Lawrence and the DEs

[Verdict]

I have been doing the math on our DE situation and the more I think about the Armstrong pick the more interesting it becomes. We already have:

Tank
Taco
Irving
Crawford
Tapper
Ealy
Armstrong

We already had 6 guys who could play DE. Tapper has been hurt, for sure. But he was reportedly going to the STARTER at RE before his injury cropped up. Unless they have decided he CANT play medically you would think that they aren't going to just cut him.

We really liked Ealy in the draft, but he hasn't don't much so we might be willing to part with him, but we picked him up with the thought he might stick around.

The Armstrong pick was a premium draft choice. You don't throw 4th rounders away. Someone probably has to go because he was added to the roster. You would think that if they really saw Tapper and Ealy as guys with real potential that Armstrong wouldn't be added.

The Armstrong addition only makes senses if you are almost certain that Tapper or Ealy or both are going to be cut. And that's certainly possible.

But on the other hand the Cowboys may plan on moving Lawrence. He is a classic case of a guy who did nothing four three years and then had a great contract year. The two sides don't seem close together in terms of contract price. That means he would play under the franchise tag this year and then probably walk next year for no more than a 3rd.

We may be planning on parting ways with Lawrence. It's not a given, obviously but the Cowboys may not want to pay him.

 

[John813]

Irving is a 3 tech.

Tapper will be fighting for a spot this year as he has spent the last two years on IR. Put up or get cut time.

Crawford is out of position as a RDE, but does well against the run and isn't completely void of pass rushing ability. Don't think he stays much longer, but it'll depend on the development of the young guys.

Ealy is no lock to make the roster.

If Lawrence has another great year, he will be retained. You don't let a 12+ sack guy go at the age of 27(2019) over a couple million dollars per year.

I'm curious to see where they put Taco, as IMO he is more of a LDE build.

 

[conner01]

I have been doing the math on our DE situation and the more I think about the Armstrong pick the more interesting it becomes. We already have:

Tank
Taco
Irving
Crawford
Tapper
Ealy
Armstrong

We already had 6 guys who could play DE. Tapper has been hurt, for sure. But he was reportedly going to the STARTER at RE before his injury cropped up. Unless they have decided he CANT play medically you would think that they aren't going to just cut him.

We really liked Ealy in the draft, but he hasn't don't much so we might be willing to part with him, but we picked him up with the thought he might stick around.

The Armstrong pick was a premium draft choice. You don't throw 4th rounders away. Someone probably has to go because he was added to the roster. You would think that if they really saw Tapper and Ealy as guys with real potential that Armstrong wouldn't be added.

The Armstrong addition only makes senses if you are almost certain that Tapper or Ealy or both are going to be cut. And that's certainly possible.

But on the other hand the Cowboys may plan on moving Lawrence. He is a classic case of a guy who did nothing four three years and then had a great contract year. The two sides don't seem close together in terms of contract price. That means he would play under the franchise tag this year and then probably walk next year for no more than a 3rd.

We may be planning on parting ways with Lawrence. It's not a given, obviously but the Cowboys may not want to pay him.

Why would you not play it out
He’s the best pass rusher we got and it’s not like he didn’t show anything earlier, he was just out too much to shine. When he played he showed he could play

 

[HungryLion]

I have been doing the math on our DE situation and the more I think about the Armstrong pick the more interesting it becomes. We already have:

Tank
Taco
Irving
Crawford
Tapper
Ealy
Armstrong

We already had 6 guys who could play DE. Tapper has been hurt, for sure. But he was reportedly going to the STARTER at RE before his injury cropped up. Unless they have decided he CANT play medically you would think that they aren't going to just cut him.

We really liked Ealy in the draft, but he hasn't don't much so we might be willing to part with him, but we picked him up with the thought he might stick around.

The Armstrong pick was a premium draft choice. You don't throw 4th rounders away. Someone probably has to go because he was added to the roster. You would think that if they really saw Tapper and Ealy as guys with real potential that Armstrong wouldn't be added.

The Armstrong addition only makes senses if you are almost certain that Tapper or Ealy or both are going to be cut. And that's certainly possible.

