RT, we would be lucky if half are adequately addressed by the draft.

 

[AzorAhai]

Our two biggest needs heading into the offseason was the fact we still needed a better pass rush and that we needed to upgrade the secondary.

Thus far, we've done nothing to upgrade the pass rush. And we've signed one CB who is probably not as good as Carr or Claiborne. And what's left on the market isn't likely to improve our needs. So it's all about the draft.

Some will write this off as a woe is me post but it's a real discussion point. The goal in the offseason is to get better and right now, we have not. We seem to be throwing all our hopes at improving at our draft.

That's a risky proposition IMO.

It is, especially given where they pick and how few they have early in the draft.

The one positive so far is they kept Williams. That would have been an absolute necessity to address so it frees up at least one pick.

Edit: Of course Free retired since then so that added a hole that needs to be addressed as well.

 

[Sydla]

It is, especially given where they pick and how few they have early in the draft.

The one positive so far is they kept Williams. That would have been an absolute necessity to address so it frees up at least one pick.

Agreed. I actually don't mind any of their signings thus far other than Carroll. He stinks.

I just think it would have been smarter to maybe make a bigger signing at CB and try to sure that spot up giving less reliance on the draft to fix a clear hole.

This defense is clearly worse right now than the mediocre one we had last year and thinking the draft will fix it seems like a very, very unnecessary risk to take.

 

[DFWJC]

Honest question
Just curious who we should have paid big bucks for so far?

Normally its fair to offer a solution if a complaint is made

 

[ShiningStar]

he did great with sapp, mcfarland and rice in tampa

as Alexander pointed out, all first round picks and had great structure from a coach who wanted to win. Big difference, but if you look at the scope of his work and his work in dallas, he does more with less.

 

[robjay04]

There wasn't much we could've done.

Truthfully, there wasn't many options at defensive end significantly better than what we have...unless you wanna pay a player that is an injury from retirement.

Free agency sucks, you need to look to the draft for upgrades.

Throwing your hopes at free agency is even more risky than the draft.

 

[superonyx]

Well at least the rest of the NFC East didn't do anything to improve their passing game this offseason.
It would have been much worse if the Eagles, Giants, and Commanders would have added pro-bowl talent WR's or something.

 

[reddyuta]

Yes, there will be no quick fix with this defense. Will probably take 2 to 3 years to get this D to a championship level.

we will saying the same thing every year till marinelli retires.

 

[Denim Chicken]

How anyone can argue we have not lost ground to at least the Eagles and Giants is delusional.

What are things that are said every off-season, Alex?

 

[sean10mm]

Honest question
Just curious who we should have paid big bucks for so far?

Normally its fair to offer a solution if a complaint is made

I don't remember seeing any elite pass rushers in free agency really. Did I miss somebody? It seemed like all the worthwhile guys either stayed on their old team or were franchised. Everybody else looks like depth filler types.

 

[CWR]

I agree, we arent letting all world players go but the problem I have is that we havent replaced anyone with upgrades and its not very likely we can compile enough good rookies to make up for our losses.

Its almost like weve gotten cocky after last years draft lol.

 

[SDCowboy]

There wasn't much we could've done.

Truthfully, there wasn't many options at defensive end significantly better than what we have...unless you wanna pay a player that is an injury from retirement.

Free agency sucks, you need to look to the draft for upgrades.

Throwing your hopes at free agency is even more risky than the draft.

Well the team could have done something wild like trade for a player.

 

[Jkyle]

JPP was the only Real DE option going into FA but once the Giants Franchised him, there wasn't any valid option at DE to spend big money on.
I read somewhere that the Cowboys were one of the potential suitors if he was available.

 

[AzorAhai]

Agreed. I actually don't mind any of their signings thus far other than Carroll. He stinks.

I just think it would have been smarter to maybe make a bigger signing at CB and try to sure that spot up giving less reliance on the draft to fix a clear hole.

This defense is clearly worse right now than the mediocre one we had last year and thinking the draft will fix it seems like a very, very unnecessary risk to take.

