Stop it! You don’t wish the Cowboys kept Brandon Carr
By Reid Hanson
Some folks in Cowboys Nation are already regretting the loss of fan (not so) favorite, Brandon Carr. To those folks I say, “stop it”.
The state of Cowboys Nation these days is not well. Such is the consequence of a week two butt-kicking by a team that failed to even make the playoffs last season. But while we all scramble for answers, let’s be careful not to drift too far from reality.
Brandon Carr is having a good start to the season. With two interceptions in as many games, it’s hard not to like what he’s doing in the city of Baltimore. Pro Football Focus has Carr ranked as the 33rd best cornerback in the NFL. That’s higher than they ever rated him in his five seasons with the Cowboys.
Combine his statistical success with the Dallas Cowboys’ struggles in the secondary, and you have the perfect breeding ground for ill-founded regret.
The truth is, Brandon Carr has never been a very good football player. The Cowboys took a leap of faith when they signed him in 2012. The fact that Kansas City made virtually no attempt to retain him should have been seen as a red flag, but the market was poor and the Cowboys had a need.
Still, 2011 was considered Carr’s best season. His PFF end of year ranking was #30 in the NFL, making him a fringe No. 1 cornerback at best. But throughout his time in Dallas he never would approach that status. He would go on to rank 52nd, 58th, 90th, and 109th his first four seasons in Dallas. He had a touchdown to interception ratio of 6:0 twice. His two interceptions this season are more than he totaled the last three seasons combined.
Baltimore is not Dallas
It’s important to point out that the Baltimore defense is not the Dallas defense. To think he’d bring those two interceptions with him to the Cowboys, had he been retained, is misguided.
And don’t blame it on Rod Marinelli’s scheme either. Marinelli tried Carr a variety of ways. He used man-press, off-man, and zone. Carr was terrible in all of them. In fact, he wasn’t statistically better playing his preferred man coverage.
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It’s OK to Dislike Brandon Carr AND Nolan Carroll
For some reason the debate over Brandon Carr has become a binary argument forcing sides to pick either Carr, or the man who essentially replaced Carr, Nolan Carroll. I’m here to say, you can dislike them both. This isn’t an either/or scenario.
Why the Cowboys signed Carroll to a three-year deal is unknown to me but the contracts the two players received are different. Carroll only counts $4 million against the cap this season and can be let go before next season for a modest $2M penalty against the cap.
According to Spotrac, Brandon Carr has a four-year deal, costing $6 million this season and comes with a potential out next offseason for $3 M. Brandon Carr seems like the better value given his play, but that still doesn’t make him a good value.
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The Real Replacements
Nolan Carroll wasn’t ever supposed to be the replacement to Brandon Carr. He was intended to be the insurance policy. The Cowboys flushed majority of their secondary down the toilet this past March and needed to have someone on the depth chart before the draft rolled around.
It was the draft that brought the real replacements: Chidobe Awuzie and Jourdan Lewis were signed to replace the Carr and Morris Claiborne tandem.
Unfortunately injuries have stunted their development, forcing Carroll to take on a temporary replacement role.
Brandon Carr is having a pretty good season for the Baltimore Ravens but that doesn’t mean the Cowboys should have kept him. Let’s remember Carr for what he was: an overpaid fringe starter who never took accountability but always stayed healthy.
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The Cowboys did right by letting Carr go. They made an effort to upgrade the unit, and after some rookie growing pains, Awuzie and Lewis will likely be that upgrade. Now breathe. It’s only week three. Let’s stop talking crazy.
What say you? Any former Cowboys you think Dallas should have kept?