Richard - I think he's why we don't draft safeties

[buybuydandavis]

I like Richard's philosophy for the secondary. SS in the box, CBs playing press and underneath, FS protecting all over the top.

This strategy calls for and *allows* bigger, stronger, longer, but maybe not so fast, at all DB positions but FS. That's also *cheaper* at all positions but FS.

If an Earl Thomas comes along for FS, we might try for him. We did, in fact. But I doubt any of the safeties at 58 and beyond were supposed to be Earl.

Looking at the guys we took, I see size and *long arms*, and guys we didn't have to spend premium picks on.
CB - Mike Jackson - 6-1 32 1/2
SS - Donovan Wilson - 6-0 33 3/8
CB - Mike Westry - 6-4 33 3/4

Everything is going exactly as planned. Teams thinking we were going to pick a safety high served our interests.

But not taking strong safeties or CBs early is a feature and benefit of a Richard secondary. Get used to it.

EDIT: I would change the title to "Richard - Not picking SSs or CBs early is a feature, not a bug"

 

[Hennessy_King]

So unless we have an all pro safety our secondary will suck? That sounds great

 

[cowboyec]

Richard seemed happy when we drafted Donovan Wilson....so Im gonna trust him with our secondary.

 

[gmoney112]

We never really drafted safeties.

I believe during the draft Richards actually said something about the Hill/safety debate. Something along the lines of he can't make a safety pressure the QB into bad decisions.

He'd probably like a talented safety to pair with Woods, he just wanted a pressure player more, and in this case interior pressure. Because ours wasn't very good. I don't know if that's Hill, but I agree with him.

 

[85Cowboy85]

I've gotten the sense we value free safeties who have the athleticism to play single high. That's why they were in on Earl Thomas and that's why they drafted Byron Jones over Landon Collins.

I don't think we place much value on strong in the box type safeties. Much like the 3 tech vs the 1 tech. They will take players like that but only in the late rounds of the draft or as low tier free agent signings.

 

[CowboyJ70]

That being said, it has been reported that at pick 90, they would have taken SS Will Harris if he was there. So they were willing to take certain guys that fit.

 

[visionary]

I'm done trying to guess why they do what they do

I'm done trying to justify it

If you are going against the traditional model, show me the results or get lost

That's my mantra for this year

Show me Garrett, Moore, Marinelli and Richard

Or get lost

 

[CT Dal Fan]

The bottom line is the Cowboys like what they have at safety more than we do.

The playoff loss to the Rams was due to getting beat badly along both the defensive and offensive lines. Dallas addressed those spots with their first two picks; so I guess there's not much to debate after all.

 

[CF74]

He hasn’t been here long enough to make that determination. The last early pick I can recall is a third on Wilcox and then even further back, a first on Roy Williams...

 

[Jake]

Dallas drafted a safety last week. Then just didn't draft the CZ pet cat safety at 58.

 

[TheSkaven]

This is really simple - your entire secondary gets better when you put more pressure on the quarterback. The coaches believe in focusing on the defensive line.

 

[Hennessy_King]

This is really simple - your entire secondary gets better when you put more pressure on the quarterback. The coaches believe in focusing on the defensive line.

This is not 100% true especially with our bend dont break style defense. We play off and keep everything in front of us. Mediocre secondary play allows QBs to get rid of the ball faster due to our trash scheme of playing off and not being aggressive. It's actually counterintuitive

 

[TheSkaven]

This is not 100% true especially with our bend dont break style defense. We play off and keep everything in front of us. Mediocre secondary play allows QBs to get rid of the ball faster due to our trash scheme of playing off and not being aggressive. It's actually counterintuitive

That changed with Richard. I don’t have the official stats in front of me - but I’m certain that we blitzed a lot more in 2018 than in 2017. They played more aggressive, played closer to the line and took more chances, played more man than ever before. Let’s see if the trend continues.

 

[AbeBeta]

Richard reportedly wanted Hill.

He knows very well that good DBs mean nothing without pressure up front.

 

[Doomsay]

Uhm, Richard - 15 years?

 

[Maxmadden]

This is not 100% true especially with our bend dont break style defense. We play off and keep everything in front of us. Mediocre secondary play allows QBs to get rid of the ball faster due to our trash scheme of playing off and not being aggressive. It's actually counterintuitive

That's why we took an interior DL to get more pressure up the middle.

 

[Hennessy_King]

That's why we took an interior DL to get more pressure up the middle.

What I'm saying is if we get pressure and ppl are open it wont equate to anything different

 

[buybuydandavis]

I've gotten the sense we value free safeties who have the athleticism to play single high. That's why they were in on Earl Thomas and that's why they drafted Byron Jones over Landon Collins.

I don't think we place much value on strong in the box type safeties. Much like the 3 tech vs the 1 tech. They will take players like that but only in the late rounds of the draft or as low tier free agent signings.

That's about how I see it.

They'll spend to get a true single high FS. For in the box guys, they think they can get them cheaper. And they're right. Barry Church cost nothing to draft and little to extend, although I thought we were paying too much at the end.

Frazier just didn't pan out for us.

 

[Hennessy_King]

That changed with Richard. I don’t have the official stats in front of me - but I’m certain that we blitzed a lot more in 2018 than in 2017. They played more aggressive, played closer to the line and took more chances, played more man than ever before. Let’s see if the trend continues.

When marinelli is not the DC with his trash scheme then there might be a difference.

 

[buybuydandavis]

That being said, it has been reported that at pick 90, they would have taken SS Will Harris if he was there. So they were willing to take certain guys that fit.

I'm surprised at that one. Doesn't have the long arms of the other guys.