Cowboys will meet with George Iloka on Friday

[Kolemmitt]

That really worth the ink? If you want to upgrade then upgrade... sounds like all this would be is depth.

Really? You know who our current SS is - correct?

While I would have preferred ET or a healthy Berry, this guy is an upgrade at SS.

 

[CT Dal Fan]

This is the guy I want, assuming Berry isn't healthy and coming in on a reasonable contract (which he isn't).

Iloka is a good bounceback candidate, he had some good years with the Bengals. He took a pillow contract last year but still wasn't healthy, if he is healthy now its a good fit.

I was thinking, it's not impossible for the Cowboys to sign Iloka and Berry, is it? Iloka shouldn't be terribly expensive and any Berry deal would be heavy on incentives and light on guarantees.

 

[817Gill]

Plus, ball hawking SS is a very specific and rare thing to find. FS are the ball hawking type, and X Woods college career and growth so far indicate he has an honest chance at being that.

We are looking for a box safety that is a sure tackler and can be a presence around the line of scrimmage as well as having the ability to cover in space as a secondary priority. Good pursuit angles and athleticism to go sideline to sideline are the main traits here, not center field interception duty.

 

[CT Dal Fan]

That really worth the ink? If you want to upgrade then upgrade... sounds like all this would be is depth.

All Jeff Heath should be is depth. Iloka at least would give the Cowboys a short term starter at SS.

 

[Hawkeye0202]

My problem is this would be the fourth crack at trying to upgrade this position, which obviously shows it's a major priority. If they felt this strongly about getting it upgraded via free agency, why you waited so long? Damn near everything is gone now. It's almost if they had all their marbles lined up for ET with NO plan B at all. So you left scrambling trying to fill to upgrade the position now with crumbs.

 

[ABQCOWBOY]

The way I see it, Boston would require moving Woods to SS. It was worth it for ET, but is that a move worth it for Boston?

Iloka is a prototypical SS that is good against the ground game and is big enough to cover TEs. Woods could stay where he is best, as the deep safety.

Actually, Iloka is not really better then Heath, as far as tackling goes. Plus, he really fell off last year in that area. He only started 3 games for the Vikes last year but he was available for all 16 games and he only had 16 tackles. Heath recorded 85 tackles last year and there is no question, at all, that Heath is the much better athlete. I just don't see the advantage with Iloka, to be honest.

 

[Irvin88_4life]

Boston is way over-rated by fans.

He is good at getting takeaways. Tackling is an issue but Boston would wake up and get more picks than anybody in our secondary

 

[Stash]

 

[Kolemmitt]

Actually, Iloka is not really better then Heath, as far as tackling goes. Plus, he really fell off last year in that area. He only started 3 games for the Vikes last year but he was available for all 16 games and he only had 16 tackles. Heath recorded 85 tackles last year and there is no question, at all, that Heath is the much better athlete. I just don't see the advantage with Iloka, to be honest.

Iloka did not fit into the Viking's defense. He would fit a lot better into our defense.

 

[817Gill]

My problem is this would be the fourth crack at trying to upgrade this position, which obviously shows it's a major priority. If they felt this strongly about getting it upgraded via free agency, why you waited so long? Damn near everything is gone now. It's almost if they had all their marbles lined up for ET with NO plan B at all. So you left scrambling trying to fill to upgrade the position now with crumbs.

ET is a FS. Once that was over, the team focused primarily on SS. Earl was the only FS they were willing to move Woods to SS for. After him all other FS (Tre Boston) became irrelevant.

The highest ranked SS was Landon Collins. We weren’t going to pay 90M for a box safety cause no one except the skins would. Berry, Geathers, and Iloka are all quality to above quality starters, not peanuts. Iloka’s availability this late in FA has more to do with the market than his ability. Pretty uniformally regarded as a starting caliber SS, unlike Heath.

 

[Kaiser]

I was thinking, it's not impossible for the Cowboys to sign Iloka and Berry, is it? Iloka shouldn't be terribly expensive and any Berry deal would be heavy on incentives and light on guarantees.

That kind of thinking is not allowed on this site, young man!!

That would be awesome, my send of Berry though is that if his medicals check out, someone is going to pay him a lot of money.

But starting those two would be amazing if both are healthy, I'm OK with Heath and Woods because Woods will still improve and sometimes you have to suffer though below average starters (like TE this year) because that is how salary cap-era football works. But it would be terrific to make Heath and Woods both above average backups.

 

[CT Dal Fan]

My problem is this would be the fourth crack at trying to upgrade this position, which obviously shows it's a major priority. If they felt this strongly about getting it upgraded via free agency, why you waited so long? Damn near everything is gone now. It's almost if they had all their marbles lined up for ET with NO plan B at all. So you left scrambling trying to fill to upgrade the position now with crumbs.

The sad part is the Cowboys' calculated gamble with ET almost paid off. That Ravens offer came in out of nowhere. Had Baltimore not come through with that ridiculous amount of guaranteed cash I have a feeling Thomas would have come to Dallas on a one year deal. The market for him dried up once those one-night Browns rumors proved false.

However, Iloka is a nice plan B. So was Clayton Geathers, who ultimately decided to stay with the Colts. Iloka is no star but he's better than what we have at SS. And let's not totally dismiss Eric Berry just yet, either.

 

[Alexander]

 

[speedkilz88]

The sad part is the Cowboys' calculated gamble with ET almost paid off. That Ravens offer came in out of nowhere. Had Baltimore not come through with that ridiculous amount of guaranteed cash I have a feeling Thomas would have come to Dallas on a one year deal. The market for him dried up once those one-night Browns rumors proved false.

However, Iloka is a nice plan B. So was Clayton Geathers, who ultimately decided to stay with the Colts. Iloka is no star but he's better than what we have at SS. And let's not totally dismiss Eric Berry just yet, either.

Earl claims he was close to signing with KC for 1 yr 12+1 million incentives

 

[CT Dal Fan]

Earl claims he was close to signing with KC for 1 yr 12+1 million incentives

Sorry, I missed that. I assumed the Chiefs were done at safety after they signed Tyrann Mathieu.

 

[ABQCOWBOY]

Iloka did not fit into the Viking's defense. He would fit a lot better into our defense.

That may or may not be true, we do ask Heath to match up on TEs and I've watched Iloke play, he is more of a liability in coverage IMO. Having said this, even if we are just talking about playing the run, Iloka has never posted as productive a season as did Heath, last year. I mean, I just don't see the upgrade that everybody is talking about here.

 

[Alexander]

All Jeff Heath should be is depth. Iloka at least would give the Cowboys a short term starter at SS.

I don't think he is necessarily a sure fire starter over Heath.

 

[Kolemmitt]

That may or may not be true, we do ask Heath to match up on TEs and I've watched Iloke play, he is more of a liability in coverage IMO. Having said this, even if we are just talking about playing the run, Iloka has never posted as productive a season as did Heath, last year. I mean, I just don't see the upgrade that everybody is talking about here.

I don't agree, but no problem, we will just agree to disagree!

 

[zerofill]

Really? You know who our current SS is - correct?

While I would have preferred ET or a healthy Berry, this guy is an upgrade at SS.

Better be one heck of a cheap upgrade... cause it sure isn't like a night and day upgrade there on paper...

 

[Rayman70]

LOL..whats the fetish JG has with Boise state players? I get it...LVE..and DLaw...but Its like the Boise program is the west version of Bama. Cranking out NFL players. Maybe I need to look at that program.They seem to be much more NFL ready players up there in Boise.Ole JG may have found a honey hole lol.