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Dallas Cowboys’ Ronald Leary Won’t be Easily Replaced

By Reid Hanson

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Don’t be too quick to replace left guard, Ronald Leary, in the starting lineup. The incumbent LG is better than you think, and a valuable commodity to the Dallas Cowboys’ running game.

Last month, Ronald Leary sat down with Dallascowboys.com’s David Helman to discuss the addition of La’el Collins, and how it impacts Leary at LG. Collins, who is regarded as a first round talent, figures to compete with Leary at LG this season as Collins splits time between RT and LG in training camp.

La’el Collins’ pedigree (and Ronald Leary’s lack thereof) is causing many to assume the replacement is a forgone conclusion. Overcoming Collins’ physical superiority will be difficult for Ronald Leary, but replacing Leary won’t be an easy task for Collins either.

"“I think you turn on the film. You turn on the film from last year, [and] you know I can play,” Leary told Helman. “I’m just in it to prove to myself that I can be the best Ronald Leary that I can be, and all the chips will fall in place. I think now that I’ve been here for this long, I know the system. Now it’s just trying to fine tune little techniques and learn little ways to win blocks. Things like that.”"

Taking Ron Leary’s advice, we decided to turn on the film. More importantly, we reviewed last season’s game grades. Every game (except the Thanksgiving game) I made it a point to grade players on a play by play basis. It didn’t matter whether the ball went to the player (or the players’ way), the player was graded on successful execution of assignments.

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While Ronald Leary was graded the lowest of his peers, he wasn’t a poor performer by any means. This speaks to the greatness of the linemen around him, as well as Leary’s. It should come as no surprise that Ronald Leary’s success is found in the running game. Forget the yards-per-rush to the left side crap. That has so many variables at play it causes many to assume correlation and causation are the same thing. Grading individual execution, without factoring the outcome, is the only accurate way to assess him.

Ronald Leary was the Cowboys’ top run-blocker in straight-ahead man-blocking. Contrary to popular belief, the Dallas Cowboys run a combination of zone blocking and man blocking in the running game. Leary doesn’t pull and block on the run as well his peers, but he’s a beast when squaring up and moving forward.

The Dallas Cowboys are quite possibly the most athletic offensive line in football, but they are nowhere near the strongest. Having more of a brute force like Leary, adds to the diversity and overall ability of the offensive line.

Without seeing La’el Collins in pads, one can’t definitely say if Collins is as strong as Leary or not, but winning the job certainly won’t be a cakewalk for the young LSU product. Collins will need to make his mark as a pass-protector to really separate himself from Leary.

Ronald Leary has long struggled with pass protection, and last year was no different. According to Pro Football Focus (subscription required), Leary gave up 5 sacks, 3 hurries, and 26 hits last season including the playoffs. Two of those sacks and 2 of those hurries were in the season-ending loss to Green Bay.

Reviewing my own notes last season, Ron Leary repeatedly struggled with stunts and delayed blitzes. This is something Green Bay took advantage of, and you can be assured, everyone else will target this next season as well.

Ronald Leary has warts, and La’el Collins has all the talent in the world, but don’t sign off Leary so easily. He’s better than he often gets credit for and he’s not giving up without a fight.

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