But on the other hand the Cowboys may plan on moving Lawrence. He is a classic case of a guy who did nothing four three years and then had a great contract year. The two sides don't seem close together in terms of contract price. That means he would play under the franchise tag this year and then probably walk next year for no more than a 3rd.

We may be planning on parting ways with Lawrence. It's not a given, obviously but the Cowboys may not want to pay him.

I don’t view it as the cowboys not wanting to pay him. I view it more as insurance.

I think the cowboys would love nothing more than for Lawrence to stay healthy all year and far another 14 sacks. If he does, they will definitely pay him. We shall see.

Besides, you can never have too many good pass rushers. This also gives the flex to move Crawford inside where he belongs.

 

[glimmerman]

I think they added Armstrong with hopes one of these DE stick and become a constant. Was wondering if they are going to try to use Armstrong as a LB. D-Law wants a big pay day. And Irving will want one also. We will keep one of the 2. I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s Irving because I don’t think he will get the 17million a year offers because of off field issues.

I watched Cowboys show on amazon prime yesterday and it showed a lot of these players and there families. It was funny to see Irving and his gf after seeing what happened last week. She looks like she could get crazy.

 

[Hennessy_King]

Maybe we can finally have Ty Craw move back inside. Watching him at end is tough, he is so stiff and has no bend.

 

[robjay04]

Tapper, Taco and the draft pick.

Those are our DEs going into 2019.

I’m purposely not counting Crawford because this is basically his contract year. I’m also not counting Gregory as being on this roster.

I’m not sure how you can take anything away from this draft and think we are preparing to let Lawrence go. The DE unit has the potential to be a disaster a year from now. I’m not saying it will be but we have little long term investments there.

 

[gimmesix]

I have been doing the math on our DE situation and the more I think about the Armstrong pick the more interesting it becomes. We already have:

Tank
Taco
Irving
Crawford
Tapper
Ealy
Armstrong

We already had 6 guys who could play DE. Tapper has been hurt, for sure. But he was reportedly going to the STARTER at RE before his injury cropped up. Unless they have decided he CANT play medically you would think that they aren't going to just cut him.

We really liked Ealy in the draft, but he hasn't don't much so we might be willing to part with him, but we picked him up with the thought he might stick around.

The Armstrong pick was a premium draft choice. You don't throw 4th rounders away. Someone probably has to go because he was added to the roster. You would think that if they really saw Tapper and Ealy as guys with real potential that Armstrong wouldn't be added.

The Armstrong addition only makes senses if you are almost certain that Tapper or Ealy or both are going to be cut. And that's certainly possible.

I think Ealy was that cheap veteran we pick up each offseason that usually needs to be replaced. Irving is the starting 3-tech, and Crawford is only an end when we need him to be.

Ideally, I think our end rotation would consist of Lawrence and Charlton as starters and Armstrong, Gregory and Tapper as rotation. Datone Jones and Ealy will compete to get ahead of the rotation players, and offer the versatility to play inside.

Inside, we'd be looking at Irving and Crawford as starters, Crawford and Price as rotation with Ward as the primary competition for the 3-tech backup spot.

Overall, it seems like we're mainly improving our depth than doing anything that will affect Lawrence.

 

[Idgit]

Its more likely we move Irving and/or Crawford inside.

I still think Irving for Thomas was a trade that made sense, though his legal issues probably put a cloud on that.

It does seem like we’ve got a glut at DL and are one short at S still though.

 

[DBOY3141]

I have been doing the math on our DE situation and the more I think about the Armstrong pick the more interesting it becomes. We already have:

Tank
Taco
Irving
Crawford
Tapper
Ealy
Armstrong

We already had 6 guys who could play DE. Tapper has been hurt, for sure. But he was reportedly going to the STARTER at RE before his injury cropped up. Unless they have decided he CANT play medically you would think that they aren't going to just cut him.

We really liked Ealy in the draft, but he hasn't don't much so we might be willing to part with him, but we picked him up with the thought he might stick around.

The Armstrong pick was a premium draft choice. You don't throw 4th rounders away. Someone probably has to go because he was added to the roster. You would think that if they really saw Tapper and Ealy as guys with real potential that Armstrong wouldn't be added.

The Armstrong addition only makes senses if you are almost certain that Tapper or Ealy or both are going to be cut. And that's certainly possible.

