What are your thoughts on J.J. Wilcox?

[TheCount]

I don't think Church or Wilcox are going anywhere. We'd have to have a blue chip safety prospect land in our laps to take one early.

Wilcox has played safety for what, 3 years?

 

[Deep_Freeze]

They do need a developmental Safety with high upside. They don't have much behind Wilcox and Church right now.

As to Church and Wilcox themselves, if the players around them improve, they'll improve. Some of the things that people say are bad angles by the Safeties are actually failures by surrounding players. A Safety has to base his "angles" on what LBs and other players should do in front of them. If a LB or other player fails, then it causes an offensive player to be running free where they shouldn't and causes the Safety to then be in a bad position.

You know you can say that about any position, improving the people around them will make them better. The point is what player can we replace and actually be a better team.

That starts on the line, but we have shown in the past with Crawford, Bowen, TRat, etc. that we can find people there. We haven't found anyone at safety since Roy.

Lets find another one.

 

[bayeslife]

He's not a liability but you'd like have at least have a real talent playing next to him.

 

[jobberone]

Agree with others. You can hit on a safety rds 2-4 but the safest pick is mid first. Sometimes one falls to the bottom of the first. That's our best bet. I don't think they'll do it though.

 

[SilverStarCowboy]

As the year has progressed he seems to be elevating his game to the next level. Improvement is what you look for and it's there.

 

[tm1119]

We need a FS. Wilcox will eventually be a pretty good SS, but he just doesn't work with Church.

 

[Fletch]

hes fine, i would try to upgrade church though

Not sure about that one. Church is the better of the tandem. Church is one of our leaders. Replacing Church would not be an easy task IMO.

 

[Doomsay]

I think we should look in to upgrading this position. I swear at least a few times a game i see him take bad angles which allows big gains and he often doesnt wrap up when be tackles.

Some terrible angles last week again. Better around the LOS IMO.

 

[The Realist]

It's comical how people think Church has reached his ceiling.

Fix the pass rush and you'll see Wilcox and Church improve.

It really is comical all the way around. Our safeties are going nowhere. Some have us replacing both Church and Wilcox. Not happening.

Go fix the pass rush.

 

[xwalker]

You know you can say that about any position, improving the people around them will make them better. The point is what player can we replace and actually be a better team.

That starts on the line, but we have shown in the past with Crawford, Bowen, TRat, etc. that we can find people there. We haven't found anyone at safety since Roy.

Lets find another one.

Within limits. You can replace the other 10 players with All-Pros and Nick Hayden will not be better. He would still get pushed around.

 

[big dog cowboy]

Been screaming for a true ball hawk FS for years. The 3 big things we need do to improve the defense is a pass rushing DE, CB and that elusive ball hawk safety. Between FA and the draft I am hopeful we can upgrade those and more defensive positions.

 

[lqmac1]

This guy's a bit of an enigma to me. He doesn't have much experience at the position and does flash ability but there are times where I think he's overwhelmed and might never get it.

Do you think he's a piece for the future or do we need two new safeties?

I absolutely love his progression. IMO, future pro bowl safety. I think we can use an upgrade over Church, though.

 

[xwalker]

He's not a liability but you'd like have at least have a real talent playing next to him.

I don't think Kam Chancellor (Seahawks) would be very good if he was not surrounded by more talented players. Reversing that, I think Wilcox or Church was look much much better if they replaced Chancellor on the Seahawks defense with Earl Thomas at the other Safety position and surrounded by the other talent on that defense.

 

[texbumthelife]

Dramatically over-rated by many on this board.

He does have some upside, but I think he is pretty close to his ceiling. He will never be the FS most want around here, but would be an adequate SS. He is best when playing in space, which is why he stays at FS but needs a great deal of work when trying to shed, cover or work through traffic. He does show some great burst and athletic ability at times, but he takes such bad angles his athleticism is nullified a great deal.

I think he is our SS of the future and will do an adequate job, particularly as we are able to generate more pass rush because he gets eaten alive by double moves and combo routes.

He will be here at least a few years after Church moves on.

 

[TrailBlazer]

This guy's a bit of an enigma to me. He doesn't have much experience at the position and does flash ability but there are times where I think he's overwhelmed and might never get it.

Do you think he's a piece for the future or do we need two new safeties?

I think he is a piece for the future. I would take him over church. I think Wilcox has better range than church, and much higher upside.

 

[wileedog]

I don't think Kam Chancellor (Seahawks) would be very good if he was not surrounded by more talented players. Reversing that, I think Wilcox or Church was look much much better if they replaced Chancellor on the Seahawks defense with Earl Thomas at the other Safety position and surrounded by the other talent on that defense.

Of course.

But we can either upgrade mediocre safeties, or upgrade everything else so they don't look so bad.

These are not two good players being held back by the guys around them. They are very much a part of a 26th ranked pass defense.

 

[Jenky]

I don't think Kam Chancellor (Seahawks) would be very good if he was not surrounded by more talented players. Reversing that, I think Wilcox or Church was look much much better if they replaced Chancellor on the Seahawks defense with Earl Thomas at the other Safety position and surrounded by the other talent on that defense.

At this point, I'd only call a few safeties very good.

 

[manster4ever]

I think he's pretty solid but need a bit of work in coverage.

I agree, he needs to cut some baby fat (5-7 lbs) and it should help his speed and quickness

I don't like Church too much though and would like to see him challenged by a FA or draftee next season

 

[Cowboyz88]

Better than Church, and he's getting better as he learns (at the highest level of football, btw, which says a lot about his natural athleticism).

As many have said, his angles on ball carriers can be a crapshoot, but IMO, at least he's getting better in recognition.

He's pretty good in coverage, which makes him a pretty good all-around safety, and again, is only getting better.

Church, on the other hand, is dang-near RW31-bad in coverage, and he just doesn't have the athleticism to make up for his mistakes.

Oh, and it was Wilcox that got in Dez's face in training camp as well as Lawrence's face last week when he fumbled, so the fire is there as well.

I think next year or the year after is when we'll see Wilcox get to the next level. Basically IMO, he's the best young safety prospect we've had in years.

 

[Aikbach]

Dallas has been insufficient at safety since Darren Woodson retired, i guess it is almost instinct by now for fans to gripe about the position.

Roy Williams flopped as cover man, Justin Beriuilt never made it out of camp, Ken Hamlin had one good year and flamed out, Gerald Sensabaugh was ok at best, Alan Ball stunk, Michael Hamlin failed to impress, Ahmad Dixon made stupid plays in pre season and was tardy to practice enough to look undisciplined, Abram Elam was a joke.

We just can't seem to find safeties, we can find fantastic runningbacks and wideouts under any rock, but safeties elude the Cowboys post Darren Woodson.