Cowboys free agency 2022: The two forgotten Dallas free agents

Free agency has slowed to a trickle. There are still some big names out there, guys like Bobby Wagner, Tyrann Mathieu, Odell Beckham, Jr. and a few others, but the big deals have mostly come and gone.

The Dallas Cowboys spent much of their time locking up their own free agents. The team had 21 unrestricted free agents this offseason, and they have re-signed 11 of them so far. They lost one (Randy Gregory) to the Broncos and they let two go to the Miami Dolphins (Cedrick Wilson, Connor Williams).

That leaves seven guys that still don’t have a home. We previously heard that Keanu Neal won’t be returning as he wants to transition back to safety. Malik Turner is out trying to find a new home and visited the Cardinals yesterday. Guys like Corey Clement, Maurice Canady and Ty Nsekhe were never core players and may or may not be retained.

That leaves two guys who have silently gone under the radar. Both played roles in 2021 that were either as a starter or a significant role player. Both play defense.

They are Damontae Kazee and Brent Urban.

The esteemed Todd Archer gets into what the Cowboys are hoping will be a ‘second-year jump’ for the defense under Dan Quinn. It’s a good rundown of what the Cowboys are doing on defense and their free agent moves over there, but it barely touches on our two free agents.

Kazee’s name appears nowhere in the article, and Urban gets a very brief mention.

Dallas is not likely to retain linebacker Keanu Neal, who played 580 snaps, or cornerback Maurice Canady, but there is still a chance defensive end Brent Urban returns.

Kazee spent last season as the Cowboys starting free safety. He wasn’t bad but wasn’t great. Still, he helped anchor the Cowboys turnaround on defense by securing the back end but hasn’t generated much buzz in free agency. It seems the Cowboys have decided that Malik Hooker is their guy as Kazee hasn’t been on the radar for a return. The Pittsburgh Steelers supposedly had some interest in Kazee but nothing has materialized.

The Cowboys likely thought Kazee would generate more interest on the market than he has since he was a starter last year. Maybe he ends up returning on a very team-friendly deal.

Brent Urban is a little bit different. He was a role player who ended up spending more than half the season on injured reserve. Urban is never going to ‘wow’ you with stats. He’s a run-stuffer who is not always the guy who makes the tackle, but is the guy who is in position to create traffic and hold up blockers.

There is statistical evidence that the Cowboys were better defending the run early in the year and those games lined up with Urban being available to play. He could be a low-cost solution to a problem the defense had last year toward the end of the season.

Which of these two free agents would you rather see the Cowboys re-sign?