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So... who wants a cornerback? You too? Interesting. I was just thinking the other day how little we've discussed the corner position here on BTB.
Just kidding.
It seems that the recent direction of the blog has Brandon Carr, to this point a Kansas City Chief, as the primary target that Jerry Jones should hone in on. The 26-year-old corner recently saw his team pick up Stanford Routt; released for salary cap reasons by the bumbling Oakland Raiders. The Chiefs have huge cap space however, and even though they have a young Brandon Flowers still on his rookie contract, it is not out of the question for the Chiefs to look to keep him in the fold.
Sorry, their signing of former Cowboy Jacques Reeves does nothing to persuade me differently.
I figured it would be a good time to look at the top free agent corners, and Pro Football Focus just happened to do a ranking of them last week. Obviously, the Cowboys can't depend on the draft to round out the corner position. They cannot enter April with only Mike Jenkins and Orlando Scandrick in their plans, or they will be forcing their own hands in the amateur draft.
Follow the jump to see PFF's Top Ten Free agent corners.
PFF's Top Ten Free Agent Corners (click the heading for the full article)
1. Brent Grimes, 29, Atlanta (UFA)
Gave up under 300 passing yards in 2011. PFF expects him to be franchised by the club, so unless you're interested in giving up a first round draft pick plus extra compensation for a player that will be 30 in the second year of the deal- mark him off the list.
2. Lardarius Webb, 26, Baltimore (RFA)
It's probably not going to happen, but if Dallas worked out a sign and trade for Webb that would give up this year's third and next year's first for Webb, would you do it? We can expect Baltimore to tender Webb at least at the first round level and possibly the 1st and 3rd level, as that would keep him in house for approximately $2-3 million a year. Webb is a beast, now two year's removed from an ACL injury. He didn't give up a touchdown all season.
3. Cortland Finnegan, 28, Tennessee (UFA)
Still remember him as Andre Johnson's whipping boy, but Finnegan can play corner. I'd love him in Dallas purely on the fact that he likes to play press coverage and I long for that with this team.
4. Brandon Carr, 26, Kansas City (UFA)
Only allowed 39 of 79 targets to be caught on him in 2011. Had more than two interceptions for first time in career last year, four total. Long arms for a 6'0" frame.
5. Carlos Rogers, 31, San Francisco (UFA)
Am I the only one that can't forget the Redskins version of Rogers? Decent coverage, dropped more interceptions than Terence Newman dropped injury hints? Rogers had six picks for the 49ers, an amazing turn around. His age makes even a four year contract a scary situation.
Rounding out the Top 10...
Tim Jennings (Chicago), William Gay (Pittsburgh), Aaron Ross (NYG), Richard Marshall (AZ), Terrell Thomas (NYG)
So do you think the Cowboys will dip into the top ten market to augment what they have at the corner position, or will they look a little deeper into the market?
An interesting story that I saw on SB Nation's Raiders site, Silver And Black Pride, is that the team is considering moving Michael Huff to cornerback; but also considering releasing him to trim salary. Hmmm...