The Big Dallas Cowboys Gamble: Choosing CB Depth over Elite Talent

The Dallas Cowboys went against the gain this offseason and chose overall cornerback depth over front line talent.

CB1 is considered a core position on an NFL team. Finding and keeping an elite cornerback capable of matching up against the opposition’s best, is a goal for just about every team with dreams of postseason success. Yet, the Dallas Cowboys chose to buck that trend and let their top cornerback leave uncontested in free agency, curiously replacing him with a committee of capable coverage men.

In an age where the passing game is king, and pass coverage has become the biggest determining factor in defensive success (more than even a pass-rush), this is one helluva gamble by the Dallas Cowboys.

Because the Dallas Cowboys can’t double everyone

An elite CB gives a defense a huge advantage: You can trust him to hold his own in one-on-one capacity. Whether you decide to use him against the opposition’s best receiving threat or just their second receiving threat, you can feel relatively confident he can hold his own without help. This is important because you can’t double everyone.

The Cowboys now have legitimate questions regarding their ability to handle good WRs in one-on-one situations. because you can’t offer safety support to everyone

We know from last year the Dallas Cowboys left Byron alone to take responsibility for one side of the field while the safety support favored the other 2/3. Jones may not have been an interception machine, but he was highly effective in shutting down his man (in man coverage and in Cover 3). For more on Byron Jones’ dominance, check out: Why Byron Jones is a true CB1 in the NFL.

The Dallas Cowboys are only as strong as their weakest link

Pro Football Focus did a study a while back looking at which led to winning more often: a dominant pass-rush or a dominate coverage unit. The result? Coverage success played a much larger role in winning than pass-rushing. The idea is a the best pass-rush only impacts 35 percent of passing plays while an elite coverage unit impacts 100 percent of passing plays (this is all supported by the numbers).

Where the pass-rush is valuable is in it’s year-to-year stability and in it’s ability to be impactful with just one player. Pass-coverage is much less stable year-to-year and unlike the pass-rush, you need more than one dominant player to make a difference. In other words, you could have Deion Sanders back there but it won’t matter much if the rest of the coverage is hot trash. Teams will just avoid the elite player and pick apart the weak points of coverage.

Which brings us to the Dallas Cowboys and their big gamble…

Dallas looks like the only team with postseason hopes who are uninterested in having a CB1 this season.

By letting Byron Jones walk, the Dallas Cowboys have essentially chosen depth over front line talent. They put their resources into shoring up the weak parts of the depth chart. Sadly, now they have very legitimate questions regarding their ability to handle good WRs in one-on-one situations.

As discussed above, you can’t offer safety support to everyone – especially if you want to blitz more which the Dallas Cowboys are sure to do.

Looking at the depth chart it’s unclear who exactly is going to assume the CB1 role. It could be rookie Trevon Diggs, Jourdan Lewis, Daryl Worley, or even Chidobe Awuzie if he doesn’t make the move inside to safety.

Or perhaps we’re missing the obvious and can’t see the forest through the trees – that the Dallas Cowboys don’t plan to have a clear CB1 and are planning a straight-up committee. A committee that has no strengths and has no weakness.

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Whatever the plan, it’s undeniably a gamble. Look around the NFL and you’ll see virtually every team with championship aspirations either has a true CB1 or aggressively pursued one this offseason.  Dallas looks like the only team with postseason hopes who are uninterested in having a CB1 this season.

There’s reason to believe this CB by committee will turn out better than the infamous WR by committee that blew up in their faces back in 2018. But if Dallas can’t find players capable of handling one-on-one responsibilities like Byron Jones did last year, this gamble could have a similar result.

The best teams in the NFL innovate and take gambles. Everyone else just chases trends. The Dallas Cowboys are clearly going out on a limb here in 2020, and depending how this plays out, they’ll either be copied or be nothing more than a cautionary tale.

• Published on 06/11/2020 at 11:30 AM
• Last updated at 06/11/2020 at 08:59 AM