Keeping Parnell over Free

[jnday]

I disagree. I would keep him around after this year and jettison Free. Parnell is younger and has more potential than Free does.

I disagree. I would keep him around after this year and jettison Free. Parnell is younger and has more potential than Free does.

Free should be gone, but I want to see Parnell live up to his potential and win the job. If he can't step up, the team needs to move on from both.

 

[Alexander]

The one game that he started at LT was impressive to be honest. For him to step in and replace Tyron , it showed his talent and why the coaches had hope for him. He played a solid game by any standards and he looked like the game was not to big for him.

It was also only one game. We had an undrafted free agent back in the Campo era who shut down Strahan in his prime.

Free should be gone, but I want to see Parnell live up to his potential and win the job. If he can't step up, the team needs to move on from both.

What makes you think it is a legitimate open competititon for Free's job?

 

[jnday]

It was also only one game. We had an undrafted free agent back in the Campo era who shut down Strahan in his prime.



What makes you think it is a legitimate open competititon for Free's job?

There should be open competition for all jobs if the coaches believe in that kinda thing. As for the one game, it showed his potential. Parnell repeating that effort would be the best case considering Free needs upgraded. I am not saying Parnell should start unless he beats Free for the job. If he can't beat Free out for the position, the guy will never amount to anything. It shouldn't be hard to do for somebody with the talent.

 

[starfrombirth]

I wish we could go with Parnell, but he's really a mediocre starter and a serviceable backup. He's a poor man's Flozell Adams. He is big, super strong and has agility, but no bend and terrible technique. Gets by with his size, athleticism and sheer strength.





YR

It worked for Larry Allen

 

[starfrombirth]

Some very good posts here. I love posts that are based on actually watching the player and not from some comments or lack of comments by people like Broaddus or ESPN guys.

I've watched all snaps that Parnell has ever taken with the Cowboys...

I've posted about is before, but the OL coaches schemed around Free's weaknesses in 2013. It was a brilliant job of coaching. I would love to see Parnell and Weems challenge Free in training camp; although, with Free having a significantly bigger contract than those 2 guys, I don't know if the Cowboys management would really bench him.

What about Parnell beating out Free and Weems taking one of the guard spots?... I think Martin is better than Leary or Bernadeau and I would feel better if Weems played as well as Leary but with better knees. That really has me worried. I can't help but think of them going out in a game and having no one with any practice time at the position. Inside pressure on Romo will get him killed.

 

[ABQCOWBOY]

I think you have that backwards. Free is pretty bad. He has played because of the contract they gave him after showing promise in 2010. He is too dependent on technique and requires a lot of help and game planning to make him passable. He should be a back-up and Parnell should be given a FAIR shot at beating him out. Parnell has much better tools and should be an upgrade.

Either way, Free needs to be replaced and it would be great if it was Parnell. It he isn't as good as we think, then Martin is a good back-up plan for 2015 if they can't sign or draft someone else.

I think Parnell has been given a fair chance to take the job. He just hasn't been able to do it. I don't think he will do it this year either. I think what will happen is that Parnell will be given the chance (and I think the club would be collectively pissing their pants if he were able to beat out Free) but he won't do it. The team will play out Free's last year and if they can sign him to another reasonable deal, then they will but if they can't, they will let him go and sign an FA or draft a guy. I think that's what will happen.

 

[jobberone]

Some very good posts here. I love posts that are based on actually watching the player and not from some comments or lack of comments by people like Broaddus or ESPN guys.

I've watched all snaps that Parnell has ever taken with the Cowboys in both preseason games and regular season games. He is really fun to watch. He can physically dominate defenders in ways that Free has never been able to do. He is much stronger than Free and a little quicker as well. Some people say that he play to upright, but when he is holding his ground or the defender is moving backwards I don't really care if he's playing a little upright. When Jerry said they Parnell had the strongest "punch" ever measured by Woicik, I believe that is probably true. Punch is not just weight room strength, it's combination of speed and strength.