But on the other hand the Cowboys may plan on moving Lawrence. He is a classic case of a guy who did nothing four three years and then had a great contract year. The two sides don't seem close together in terms of contract price. That means he would play under the franchise tag this year and then probably walk next year for no more than a 3rd.

We may be planning on parting ways with Lawrence. It's not a given, obviously but the Cowboys may not want to pay him.

How is Armstrong's knee. They said he played on either a partiallly torn ACl or meniscus in 2017. Hopefully this isn't a red shirt year for him.

 

[UncleOscar]

If Armstrong is a dog and washes out in two years, then sonebody in that scouting department needs to lose their job. We supposedly had a high 3rd round rating on him. We passed on safety Kyzir White and TE Will Dissly picked right after him, and also several other very good players including Maurice Hurst.

 

[jblaze2004]

I think tapper is playing for a spot. For someone who plays so little he spent a lot of time or IR.

 

[Verdict]

Why would you not play it out
He’s the best pass rusher we got and it’s not like he didn’t show anything earlier, he was just out too much to shine. When he played he showed he could play

I'm not saying we aren't going to let it play out, but I can also do the math. You aren't going to keep adding bodies to a single position and expect to keep all of them.

Some of these guys are long on potential. We aren't keeping all of them. Someone has to go. It's a numbers game.

Tapper may go. IDK. But if he was as good as advertised and is now healthy are you just going to cut him? Probably not.

Ealy? That's a lot of talent/equity tied up in one position. I'm just saying Lawrence could conceivably be the guy that gets moved for high pick(s).

 

[Verdict]

Irving is a 3 tech.

Tapper will be fighting for a spot this year as he has spent the last two years on IR. Put up or get cut time.

Crawford is out of position as a RDE, but does well against the run and isn't completely void of pass rushing ability. Don't think he stays much longer, but it'll depend on the development of the young guys.

Ealy is no lock to make the roster.

If Lawrence has another great year, he will be retained. You don't let a 12+ sack guy go at the age of 27(2019) over a couple million dollars per year.

I'm curious to see where they put Taco, as IMO he is more of a LDE build.

They won't WONT WANT to let Lawrence walk but they won't tie up 10 to 15 percent of the salary cap in him either. At some point it will be too high of a risk/reward just like it was with Dez. The same analysis applies to every player on the team.

You have to asssmeble talent, but you only have so many dollars to pay them all.

 

[big dog cowboy]

Tank
Taco
Irving
Crawford
Tapper
Ealy
Armstrong

Move Irving and Crawford inside. Down to 5 already.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

No Gregory?

The number of DE's on the roster is why they can go with fewer DT's. On passing downs a DE will kick inside to DT.

 

[Corso]

Its more likely we move Irving and/or Crawford inside.

I still think Irving for Thomas was a trade that made sense, though his legal issues probably put a cloud on that.

It does seem like we’ve got a glut at DL and are one short at S still though.

This post is the first I've read of that idea. I fully endorse it! May still be on, pending investigation upon said issues.

 

[John813]

They won't WONT WANT to let Lawrence walk but they won't tie up 10 to 15 percent of the salary cap in him either. At some point it will be too high of a risk/reward just like it was with Dez. The same analysis applies to every player on the team.

You have to asssmeble talent, but you only have so many dollars to pay them all.

Think the big thing with Dez was that Stephen was never a fan of his imo. Especially for contract #2.
But yea it's a risk giving a huge deal to a guy with back injuries in his past. At the same time he plays a much more vital role compared to wr.

 

[Mr_437]

RE - Taco, Ealy, Tapper
LE - DLaw, TCraw, Armstrong

Usually, I expect 5 DEs to make th team, so Ealy (1yr deal) n Tapper (injuries) are on th bubble IMO. RG could give this group a huge boost, but we don't count him...but man if he made et back.

 

[Diehardblues]

Its more likely we move Irving and/or Crawford inside.

I still think Irving for Thomas was a trade that made sense, though his legal issues probably put a cloud on that.

It does seem like we’ve got a glut at DL and are one short at S still though.

A glut on DL sounds very encouraging . Here’s to finally having the rotation to cause enough havoc and pressure to help the secondary.