Report: Dallas Cowboys to visit with free agent safety Malik Hooker next week

The first week of free agency is wrapping up across the National Football League and the Dallas Cowboys have a few names to show for their work.

America’s Team has added three new players on the defensive side of the ball in Carlos Watkins, Brent Urban, and Tarell Basham, but those are all up in the pass rush department. While the front office has been focused on returning several players, including cornerback Jourdan Lewis, it is agreed upon by every Cowboys fan that the secondary needs some addressing.

The Cowboys dropped a bit of a Friday news dump as it was reported that veteran safety Keanu Neal is contemplating between playing WLB for the Cowboys or New York Jets. We will see what happens there.

Neal’s former teammate with the Atlanta Falcons, obviously coached by now-Cowboys defensive coordinator Dan Quinn, Damontae Kazee has already been linked to the Cowboys and is even set to visit with them next week.

We can now add another name to that list.

The Dallas Cowboys are expected to visit with Malik Hooker next week

While Kazee and Neal both have a former connection to the new Cowboys defensive coordinator the team is now set to visit with someone who has a connection to a coach that used to occupy that seat. ESPN reported that Dallas is set to visit with safety Malik Hooker next week.

The Cowboys are scheduled to visit with free-agent safeties Damontae Kazee and Malik Hooker next week, according to multiple sources. Both players are coming off Achilles’ tears suffered last season. Kazee played for new defensive coordinator Dan Quinn in Atlanta and led the NFL with seven interceptions in 2018. Hooker had seven interception in his first three seasons with the Colts but has battled injuries.

Hooker has indeed been playing for Matt Eberflus and the Indianapolis Colts so we know that he has gotten some great coaching. He is one of the better safeties on the market and someone that many Cowboys fans have been crossing their fingers for in terms of a potential option.

We know that the Cowboys aren’t going to break the bank when it comes to adding players, but someone of Hooker’s abilities doesn’t come around a lot. Indianapolis declined to pick up Hooker’s fifth-year option a year ago which made this past season, one in which he tore his Achilles in September, his last with the organization.

It is possible that Hooker is looking for a one-year deal so that he can set himself up to hit the market again next year and cash out. That would potentially net the Cowboys a compensatory pick. All of this sounds like music to the front office’s ears, which means it’s dangerous to get our hopes up about it.