Let's talk fairly about Jeff Heath

[Beaker42]

There is logic and reason to this, but that same reasoning could apply to Woods and Frazier and Chido and Byron Jones and the entire secondary, so my question would be is it reasonable for Heath to far and away be the one member of the secondary that is most often singled out as the player it is urgent to replace, or that he is sometimes treated as one of the worst safeties in the NFL? I know that's not what you said, but it does get said by many.

He needs to be replaced as a starter because he adds nothing to the defense. I saw him break on a pass one time this season. He’s horrible.

 

[Doomsay]

Ahh, DIV III?

 

[JustChip]

Heath is the shortstop that is average, but makes the occasional “wow, how did he do that” play. However, he’s just as likely to make the “wow, what the heck are you doing” play, too.

 

[HungryLion]

I get the general belief, and again, most of us accept that he is not a top level player, but I guess my question is how does that belief jive with the fact that he was the 3rd leading tackler on the team and the team is among the best in the NFL at preventing the deep pass? Obviously stats don't always tell the whole story, but they also aren't meaningless, and these stats suggest Heath isn't performing as poorly as some believe.

I’m not worried about the tackles.

1 interception and 1 forced fumble this season.

In Marinelli/Richards scheme. The safety position SHOULD be one of the key positions in generating turnovers. Our defenses biggest downfall has been the lack of turnovers.

We need a playmaker back there. Somebody who can change a game. That guy ain’t Jeff Heath.

 

[cowfan]

I'm not going to bash Jeff Heath. He's probably gotten the biggest turn overs the last few years for the Cowboys. He wasn't horrible this year.

 

[Chrispierce]

I’ll say what I always say. These guys are what you want as depth,but not the starters they need. Put a top S back there and use Heath to rotate? Then you really got something. He’s just being asked to do a job over his pay grade is all.

 

[sbark]

Move Heath back to a more free safety position
At least he shows up in the camera view
X.woods didn't even on gurleys 40 yard run in 2nd qtr, he is awol alot

 

[Verdict]

I think most can agree Heath is not a top tier player, but outside that, opinions seem to range from being a solid starter to being terrible and some even suggest he may be the worst safety in the NFL.

We can fairly look at some flaws - sometimes he can take a bad angle to the ball carrier or receiver, and sometimes he fails to wrap up, and he isn't a big playmaker.

On the other hand, he was the 3rd leading tackler on the Cowboys behind LVE and Jaylon Smith, and only 6 teams gave up fewer deep passes than the Cowboys did.

So where does that leave us? To me it leaves us with a player who isn't above being upgraded, but who doesn't necessarily have to be upgraded, especially if doing so would prohibit upgrading positions that have a more urgent need.

I know some will disagree, but my goal is to have a reasonable, considered discussion and not one that is based on emotion and past impressions from when Heath was younger.

Heath is a solid, if unspectacular, player with upside. I'm ok with an upgrade, but he is far from the weakest link in the secondary. Xavier Woods is a far greater liability in every respect than Heath.

 

[mmohican29]

Not a bad player, not a very good one either.

He's a prototype effort player that since he earned/was handed the starting job 2 years ago, has gotten a bit complacent and plays somewhat nonchalant.

Overall I like him, but that brainfart on Goff's bootleg is borderline unforgiveable.

I'd look to upgrade definitely.

 

[blumayne38]

I think a shoulder issue effected his tackling , but his bad coverage this year was obviously a problem. But I like I said I think him being hurt somewhat played a role in his bad play this year

 

[SSoup]

I’m hoping that changes this off season and they sign Earl Thomas. But we shall see.

I somehow suspect Thomas will be much less interested in us now that he's gotten a year older and suffered another big injury making him more damaged goods.

Everybody theoretically, in the abstract, wants to play for us when they think we're the wildcat that's gonna wildly overpay them when others are sensibly refusing to do something that dumb. Now that he torpedoed his leverage a bit and we'll rightly want him to accept a more reasonable contract instead of overpaying him to the extent that he fantasized, watch him magically no longer be that into coming here.

