Things have quieted down for the Dallas Cowboys after the burst of moves on Saturday afternoon. Do the Cowboys have more moves to make or are they pretty much done? They've filled some of problem spots but others are still there and they created another by trading one of their players. So what's the state of the Cowboys a few days into free agency?
Make the jump below.
Everybody knows by now that we lost Chris Canty to the Giants. I always hoped Canty would bust out as a dominant DE for us but it never happened. He was solid but not a player that we can't live without. If you inserted Jason Hatcher or Stephen Bowen in his place my guess is you wouldn't notice much difference in production. He certainly wasn't worth paying $42 million over six years with $17.5 million guaranteed. Jerry Jones actually played it smart on this one. And to show you how out of whack that contract is:
The ex-Cowboys defensive lineman is now better paid than all three of New York's top three defensive ends, Justin Tuck, Osi Umenyiora and Mathias Kiwanuka.
This is the Giants defensive line. The one everybody in football has raved about for the last few years. They're paying Canty more than Osi Umenyiora! Please. Do you know of any team that said to themselves we need to stop Chris Canty when playing the Cowboys? Did anybody scheme to make that happen? Now think about that same question when talking about Umenyiora. Yeah, plenty of teams said that when he was healthy.
I know that when Canty lines up against the Cowboys twice a year he'll probably have some good games because he'll be motivated, but that's OK, it's no reason to pay him ridiculous money.
My guess is they'll stick with Hatcher or Bowen, or maybe they move Jay Ratliff back out to DE if they can acquire some help at NT. That's one move they could still make in free agency.
After the Keith Brooking signing the question becomes who will play the nickel LB role because I'm pretty sure it won't be Brooking. The guy I'd like to play that role is Kevin Burnett. But that's looking unlikely unless he gets shut out in free agency. He'll get his first chance at a new team today when he visits Oakland.
Last week we heard the news that the Cowboys are actively shopping Roy Williams (the safety) but so far it appears they haven't found a taker. Will they just go ahead and cut RW1 sometime soon? Add on to that the fact we just traded Anthony Henry to the Lions in the Kitna deal and the Cowboys have some decisions to make in the secondary.
It's safe to assume that Ken Hamlin will start at FS and that Terence Newman will man one CB spot. You can probably assume that Mike Jenkins will get first shot at the other CB spot and that Orlando Scandrick will be designated as the nickel guy in the slot. The question is who will play SS and who will be the dime corner (assuming it's not Alan Ball)?
One guy who has been mentioned, but not by the Cowboys organization, is Shawn Springs. He's supposed to visit the Patriots where there was talk of him playing a CB/S position. Well, the Patriots just re-signed their own FS, James Sanders. But they could still be looking at Springs as a straight-up corner. They also were talking to CB Leigh Bodden but he left without a contract.
I guess we'll see over the next few weeks. They'll need to make a decision on Roy Williams and try to pick up some help through free agency. Or they can roll the dice and count on the draft to provide the help in the secondary. That seems risky. Maybe they hold on to RW1 until after the draft or try to trade him during it.