I agree. I was in favor of bringing back one of the safeties and one of the CBs, but I think they were justified in letting Church and Wilcox go for what they were paid. It's rather irritating to always see people say "well bye" and "just draft his replacement" when we're losing starters. It's not nearly as simple as so many here seem to think.

But this is what happens when you can't/won't play in FA.

 

[Sydla]

There wasn't much we could've done.

Truthfully, there wasn't many options at defensive end significantly better than what we have...unless you wanna pay a player that is an injury from retirement.

Free agency sucks, you need to look to the draft for upgrades.

Throwing your hopes at free agency is even more risky than the draft.

It's not about putting all your hopes into FA. It's about trying to sure up an area or too so it takes less pressure off your team in the draft.

Right now, this team likely needs to find immediate impact players in this draft at CB, SS, DE and possibly OL now. That's a lot to ask from a draft, even when a team drafts well.

I totally buy into the idea that you can't go into the offseason and just spend like a drunken sailor in FA, trying to buy a stud at every position. But we seem to have gone in the opposite direction where we won't spend money on anyone that isn't a cheap bargain.

And forgetting big name FAs, there were mid-level moves that could have been made. Peppers was one. He signed for 1 year, $3.5MM. Tony Jefferson got a fairly large deal but definitely something we could have swung for a SS that is young and improving.

Can you honestly say that right now we are as good if not better than last year's team? If the answer is, "well we still haven't had the draft" than that's a pretty good indication that you realize this is a worse team at present.

 

[Jkyle]

Well the team could have done something wild like trade for a player.

What Player?

 

[robjay04]

It's not about putting all your hopes into FA. It's about trying to sure up an area or too so it takes less pressure off your team in the draft.

Right now, this team likely needs to find immediate impact players in this draft at CB, SS, DE and possibly OL now. That's a lot to ask from a draft, even when a team drafts well.

There were no immediate impact players at those positions in free agency either. Every team has holes right now, we just only follow this one closely so we know them inside and out.

Maybe corner but we wouldn't have spent that much for a corner after being married to Carr for 5 years.

 

[Sydla]

There were no immediate impact players at those positions in free agency either. Every team has holes right now, we just only follow this one closely so we know them inside and out.

Maybe corner but we wouldn't have spent that much for a corner after being married to Carr for 5 years.

I think that's a cop out.

I think Sheard would have helped our pass rush. He didn't get elite money. Peppers, even at his age, would have improved the pass rush and he got a small deal. Tony Jefferson would have upgraded SS and he got a nice contract but not an over the top one.

There were players out there who would have improved our team. We signed exactly ZERO players who improved our team. Paea is probably a wash for McClain but he's here because he's a Marinelli pet cat. Carroll certainly isn't better than Claiborne or Carr (granted, neither is actually gone yet). Moore? Well at least he's a talented body that they can throw at DE and hope he somehow figured it out. I have no issues with Williams coming back.

But this idea that there wasn't anyone in FA that could have improved our team and taken pressure off having to have another elite draft is just excuse making IMO for a FO that has gone to the extreme of frugalness.

 

[JoeyBoy718]

It seems like each unit of the defense has a separate issue:

1) D-line lacks talent. Depth isn't really an issue. We have 10+ guys of similar talent on the roster and will probably have to cut a few before season starts. But we don't have any elite players or even very good players on the D-line. It seems like all our hope rests in the potential of Irving and Collins.

2) LBer lacks reliability. Unlike D-line, talent is not an issue at LBer. Lee is an All Pro and Smith has All Pro potential. But each of them also are very unreliable to stay/get healthy. Lee couldn't finish a season up until two years ago and Smith is still battling a career threatening injury. If one or both of them goes down, we're in big trouble.

3) Secondary lacks depth. We were surprisingly deep last year with 4 solid CBs and 3-4 solid safeties. Our safety depth has already taken a huge hit and CB may also. Now we probably don't even have enough guys to bring into a game. We may have our starters currently on the roster (Heath?) but there's literally nothing behind them.