Late last evening, free agent safety Abram Elam confirmed via Twitter that he has been talking to the Cowboys:
"Just hung up with Rob Ryan he spoke about how good @terencenewman1 and the defense is and can be.. I told him well #CTMFC#".
While we can only speculate about what CTMFC means, it does not come as a great shock that the Cowboys are talking to Elam, who has been the favorite to man one safety spot for the Cowboys, virtually from the day Rob Ryan signed on as defensive coordinator for the Cowboys.
Signing Elam would go a long way towards helping plug some of the key remaining gaps on the Cowboys roster, but Jerry Jones hinted that there was more to come and that the Cowboys still "have a lot of bait in the water" in free agency.
Todd Archer from ESPNDallas.com reports that the Cowboys could have more than two decisions coming up, potentially signing two safeties and not ruling out adding an additional defensive lineman despite already having signed Marcus Spears and Kenyon Coleman.
Nick Eatman from the mothership writes that Jerry Jones replied with an emphatic "Yes!" when asked if the Cowboys could be adding two free agent safeties. Stephen Jones, loyal son that he is, concurred and said that signing two safeties is a strong possibility for the Cowboys adding that "there are a lot of good ones still out there".
We have repeatedly looked at the free agent safeties still available, and apart from Elam, those names include Michael Huff, Gerald Sensabaugh, Brodney Pool and perhaps Dashon Goldson, although the 49ers and Raiders seem to be locked in a deatchmatch over the latter's services.
While Jerry has said it's unlikely the Cowboys will add an additional offensive lineman, as the team wants its young player to shine, the door apparently remains open for an additional defensive lineman. We have already speculated on Ty Warren as one potential candidate, but there remain a number of other interesting candidates out there. Another signing on the D-line would probably leave Igor Olshansky as the odd man out. Question is, what kind of trade value could the Cowboys get in return?
Jerry Jones is already pleased with his free agent haul so far:
“If you had told me three days ago we’d be sitting there with [Kyle] Kosier and [Marcus] Spears, as well as Doug Free signed, I would’ve taken that for sure,” Jones said.
But fixing the hole at safety would go a long way towards pleasing Cowboys fans as well.