I am trying to be as objective as possible about Joseph the football player and not allow his offseason stupidity to influence what I think about him.
From what I have seen of all of the Cowboys backup CBs lately, none are any good. No matter who they put out there, there are going to be plays the other team will make. That is the given in this situation. I think Wright probably is the best of them at this point but he has a major flaw in his game. He is slow, especially coming out of breaks. His receivers get way too much separation and even with his height he cannot get the job done. Of course if there is a QB who makes a mistake like the journeyman in Tenn, Wright has a chance to make a play. That's not happening with Brady.
Joseph has the tools. He has speed and athleticism. But it seems like he has a low football IQ. I know he gets criticized for penalties, but Sam Williams makes a lot of dumb penalties too and does not get the same criticism. The problem with Joseph is I have not seen him rise the the occasion, not once. In the time I have seen him he stays with the receivers but is clueless what to do with the ball in the air. He lacks experience or understanding of how to play the position. Now I know people will bring up the deep ball where he bit for the double move, but that is not the same thing as just getting outrun. Wright and the others will just get outrun on those deep balls and crossing routes. I would also keep in mind Diggs and others have been beaten the same way. In some cases quite badly. Joseph played 0 snaps at CB last week which was a shame. It would have been good to see if he learned anything from being benched. With him, I just want to know if he is redeemable. Some players get benched and get angry. The strive to be better. I don't know how Joseph will respond to being benched.
Wright is tall and can use that to his advantage, but he is really slow when he has to break with a receiver. He does not have the catchup speed. He can get handsy and commit holding and PI penalties because he does not have the speed/quickness to stay with receivers. Savvy QBs will look to throw to receivers who are breaking hard inside, or fast receivers who run stop and go routes when Wright is in. With Brady at QB, Wright is a liability. But he does seem to know how to play the position better than Joseph does.
Alexander is too slow, but he seems to play those slants and short inside stuff better than Wright. That could be a positive against Brady and the Bucs. But I have not seen enough of him. If he plays press better than Wright or Joseph he may be useful this week.
I haven't seen enough of Mullin or Rhodes, but I think Rhodes is past his prime and would be a longshot to be the solution. Does it make sense to throw him out there at this point not knowing what he is? Play the devil you know instead?
There are other options. They can rotate CBs for particular situations. They can try players like Mukuamu and Tyler Coyle at CB. Coyle if I recall has good speed coming out of college. I believe he ran a 4.36 40. He hasn't played much and I don't think he has played any CB, but the few plays he played last week he did not look lost.
It is a problem the Cowboys are not going to solve now. They have to play someone who is going to miss some plays and they have to accept it. I think they expected too much from Joseph and pulled him to soon but I understand it. Now they are really between a rock and a hard spot.
The best answer for me is to turn the pass rush loose.
