The Cowboys need a Free Agent DE next season

[Crown Royal]

Seriously, I hope that there is a long and thought out plan to improve the defensive line. It isn't like rebuilding the OL where you can just apply picks - OL, especially the interior line, is a bit undervalued right now so not hard to find good players there. Finding good defensive lineman is a challenge in any round.

 

[Crown Royal]

Man I just don't know how they're going to approach this defense. It's a little better than it was last season, but quality defenders are highly valued and tough to come by, and this scheme NEEDS quality players to succeed.

 

[FuzzyLumpkins]

We could do whatever we wanted and what we wanted was to be cheap because of bad mismanagement of the cap, correct?

We couldn't do what you said we couldn't do because you like making statements about unprovable nonsense.

We had an offer on the table for Allen and Ware that we wouldn't go over. They took better offers but this notion that we couldn't have given Ware and Allen $30m like Denver and Chicago did has been demonstrated to be false using those salary cap calculators. I know you have participated in those conversations. The decision to not spend that money on aging free agents was a good one in my opinion.

Was there some other talent out there you wanted us to sign? Or are you just complaining because that is what you do?

 

[MichaelWinicki]

We couldn't do what you said we couldn't do because you like making statements about unprovable nonsense.

We had an offer on the table for Allen and Ware that we wouldn't go over. They took better offers but this notion that we couldn't have given Ware and Allen $30m like Denver and Chicago did has been demonstrated to be false using those salary cap calculators. I know you have participated in those conversations. The decision to not spend that money on aging free agents was a good one in my opinion.

Was there some other talent out there you wanted us to sign? Or are you just complaining because that is what you do?

I'm glad they didn't sign Allen. He's past it.

 

[Crown Royal]

We couldn't do what you said we couldn't do because you like making statements about unprovable nonsense.

We had an offer on the table for Allen and Ware that we wouldn't go over. They took better offers but this notion that we couldn't have given Ware and Allen $30m like Denver and Chicago did has been demonstrated to be false using those salary cap calculators. I know you have participated in those conversations. The decision to not spend that money on aging free agents was a good one in my opinion.

Was there some other talent out there you wanted us to sign? Or are you just complaining because that is what you do?

The Ware decision was right at the time based on the information available. The fact that he's had a bit of a rennaissance in Denver is great, great, great for him, but is also improbable. Sure, I would have loved to have that production here, and if we had it, we are probably another game up right now. But If that hadn't happened and we re-signed him, the front office would have been LAMBASTED for keeping aging talent.

 

[FuzzyLumpkins]

Seriously, I hope that there is a long and thought out plan to improve the defensive line. It isn't like rebuilding the OL where you can just apply picks - OL, especially the interior line, is a bit undervalued right now so not hard to find good players there. Finding good defensive lineman is a challenge in any round.

The drafted Crawford in the third round but outside of him they have not really drafted front 4 players in the top 100 picks lately. I think a big part of our DE issue in the post Johnson era was Lacewell thinking that he was ahead of the curve figuring SEC talent running the scout department. Well that and Jones penchant to reach for backups. Ellis, Ekuban, Zellner, Evans, and Carver were just bad picks. Ellis and Ekuban were okay but not that high and the other guys just couldn't play.

The RDE in this scheme can be a 260 lber anyway.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

We couldn't do what you said we couldn't do because you like making statements about unprovable nonsense.

We had an offer on the table for Allen and Ware that we wouldn't go over. They took better offers but this notion that we couldn't have given Ware and Allen $30m like Denver and Chicago did has been demonstrated to be false using those salary cap calculators. I know you have participated in those conversations. The decision to not spend that money on aging free agents was a good one in my opinion.

Was there some other talent out there you wanted us to sign? Or are you just complaining because that is what you do?

I will say that I wanted the Cowboys to sign Robert Ayers... Alex didn't want the Cowboys to sign him.

And Ayers has put together a very solid season for the Giants. He signed a two-year contract for $3.75 mil.

 

[Crown Royal]

I'm glad they didn't sign Allen. He's past it.

Jared Allen is why I'm convinced the Cowboys made the right decision. Signing Ware to a high contract would have been a HIGH risk move you make only if you know you are a contender (like Denver did). Look at Allen and Ware next to each other - same age, same dominance in their careers, both coming off bad defenses. But what's odd is that ALlen actually had a better 2013 than Ware did, but has gotten worse. Ware has gotten better.

Fact is that paying ware would have hurt us for the future, and nobody, not even the front office, knew how much better we were going to play this year.

 

[21Savage]

THere really isn't a single player I see on that list that is a sure fire solution to fixing this defense. For those who follow college football, how do the prospects coming out next year look?

Seriously - looking at the FA list and who is going to be available, defense for next year looks pretty glib. If Lawrence doesn't progress, even if we have a fantastic draft, we are a ways away from good, solid defense.

What do you know about the play of Greg Hardy?

