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SAN ANTONIO – Cowboys defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli made it clear last month he believes strongly the club needs to make bolstering its defensive line a top offseason priority.
“Your front seven – you always look at it,” Marinelli told reporters at the NFL Scouting Combine. “You’ve always got to look at the front seven. That kind of drives the whole thing for us. So, hopefully, we’ll be adding pieces.”
Fifth-year defensive tackle Henry Melton could be one of those pieces. The former Chicago Bear will test the open market when free agency begins at 3 p.m. Tuesday.
But it isn’t that easy. The Cowboys are only about $2 million under the $133 million salary cap, so they need to clear more cap space in a hurry if they want to be in the running for Melton, who played for Marinelli when he was the Bears defensive coordinator before joining the Cowboys last season.
A former Texas standout, Melton, 27, is coming off surgery to repair his left ACL, an injury that cut short his 2013 season. He has 15.5 career sacks over four seasons, including a career-high 7.0 in 2011 and 6.0 in 2012, when he made the Pro Bowl. Melton received $8.45 million in 2013 as the Bears’ franchise player.
Melton also could be a target of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who are now coached by former Bears mentor Lovie Smith.
The Cowboys had the third-worst defense in NFL history last season, but Marinelli believes things can be turned around quickly.
“The key is the foundation,” Marinelli said. “If you can get that going, you get yourself a foundation and you build off that. Get the right pieces, the right couple of guys and things will jump quick.”
Given his history with Melton, Marinelli could be pushing Jerry Jones and Jason Garrett to make the Texas alumnus one of those pieces.
Continue reading...
“Your front seven – you always look at it,” Marinelli told reporters at the NFL Scouting Combine. “You’ve always got to look at the front seven. That kind of drives the whole thing for us. So, hopefully, we’ll be adding pieces.”
Fifth-year defensive tackle Henry Melton could be one of those pieces. The former Chicago Bear will test the open market when free agency begins at 3 p.m. Tuesday.
But it isn’t that easy. The Cowboys are only about $2 million under the $133 million salary cap, so they need to clear more cap space in a hurry if they want to be in the running for Melton, who played for Marinelli when he was the Bears defensive coordinator before joining the Cowboys last season.
A former Texas standout, Melton, 27, is coming off surgery to repair his left ACL, an injury that cut short his 2013 season. He has 15.5 career sacks over four seasons, including a career-high 7.0 in 2011 and 6.0 in 2012, when he made the Pro Bowl. Melton received $8.45 million in 2013 as the Bears’ franchise player.
Melton also could be a target of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who are now coached by former Bears mentor Lovie Smith.
The Cowboys had the third-worst defense in NFL history last season, but Marinelli believes things can be turned around quickly.
“The key is the foundation,” Marinelli said. “If you can get that going, you get yourself a foundation and you build off that. Get the right pieces, the right couple of guys and things will jump quick.”
Given his history with Melton, Marinelli could be pushing Jerry Jones and Jason Garrett to make the Texas alumnus one of those pieces.
Continue reading...