Let's talk about the linebacking corp

[Sydla]

They need to sign a veteran like Queen and draft Cooper from A&M and come up with another one from free agency or the draft.

Set your sights much lower than Queen. Zero chance they even contact him with serious intent.

Josey Jewell is a guy who could be a nice inside guy for us from Denver. And Bobby Wagner might be worth a call now that Carroll is no longer the coach in Seattle (although I guess if Quinn went back there, he might want to stay).

 

[rambo2]

Set your sights much lower than Queen. Zero chance they even contact him with serious intent.

Josey Jewell is a guy who could be a nice inside guy for us from Denver. And Bobby Wagner might be worth a call now that Carroll is no longer the coach in Seattle (although I guess if Quinn went back there, he might want to stay).

I love Iowa guys.

 

[Robster8989]

They need to sign a veteran like Queen and draft Cooper from A&M and come up with another one from free agency or the draft.

Dude the Cowboys are not signing Patrick Queen, or anyone like him.
When was the last time this team made a splash in FA?
They are still gun shy from Brandon Carr.
We don't have the money to sign Queen, unless you want to get rid of CeeDee or Micah or someone major?
The best case scenario is to sign a vet who can step right in, and draft a guy.
My ideal would be Wagner as a FA and draft Tommy Eichenberg. Even someone like Cashman or Jewell perhaps. A lower cost FA and a day 2 pick. That plus Clark, Overshown etc would fix the position, at a reasonable cost.

 

[Creeper]

It makes me wonder if maybe teh Cowboys are just not good at developing LBs. What happened to Cox? Yes, he got hurt. But then what? Was he every really given a chance to develop? They shoved him aside for Kearse. Maybe Cox would have been fine in a traditional 4-3 alignment. Not saying he would, I don't know. But LBs seem to come to Dallas to have their careers die.

We saw some of these guys in preseason. It is not a perfect test, but it is the best we can do outside of playing regular season games. I just do not believe Cox and Harper - and Evans for that matter - were worse against the run that what Dallas trotted out on the field. Are the the best players Dallas could have gotten? Probably not, but playing the season with no LB depth and 200 lb safeties playing LB was clearly a problem. And what about Clark? Cox and Clark were good players in college. Clark hasn't gotten any better than when we first saw him. I just wonder if a different coaching group could have gotten more out of them than we we got.

 

[Mr_437]

For the record they should've gave Harper a chance. Depending on LVE in any way was poor management. Anyway, move forward:
Draft the 247lb MLB from Michigan, and sign a low cost vet like Blake Cashman. That gives you 2 Day 1 starters and everybody can prove themselves on STs.

 

[rambo2]

Dude the Cowboys are not signing Patrick Queen, or anyone like him.
When was the last time this team made a splash in FA?
They are still gun shy from Brandon Carr.
We don't have the money to sign Queen, unless you want to get rid of CeeDee or Micah or someone major?
The best case scenario is to sign a vet who can step right in, and draft a guy.
My ideal would be Wagner as a FA and draft Tommy Eichenberg. Even someone like Cashman or Jewell perhaps. A lower cost FA and a day 2 pick. That plus Clark, Overshown etc would fix the position, at a reasonable cost.

They certainly will sign a linebacker or 2 from somewhere and draft at least one.

 

[Rockport]

Dallas had a plan - LVE and Overshown. Both got hurt. They thought Cox would recover. They saw he didn't and moved on. They thought Harper would develop. He didn't and they moved on. They thought Clark would ascend, he hasn't. And thru all that, they are still a decent Run D at times. It turns out they didn't have the depth they thought when they ran their off-season.

So looking ahead. LVE is unlikely to come back. Overshown will be a full year away from his ACL by the time the season starts. Will he be completely healthy and how much can he really be counted on? Clark? He can be counted on as a backup but I'm not sure any of us want him starting. Bell needs moved back to safety.

By my count that leaves us with no starters and one backup and one big ? in Overshown. Needless to say multiple additions are needed. At least 3. I'm ok with one draft pick but not sure I want to count on two. That means we need to add a couple of vets. I liked the idea I read yesterday about Devin White as a possible FA addition. That is a good start but still need help.

Who knows what will happen at DC. If Quinn leaves, the new DC will have his own ideas about how what kind of defense he wants to run. If Quinn stays, will he (and Jerry) realize the cost in his lack of valuing the LB position this year? Especially before the end of the trading season? So may questions that need answered before FA and the draft. I'm not sure what it will look like in May. But right now, the LB corp is a total cluster. And teams will be gearing up to run against us again next year.

I think Overshown should be moved to safety because he’s only 220 lbs. we need to get bigger, meaner and stronger up the middle. Great post Big Dog

 

[The Natural]

 

[big dog cowboy]

Josey Jewell is a guy who could be a nice inside guy for us from Denver. And Bobby Wagner might be worth a call now that Carroll is no longer the coach in Seattle (although I guess if Quinn went back there, he might want to stay).