 

[Crown Royal]

The drafted Crawford in the third round but outside of him they have not really drafted front 4 players in the top 100 picks lately. I think a big part of our DE issue in the post Johnson era was Lacewell thinking that he was ahead of the curve figuring SEC talent running the scout department. Well that and Jones penchant to reach for backups. Ellis, Ekuban, Zellner, Evans, and Carver were just bad picks. Ellis and Ekuban were okay but not that high and the other guys just couldn't play.

The RDE in this scheme can be a 260 lber anyway.

That is true, and I hope you're right.

 

[Crown Royal]

What do you know about the play of Greg Hardy?

His play is very very good, but he also may be suspended or in prison next year, so....

 

[FuzzyLumpkins]

I will say that I wanted the Cowboys to sign Robert Ayers... Alex didn't want the Cowboys to sign him.

And Ayers has put together a very solid season for the Giants. He signed a two-year contract for $3.75 mil.

Well we didn't sign him because of cap mismanagement obviously.

 

[JohnsKey19]

If the Cowboys do spend money in free agency, it will be for DE help. I can't see them bringing Melton back as essentially a backup to Crawford unless he signs a cap friendly multi year deal.

 

[kramskoi]

That's one of those deals where I would need to sit down with him and talk. See where his head is at. Since I don't have that access, I can't really be for or against it. We all know the potential.

Not much love for him in New York right now. He is having a sub-par season by most metrics. Most fans up there think that he should be rag-dolling Tyron Smith at will. Imagine that!

 

[StarMan2112]

I remember when we switched from the 4-3 to the 3-4 during the Parcell years. At the time Jerry said the hardest piece to get in a 4-3 is the DEnds. Seems we are back to that situation again. I hope we don't start reaching for the Eb Ekubans, Shante Carvers and Kavika Pittmans of the world again. We also can't overpay for average DEnd talent.

I fear we already have with Lawrence.

 

[FuzzyLumpkins]

I fear we already have with Lawrence.

We've seen him in a rotation for 4 games and he missed all of TC with an injury. I'm not going to get anxious about his lack of pass rush until around this time next year. He's been great against the run.

 

[Joe Realist]

I think Brandon Graham would do ok here.

 

[Bizwah]

We've seen him in a rotation for 4 games and he missed all of TC with an injury. I'm not going to get anxious about his lack of pass rush until around this time next year. He's been great against the run.

Thank you. Seriously, I can't understand why people think a draft pick must immediately play like an all-pro or they're a bust.

Lawrence is just now getting his feet under him. I think we will see what he can truly do next season. We've seen flashes this season.

I think we need to find a quality LDE in free agency. We can then draft depth at RDE.

 

[Bluefin]

Seriously, I hope that there is a long and thought out plan to improve the defensive line. It isn't like rebuilding the OL where you can just apply picks - OL, especially the interior line, is a bit undervalued right now so not hard to find good players there. Finding good defensive lineman is a challenge in any round.

I'm confident the team has a plan to build the DL into a dominant unit just as they do with the OL.

It will involve free agency and the draft.

Some players targeted in free agency may be unwilling to sign for what's offered, have another team offer more or simply prefer to play somewhere else.

The draft isn't a sure thing, either, the premium targets may all be off the board before Dallas' pick or a better value may be sitting there.

Some like to credit the Cowboys for the OL rebuild while ignoring circumstance and luck had much to do with it. Travis Frederick and Zack Martin weren't the priority targets in 2013 and 2014.

Things just worked out that way and it's easy to look back and say the team had a brilliant plan in place.

It's no secret the DL needs better players.

Dallas will try to acquire new ones in any manner possible during the off-season.

Hopefully, we will have some positive additions, but we are looking at something that will take time to forge into a strength.

Tyrone Crawford, DeMarcus Lawrence and Josh Brent will be here in 2015.

Ken Bishop, Davon Coleman, Jack Crawford and Chris Whaley are all developmental prospects. Hopefully, we can hit on one or two to become solid rotation players next season but all of them could be off the roster in a year or two..

Henry Melton, George Selvie, Nick Hayden, Anthony Spencer and Terrell McClain need to be replaced.

 

[gmoney112]

I think DE is our #1 target in FA. Picking in the mid-late 20's there usually isn't a blue-chip edge rusher that's going to come in and produce Year 1 like we need him to next year.

I think JPP will get a lot of attention and we may be able to snag him on a "prove it" type deal.

It really makes too much sense that a deal will get done with one "good" DE this offseason. It allows you so much more flexibility going into the draft.

Also, if you decline to pick up Melton's option, that money could be allocated to DE and you'd probably still save some cash. There's a few DT's available late round 1, early round 2 that I think could come in and play the 3 in this scheme. Gaining edge pressure, getting a young/talented interior pass rusher to hopefully build around, for the cost of Melton's option and a 1-2 rounder sounds like a win/win to me.