But maybe I'm wrong and the Kris Richard connection makes it happen, and he comes here on a reasonable deal.

 

[Bullflop]

I'm far from being convinced that this team is make a commitment to doing what it would take to bring an elite quality safety into the fold.

 

[kiheikiwi]

For all the E.T. talk, what do you consider Heath to be ?
Is he a down in the box S.S. ? As he was a lot this year, is he playing out of position and should be back at F.S.
If we can get E.T. for a reasonable 2 year contract, I'm all for it. Not just for his play, but also what he can teach the safety group we have, mainly Woods.
Heath is the senior safety in that room, and he still does all the things we talk about, bad angles, doesn't use his arms a lot when tackling. BUT, he is also fast and makes the occasional.big play, a couple this year.
With E.T. in the room to better teach the FS's, draft a strong safety and let him and Heath fight it out, with hopefully the new guy starting and Heath backing up.

 

[Pompey-Cowboy]

Earl Thomas isn't the only potential safety free agent this spring. The way our D has progressed, safety is just about the only place we may need to upgrade.

 

[Cmac]

Makes hard hits.....but often run himself completely out of play, bad angles, and misses tackles. Our safeties aren't sure tacklers....can hit....but miss too many tackles or arrive too late to make big plays.

 

[OmerV]

I somehow suspect Thomas will be much less interested in us now that he's gotten a year older and suffered another big injury making him more damaged goods.

Everybody theoretically, in the abstract, wants to play for us when they think we're the wildcat that's gonna wildly overpay them when others are sensibly refusing to do something that dumb. Now that he torpedoed his leverage a bit and we'll rightly want him to accept a more reasonable contract instead of overpaying him to the extent that he fantasized, watch him magically no longer be that into coming here.

But maybe I'm wrong and the Kris Richard connection makes it happen, and he comes here on a reasonable deal.

But wouldn't the injury affect his leverage with any other team he might negotiate with just as it would with the Cowboys? If so, why would the Cowboys not still be the team he prefers?

 

[xwalker]

This seems to be the opposite of what I asked for when I wrote the thread. If you have some reason and logic to go with your comments that would be helpful, but without that it just comes across as an emotional reaction without thinking it through. For example, if, as noted in the OP, Heath is the 3rd leading tackler on the team, and the team is one of the best in the NFL against deep passes, how does that translate into him being as bad as you say? To say he is the worst starting safety in the NFL (or even close to it) and have it mean anything, there has to be some explanation for this.

There are certain comments/complaints that are a dead give-away that a poster does not really understand football very well.

Most of the Dak haters fall into that category. They make the same comments that some 12 year olds would make.

The same is often true with comments about Safeties. It is a very difficult position to evaluate, especially without the All-22 view which most people making the comments don't watch.

 

[mattjames2010]

He's average on his best day. Upgrade.

 

[HungryLion]

I somehow suspect Thomas will be much less interested in us now that he's gotten a year older and suffered another big injury making him more damaged goods.

Everybody theoretically, in the abstract, wants to play for us when they think we're the wildcat that's gonna wildly overpay them when others are sensibly refusing to do something that dumb. Now that he torpedoed his leverage a bit and we'll rightly want him to accept a more reasonable contract instead of overpaying him to the extent that he fantasized, watch him magically no longer be that into coming here.

But maybe I'm wrong and the Kris Richard connection makes it happen, and he comes here on a reasonable deal.

I hear ya steamed. I dont think Earl necessarily wants to play with the cowboys over anybody else either. Earl will play for whoever offers him the most money/guarantees.

I don’t know what his market is going to look like given his age/injury. But man I would love to see the cowboys take a shot on him. If he can play at even 90% or his peak level, then it would help our defense immensely.

 

[morat1959]

I keep reading replies about Heath being a great ST player. Our ST as a whole wasn’t very good this year and neither was Heath playing ST.