clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Dueling free safeties in Dallas

Ladies and gentelmen, we have duleing free safety articles this morning. Let's get ready to rumble!

In this corner we have FS rookie Pat Watkins accompnied by his cut-man/publicist Mickey Spags. Spags says his fighter will remind you of former Cowboy safety Michael Downs.

Next, their physiques: His rookie year, Downs was 6-3, 197 pounds. Watkins checked in at the rookie mini-camp 1½ weeks ago at 6-5, all of 211 pounds.

Their minds: Downs went from South Oak Cliff to Rice. Not anybody gets into Rice, not even back in those old Southwestern Conference days. Both Watkins' parents have doctorate degrees. Nice gene pool. Plus, all you got to do is talk to the kid. Pretty sharp - sharp enough to construct his own website, which included background information in case some NFL team interested in drafting him just needed to know, along with how to contact his agent just in case. Nice.

Watkins is also confident and versatile.

As Watkins said, "I rarely miss tackles or get beat deep."

That would be a good start. And then add special teams - gunner on the punt team, hold-up guy on the punt-return team, cover kick offs and at 6-5, line up in the middle to block kicks. The Cowboys might just be on to something here.

And fighting out of the other corner, veteran FS Keith Davis and his manager JJT (sub. required). JJT says his man is a scrapper, always ready to take on the challenge, to succeed where others say he will fail.

Davis understands why fans think the Cowboys need a new starter at free safety. He understands why coaches want more than one turnover from the Cowboys' free safety.

He even understands what the Cowboys like about Marcus Coleman and Pat Watkins, the players they acquired to compete for his job.

He doesn't care. He likes the competition. He expects the best man to win.

He expects to be starting against Jacksonville in the first game of the season.

Ring the bell and let's get it on! If someone had written an article on veteran free-agent acquisition Marcus Coleman, I could've turned this into a three-way Texas death match and put it on WWE.

Sign up for the newsletter Sign up for the Blogging The Boys Daily Roundup newsletter!

A daily roundup of all your Dallas Cowboys news from Blogging The Boys