Why the Dallas Cowboys may still see Safety as a need

The Dallas Cowboys may still have an interest in upgrading the safety position, here’s why it may be more of a need than they let on…

To the glee of many Dallas Cowboys fans, three promising prospects fell to Dallas at Pick 58 in the NFL Draft. As we all know, our beloved Cowboys opted to go a different direction, selecting defensive tackle Trysten Hill instead.

The real logic behind Trysten Hill’s selection is a topic I just addressed earlier this morning in How Trysten Hill’s selection resembles the 2014 Draft. So let’s focus on safety and discuss how the Cowboys value it, why they failed to address it, and why they may still do something about safety in the future.

Value

There’s a handful of position the Dallas Cowboys notoriously devalue:

1-technique defensive tackle
Strong side linebacker
In-the-box safety

It’s not that the Dallas Cowboys don’t think these positions are important. It’s that they believe the roles can be adequately filled at a fairly low cost. Late round picks and undrafted/bargain free agents can fulfill the duties of these three positions since these positions don’t require elite talent.

Dallas scouted the safety position arguably more than any other position in free agency and the draft.

Talent helps, it’s just not as much of a requirement than it is at other positions. A common trait these three positions share is that these are largely responsible for stopping the run and not always a factor in the passing game.

This devaluation makes sense because the passing game (both ability to execute as well as ability to stop it) is considerably more impactful towards determining the winner and loser than the running game is (yet another reason not to spend big at the running back position).

Why they failed to address safety

With the exception of adding George Iloka late in free agency, the Dallas Cowboys haven’t done much to really address the safety position. They passed on high-priced free agents as well as highly regarded draft picks. They’ll be quick to tell you it’s because of their confidence in the current stable.

But their actions say otherwise…

The Dallas Cowboys met with representatives of Earl Thomas early in the offseason. They then hosted Eric Berry immediately following his release from Kansas City. They used their limited number of 30-visits to host at least four of the top safeties in the draft class.

It’s pretty safe to say they wouldn’t have done any of this if they didn’t think safety needed an upgrade. They scouted the safety position arguably more than any other position in free agency and the draft. Their contentment is not the reason we don’t have a new safety on this roster.

It’s important to point out, while the Dallas Cowboys are absolutely enamored with the potential of rookie Donovan Wilson, Dallas fully intended on drafting safety Will Harris had he made it to them in the third round. When Harris was picked by Detroit, Dallas had to adjust and select Connor McGovern.

Why it’s still a possibility

Yesterday was an important day in the NFL. That’s because free agent signings no longer count against a team in the computation for compensatory picks. Remember, a team earns comp picks when they lose more viable players in free agency than they gain.

Smart teams like the New England Patriots like to game the system, so to speak, and collect as many free draft picks as they can. Dallas knows how this works. If they feel they’re going to get a comp pick in 2020 they probably don’t want to mess this up.

Tre Boston and Eric Berry are just a couple of the safeties on the market who would provide an instant upgrade to the current Dallas Cowboys roster. You can bet now that the compensatory deadline has passed, those players getting more offers from around the league. The Dallas Cowboys could very well be one of them.

Next. Why the Cowboys front office shouldn't be trusted. dark

At the end of the day the Dallas Cowboys probably won’t do much more to upgrade the safety position, but it’s not because they didn’t want to. All of their actions this offseason indicate they wanted to upgrade the position. The price just got too rich, other needs became too important, and draft didn’t fall quite the way they wanted it. Actions always speak louder than words…

Published on 05/08/2019 at 12:00 PM
Last updated at 05/08/2019 at 11:55 AM

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