Cowboys Offense -- How Deep is Your Squad?

Cowboys Sign Another OLB; Waive Guard
Posted by nickeatman at 9/1/2009 5:17 PM CDT on truebluefanclub.com

The Cowboys are trying to fill some holes in a rather thin outside linebacker position. On Tuesday, the club signed Curtis Johnson, a defensive end in the Colts’ 4-3 scheme. But Johnson, who was waived/injured because of a strained hamstring, should be able to convert to a 3-4 outside linebacker.

To make room for Johnson, the Cowboys released guard Greg Isdaner, a rookie free agent from West Virginia.

At 6-3, 237, Johnson fits the mold of the outside backers, but you wonder how much time it will take for him to make transition.

For now, the Cowboys are probably just looking for someone to rush the passer if needed, but more importantly play special teams. In three preseason games, Johnson recorded seven tackles and one sack – all occurring in the second exhibition game against Philadelphia.

Last year, Johnson made the Colts’ team as a rookie free agent from Clark-Atlanta. He played in seven games, recording four tackles and a sack.

Last week, the Cowboys signed Tearrius George, who spent most of the year on the Cowboys’ practice squad. At linebacker, the Cowboys have already lost fourth-round pick Brandon Williams (torn ACL) for the season and third-rounder Jason Williams is out 4-6 weeks with a high ankle sprain. Sixth-round pick Stephen Hodge has played in just one preseason game because of a nagging knee injury.

DC.com

special teams.

They suddenly got reallllllly thin there. Who were the ST LBs they were counting on who has gone down?

Jason WIliams
Stephen Hodge
Brandon Williams

Justin Rogers was cut.

I have two words as oneword!

2nd strongest linemen at the combine and has more tonnage that Proctor, but probably doesn’t move as well.

I said he was “on the outside of the bubble.”

or dunkman?

Your avatar photo wins.

It just does.

they could survive.

So long as the other starters were in place.

I think with TO we had instant strike capability (ughhh presumably most of the time…), with the group now, we are going to have a statistical regression to the means, which might not be a bad thing. Last year opposing DC’s were scheming against TO and JW, this year they wouldn’t know who to scheme against, besides JW, everybody else does not scare the s%$& of other defenses and thats where we seal their fate. We can strike em with many

didnt mcq have a twin bro that was rated a little bit higher and drafted a little higher by the raiders maybe? how is he doing?

Offensive Line

Flozell Adams - Flozell Adams
Leonard Davis - Leonard Davis
Andre Gurode — Andre Gurode
Marc Colombo — Marc Colombo
Kyle Kosier — Cory Proctor
Doug Free — Pat McQuistan
Montrae Holland — Montrae Holland
Duke Preston — Doug Free
Pat McQuistan — Kyle Kosier
Cory Proctor — A jar full of rabbits feet
Another big upgrade, even though the names are about the same. Consider:

—at this point last year, Kosier was injured and everybody was crossing their fingers that he would not miss more than one real game. He missed fourteen.

— Cory Proctor was the 5th best O-lineman on this team. Now, I’d rate him tenth, on the outside of the bubble, with Duke Preston still sight unseen. That’s because…

— Doug Free has looked much, much better this preseason. This is the guy everybody was talking about in ’07, not the guy whose feet were abducted by aliens at Oxnard last year.

— Holland is just Joe Average, but that’s miles ahead of the ‘08 Holland, who could not displace Proctor in the lineup until November because he was overweight and unfamiliar with the Cowboys’ scheme.

— Preston is number 8 on this year’s list; he’s matched by the ‘08 Free who was never active for a real game. I haven’t seen him yet, but I still feel safe calling this year’s 8 an upgrade over last year’s 8.

— McQuistan has also improved this year, if not as much as Free. His counterpart is the one-legged Kosier.

Right now, Dallas has nine linemen. Free could play in a pinch. I’d say the same for McQ, who is no worse, and probably better than Rob Petitti. Holland and Preston have both been NFL starters.

Compare that to last year’s team, which was really only five deep until Holland got his act together. And if we’re honest about Proctor, they were four deep. That team could absorb one injury — Kosier’s — but collapsed when a second guy got hurt. This group could probably handle a second injury, provided it was not long-term.

Compare spots 5 through 9 on this year’s team to their counterparts on last year’s team. There simply is no comparison.

I appreciate the hard work you and the others do on this blog.

This is one great read, and sometimes I think it is easy to take such wisdom and knowledge with the ability to express and share it for granted,

Thanks to all,

Pettiti was decent until he injured his ankle. He was never going to be anything more then a backup but he would have been OK there.

http://www.fftoolbox.com/football/nfl_news.cfm?news_id=597
wasn’t he on the cowboys roster at some point few years back? Than again KC is sooo bad its not much surprising

Our backups on the line look MUCH better. Our receivers are deeper, seem to be more competent, and while i disagree RW “can’t do worse” than TO, especially considering hes currently injured, I don’t think we’ll see much of a downgrade if any. At rb, we know we have 3 excellent options. At TE, we have 1 all world player and a guy in bennett who could be the x-factor for this team.

Unfortunately, this ridiculous wealth of depth on offene seems to be the opposite of our D…Our starters overall seem better than last year, but we just don’t have the depth. Theres a good chance Bobby Carpenter and Victor Butler will see significant snaps at least some point this year, and that may not be pretty. I think we all had MUCH more faith in this group last year at the start of the season. With all our rookies going down like flies, suddenly the good ST we were hoping for may not be as good.