Parnell was injured all of last preseason which was his one real chance to beat out Free. In the one preseason game that he played, he was visibly limping between plays but still dominated the Bengals rookie 2nd round DE. He even dominated All Pro Geno Atkins on one play. I bought the extra package to get the Preseason games on the All-22, but they become unavailable after the season starts.

Parnell's biggest problems have oddly come when he has played as an extra TE. He's has a tendency on short yardage running plays to go for the kill shot which sometimes results in whiff.

Reports came out in 2012 that Callahan wanted to bench Free and start Parnell but that "management" wanted to stay with the more experience player. The compromise was the rotation between Free and Parnell for the final 4 games of the season. I'm not certain is "management" was Garrett or the front office. Jerry has had a strong tendency to want to play the guys with big contracts even when they are not performing.

All media comments about Weems overtaking Parnell have come from 1 source, Broaddus. Broaddus is the same guy that reported that Carter was moving to the SLB which it turns out was just his idea. Marinelli clearly stated that Carter would be competing at WLB.

I do think Weems has some upside. In the preseason, you could see that he has NFL physical ability, but was raw as a player. He has a build that would make him a good Guard also. In the 2013 preseason, Weems reminded me of Leary from the 2012 preseason. With both you could see NFL type physical ability, but they were raw as football players. We never saw NFL physical ability from guys like Arkin.

I've posted about is before, but the OL coaches schemed around Free's weaknesses in 2013. It was a brilliant job of coaching. I would love to see Parnell and Weems challenge Free in training camp; although, with Free having a significantly bigger contract than those 2 guys, I don't know if the Cowboys management would really bench him.

My exact thoughts although I'd reiterate Parnell seems to be frozen on some plays and those are the ones that are negative for him. IMO, he has All Pro potential aside from whatever the heck is causing his apoplexy. I didn't appreciate the missed shots while playing TE but I'll concede that to you. I'm going to be mad if they let him get away. I hope he has a good TC and they resign him to a voidable contract after 2-3 years. If he gets hurt this year then he might end up playing somewhere else.

I've not seen Weems as much but I agree he is very raw. This is an important camp for him. I think Weems or Parnell could play G. They have the mobility to play a move guard although I'm not certain either can block at the second level. Not proposing they move to guard just agreeing they have the ability to play inside although their talents lie at T.

 

[ABQCOWBOY]

Egregious is one I use on a semi-daily basis. I like it...it implies that the topic at hand is much more serious or severe than simply saying "serious" or "severe."

Mine is Bratweiler. My Wife has recently gotten a little mini Dachsund Puppy and it has the black and brown coloring going on so it's been tagged as a Bratweiler. It's a family term I guess you could say.

Anyhow, it looks like this.

 

[xwalker]

What about Parnell beating out Free and Weems taking one of the guard spots?... I think Martin is better than Leary or Bernadeau and I would feel better if Weems played as well as Leary but with better knees. That really has me worried. I can't help but think of them going out in a game and having no one with any practice time at the position. Inside pressure on Romo will get him killed.

I would like to see Weems get reps at OG in the preseason; however, they have the 2 returning starters (Leary, Bern) from 2013 plus Martin to compete for the starting spots. Whoever is the odd man out of those 3 will be the top backup.

Jonathan Vilma was diagnosed with the same condition as Leary back when he was in High School. He has since played 4 years in college and 10 years in the NFL.

If Martin is the RG as expected, they would be even less likely to give Parnell a chance to start at RT because they will want more experience surrounding the rookie. The Cowboys already have a history of giving the edge to previous starters even if the backup appears to be a little better. Parnell or Weems would have to be drastically better than Free in order to win the job at RT, IMO.

 

[jobberone]

It was also only one game. We had an undrafted free agent back in the Campo era who shut down Strahan in his prime.



What makes you think it is a legitimate open competititon for Free's job?

