Dallas Cowboys: Why re-signing Gerald McCoy is a mistake

It’s no secret the Dallas Cowboys are in need of some good defensive players after an abysmal year with one of the league’s worst run defenses in the history of the league.

The hiring of former DC Mike Nolan didn’t last very long as his multiple defensive scheme littered with a mix of different front seven alignments and single and split safety looks was simply too much for the defensive personnel at times.

Pretty quickly after the season ended, Mike Nolan, DL coach Jim Tomsula, and DBs coach Maurice Linguist were freed from their jobs and were replaced with the duo of Dan Quinn and Joe Whitt Jr. After a year of being promised a scheme with more disguising and some complexity, the organization is back to a single high safety, 1-gap penetrating defense that worked so well for a lot of the 2018 NFL season.

Most of the defensive personnel signed on the team was drafted to play this type of defense and without going and grabbing the right personnel for a more complex scheme, it really is no surprise that the team saw one of the worst starts to the season in franchise history.

When you look at the big picture, it would be a mistake for the Dallas Cowboys to bring Gerald McCoy back

However, of all the moves the team made in the 2020 offseason, one never had the chance to materialize. Gerald McCoy signed with the team for 3 years, but due to a release clause in his contract out of concern for his right quad that eventually did tear, the team cut ties with McCoy as he sat at home watching the team play on Sundays.

Now that the season is over and free agency starts in a month, negotiations with McCoy and the team could resurface. The team expressed interest in McCoy’s services and McCoy himself has yet to live out his dream of playing for the Dallas Cowboys. If the team re-signs him, the contract would likely be cheaper than the 3-year/$18 million contract the former third overall pick signed in 2020 when factoring injury and age.

A cheap free agent deal is music to Cowboys’ VP Stephen Jones ears, but if last year was any evidence, they don’t always work. In fact, the only defensive free agents that lasted the entire 2020 regular season were CB Saivion Smith and DE Aldon Smith. Considering how both ended the year, the best way to describe the results of last year’s penny-pinching free agency was simply unacceptable.

On that note, what does McCoy actually bring to the team if he were to come back?