This is a good post. If I had thought of Jewell I would have included him in the OP. It's unlikely Wagner wants to come here but with a new HC, maybe??? Good call.

 

[diamonddelts]

Overshown and bell run it back. Maybe we draft a guy in the later rounds for depth.

Overhype and bell rung.

 

[Big D]

move micah back to lb and only rush him from de 3rd and passing downs.

take one of the clemson lbs in the 2nd after OL in the first. edit....barrett carter isn't coming out. trotter jr i would love in the 2nd.

This is what I was thinking the first time that it was apparent OC's were double teaming and chipping him. Don't just sit there and let the offense tee off on micah. Be strategic! It's seems like DQ is on autopilot most times.

 

[INCowboysFan]

Dallas had a plan - LVE and Overshown. Both got hurt. They thought Cox would recover. They saw he didn't and moved on. They thought Harper would develop. He didn't and they moved on. They thought Clark would ascend, he hasn't. And thru all that, they are still a decent Run D at times. It turns out they didn't have the depth they thought when they ran their off-season.

So looking ahead. LVE is unlikely to come back. Overshown will be a full year away from his ACL by the time the season starts. Will he be completely healthy and how much can he really be counted on? Clark? He can be counted on as a backup but I'm not sure any of us want him starting. Bell needs moved back to safety.

By my count that leaves us with no starters and one backup and one big ? in Overshown. Needless to say multiple additions are needed. At least 3. I'm ok with one draft pick but not sure I want to count on two. That means we need to add a couple of vets. I liked the idea I read yesterday about Devin White as a possible FA addition. That is a good start but still need help.

Who knows what will happen at DC. If Quinn leaves, the new DC will have his own ideas about how what kind of defense he wants to run. If Quinn stays, will he (and Jerry) realize the cost in his lack of valuing the LB position this year? Especially before the end of the trading season? So may questions that need answered before FA and the draft. I'm not sure what it will look like in May. But right now, the LB corp is a total cluster. And teams will be gearing up to run against us again next year.

On one hand you say Dallas had a plan at LB, then on the other you said there was a lack in valuing LB's this year.

I'm a firm believer that Micah needs to play LB way more than DE. His career will be fairly short if he keeps going against OT's 90% of the time. put him at LB and move him around so he's harder to scheme against. It would also be helpful if Sam Williams would have some impact besides ST penalties. Sign a vet LB or two that has shown a history of being a very good run defender and draft a couple LB's for depth.

 

[ryan9110]

I think Overshown should be moved to safety because he’s only 220 lbs. we need to get bigger, meaner and stronger up the middle. Great post Big Dog

He's 230, not that small.

 

[Jfconrow]

It baffles me how hard it is to find a good LB. You can watch tape and know right away if the dude can play. Then they just have to have the size 230lbs+. So why is it so hard to draft these guys? It seams like every year there are only 1 or 2 studs but there are so many college teams. How can so few teams have a nfl ready LBs. I’m guessing durability has a lot to do with it ala RBs. Still its so hard to find a good LB/RB and they only last a few years in the league

 

[visionary]

This is the main reason i want Quinn gone
I was listening to a GM on the radio and they said that in the 53 the question was how many LBs do we keep? 4 or 5
The idiot Cowboys kept 2, Clark and LVE. Overshown got injured early and they knew Cox was garbage.

You couple this with having only 1, 1T DT (Broaddus said they asked Mazi to lose weight and play 3T) and playing a LB at DE and you have a recipe for disaster

Then we have safeties who cant cover the deep because “safeties have to be interchangeable with LBs” (LOL)

We need 3 new LBs in addition to Clark and Overshown
We need 1 more high end 1T DT
We need real DE playing DE not Parsons
Parsons buy in to play LB
We need 1 more deep safety in addition to Hooker

A real aggressive DC

 

[OmerV]

Overshown and bell run it back. Maybe we draft a guy in the later rounds for depth.

They are both smallish guys that are good at chasing down and coverage, but neither is a tough run stuffer. That's the element we we missing at LB this year.

 

[MikeT22]

They trusted Quinn's judgement on the position and it has not worked out. They need to overhaul the entire position. Must get bigger LB's in

That’s because we don’t have a GM

 

[Bobhaze]

Overshown and bell run it back. Maybe we draft a guy in the later rounds for depth.

Marquese Bell weighs about 210. He looks like a JV kid vs the varsity. He’s pretty much a safety sized guy trying to take on 300 lb guards. It’s no secret why teams with a running game salivate when they see the box we present to them.

 

[conner01]

It was working OK when they had LVE. Trent Williams hit him with a cheap shot and put an end to that.

We could sure use a good LB. Wagner is a FA coming off a great year. But the right LB has to be a guy who can stop the run but also cover. The day of the thumper who doesn’t cover is over

 

[rambo2]

That’s because we don’t have a GM

Lol, they have a couple of them. What does Philly have, their back 7 on defense was terrible.