Why wouldn't they allow both to compete with Free? His contract isn't big so if he rides the pine as a swing tackle who cares. This idea that they will play inferior competition repetitively due to contract is nonsense. Now I do agree they will give players they believe can succeed time to develop esp if they think they have superior athletic talent. No coach is going to ride an inferior player past a certain point no matter his draft position, starter or not, or even talent if it doesn't translate to the field.

If Parnell is healthy this year I expect him to beat Free out assuming he corrects his mental game as well. You may see Free get beat but it's not often he lets a player have an open path to the QB. So if Parnell continues with these lapses in concentration or whatever and Free is playing reasonably well then you'll still likely see Free start. You can't get Tony hurt unnecessarily.

 

[jobberone]

Not enough experience to fall back on. He is fine in scripted fronts that are seen in film work but if a team throws a wrinkle in during the game he does not have enough experience to fall back on to make up for the "weird" front. Think the same problem rookie lineman have but with even less experience.

I don't agree with this at all. Most of his boo boos are when he's got a man in front of him and he just seems frozen. He's clearly not getting confused as who to block. He's just not moving and it truly baffles me. That's the only time I've ever seen the guy beat and that's because he's still in his stance. Generally he's moving with the count and stopping people in their tracks.

 

[casmith07]

I would like to see Weems get reps at OG in the preseason; however, they have the 2 returning starters (Leary, Bern) from 2013 plus Martin to compete for the starting spots. Whoever is the odd man out of those 3 will be the top backup.

Jonathan Vilma was diagnosed with the same condition as Leary back when he was in High School. He has since played 4 years in college and 10 years in the NFL.

If Martin is the RG as expected, they would be even less likely to give Parnell a chance to start at RT because they will want more experience surrounding the rookie. The Cowboys already have a history of giving the edge to previous starters even if the backup appears to be a little better. Parnell or Weems would have to be drastically better than Free in order to win the job at RT, IMO.

I just think it's criminal that they would put Bernadeau on the bench after the 2013 season he turned in. Doug Free should be the swing tackle.

 

[casmith07]

Free should be gone, but I want to see Parnell live up to his potential and win the job. If he can't step up, the team needs to move on from both.

I would keep Parnell as a swing tackle for insurance. He's shown he can play real minutes against NFL competition -- we all know what happens when you have to throw a McQuistan out there to start.

 

[xwalker]

I would keep Parnell as a swing tackle for insurance. He's shown he can play real minutes against NFL competition -- we all know what happens when you have to throw a McQuistan out there to start.

Yep, why would anyone want to get rid of guy that has been a quality backup without first finding better players.

 

[casmith07]

Yep, why would anyone want to get rid of guy that has been a quality backup without first finding better players.

Because CowboysZone?

 

[xwalker]

I just think it's criminal that they would put Bernadeau on the bench after the 2013 season he turned in. Doug Free should be the swing tackle.

Yes, it would suck for Bern personally to be benched. Leary and Bern were both better players in 2013 than Doug Free.

 

[FuzzyLumpkins]

Great looking pup.

 

[ABQCOWBOY]

Great looking pup.

My Wife thanks you.

On the down side, everybody in the house has just been lowered one rung on the pecking order. LOL.......

 

[jobberone]

Yes, it would suck for Bern personally to be benched. Leary and Bern were both better players in 2013 than Doug Free.

Not sure I agree with that. I think they all have some drawbacks. I do not think Leary or Free will ever be dominating or better than solid. I think Mack can be better although his feet may keep him from it. I do think Mack should be the starter at the beginning of camp. I just hope they all get to compete and starting jobs aren't won or loss due to injury.

 

[Nightman]

I just think it's criminal that they would put Bernadeau on the bench after the 2013 season he turned in. Doug Free should be the swing tackle.

I think it has more to do with Bern being able to play C. Hopefully Martin is so good he can upgrade Bern at OG.