Is safety finally a position the Dallas Cowboys properly address?

For years the Dallas Cowboys have completely neglected the safety position but that may finally change under the new coaching staff.

Under Jason Garrett, Rod Marinelli and Kris Richard, the Dallas Cowboys devalued the safety position. They repeatedly ignored it in free agency as well as the draft, choosing instead to lean on journeymen free agents and Day 3 draft picks. This strategy…hasn’t gone well.

But there’s reason to believe the new coaching staff will have a much different approach to the defense’s last line of defense. As such, safety may not just be addressed in free agency, but also the draft.

Despite kicking the tires on Earl Thomas and Jamal Adams the last two seasons, Dallas hasn’t attempted to upgrade the safety position. Sadly, it shows.

Mike Nolan

Mike Nolan has coached in a multitude of different defenses throughout his professional career. To assume we know his plans with the 2020 Dallas Cowboys would be dishonest with reality. But looking at a few key stops and the personnel he managed, we can certainly deduce he’s accepting of the idea that safety is a vital component in a competent defense.

Mike Nolan, a former safety himself, has coached in both 3-4 and 4-3 defenses. He’s coached 1-gap and 2-gap, he’s leaned on man coverage as well as zone coverage. He’s really done it all. But he’s done most of it with a plus safety positioned on the backend.

As the defensive coordinator for the Baltimore Ravens from 2002-2004, Nolan coached arguably the best safety to ever play the game, Hall of Famer Ed Reed. With San Francisco he coached Tony Parish. New York he had Victor Green. With the Broncos he had Brian Dawkins. And in Atlanta, his last DC job, he had Thomas DeCloud AND Williams Moore (both were Pro Bowlers under him).

This tells us two things: Mike Nolan has coached a ridiculous number of places and nepotism is real. And more often than not, he’s had a plus safety in the secondary.