Dallas Cowboys continued interest at DE a cause for concern?

When the Dallas Cowboys lost Randy Gregory this offseason in fairly embarrassing fashion, the front office brass tried to play it off as no big deal. Selling the idea Dorance Armstrong and Dante Fowler would somehow pick up the slack, the Cowboys were clearly grasping at straws.

Fowler has been nothing more than a serviceable role player throughout his career and Armstrong already played a significant role in the rotation in 2021 (so he’s no replacement at all). Neither possessed the raw tools Gregory had, and both were unlikely to offer the pass-rushing efficiency of the now-departed Gregory.

Despite proclaiming confidence publicly, the Dallas Cowboys have been looking for edge rushers all offseason

The Dallas Cowboys didn’t didn’t make their biggest move until the draft, when they selected Sam Williams in the second round. At least in the long-term, he appeared to be the real replacement to Gregory this offseason, despite the comments Stephen Jones first made back in March.

Now once again, we see the Dallas Cowboys kicking the tires on a Randy Gregory replacement. Just the other day the Cowboys brought in former first round pick, Takkarist McKinley, to discuss the possibility of him joining the DE group in 2022.

McKinley’s timeline for return is uncertain. He’s coming back from an Achilles injury and is gauging interest around the league before latching on anywhere. What’s telling here is the Cowboys  interest in adding yet another DE to their stable.

Clearly the Cowboys weren’t as confident as they let on when they first tried to convince fans Armstrong and Fowler were suitable solutions to replace Gregory or they wouldn’t have targeted Sam Williams so blatantly in Round 2 (In case you didn’t know, it was Sam Williams or bust that round).

And clearly they weren’t 100 percent confident with the rookie Williams picking up all the slack (Nor should they. He’s a rookie) or they wouldn’t still be kicking tires on players like Takk right now.

They say one thing, but their actions signal something entirely different.

You can never have enough pass-rushers which is both an excuse for their behavior and an indictment. It says they aren’t as content at DE as they’ve let on and it also says “why the heck not?”

Bringing in Takk is a good move because it will likely cost very little making it a low-risk/high reward situation. But the fact that snaps might be available speaks to the lack of confidence the front office has in the Armstrong/Fowler/Williams trio.

At the end of the day, the Cowboys are, and always have been, much more concerned about the Gregory loss than they’ve let on. He was someone they wanted around even if they make it seem like a calculated move today.

Micah Parsons will do much of the heavy lifting as a pass-rusher and DeMarcus Lawrence should have a bounce-back season. That’s a good 1-2 to have. The situation is far from dire.

Are the Dallas Cowboys nervous about the DE spot? Sure, it’s an important position that suffered a loss to the top of the pecking order. But the situation isn’t a train-wreck either (leave that to the WR position) and the interest in Takk was more due diligence than panic, so we should probably treat it accordingly.

• Published on 08/03/2022 at 11:01 AM
• Last updated at 08/02/2022 at 15:30 PM