Cowboys news: Malik Hooker signs extension to stay in Dallas

Cowboys give Malik Hooker 3-year extension worth up to $24M - Todd Archer, ESPN.com

The Cowboys are looking to lock down their players in the secondary long term.

The Cowboys signed Hooker in 2021 as he was coming back from a torn Achilles that limited him to just two games with the Indianapolis Colts in 2020. He signed a two-year extension in 2021, but the Cowboys took a proactive approach with a player whom defensive coordinator Dan Quinn has called the unit’s best tackler.

Hooker, a first-round draft pick by the Colts in 2017, started just six of 16 games last season but played 861 snaps, third most in the secondary behind Wilson and Diggs. He was credited with 67 tackles, three tackles for loss, three pass breakups and equaled his career high with three interceptions. He also returned a fumble 38 yards for a touchdown.

The Cowboys are working on extensions for a few players, including Pro Bowl wide receiver CeeDee Lamb and right tackle Terence Steele. All-Pro right guard Zack Martin has yet to report to camp as he holds out in hopes for a reworked contract that has two years remaining.

Something Is Brewing On Defense - Mickey Spagnola, Dallascowboys.com

The 2023 defense could be the best unit we’ve seen in years.

Veteran cornerback. Check.

The Cowboys traded for 12-year veteran Stephon Gilmore. Even at age 33, he’s been as advertised, destined to neutralize any offense’s notion of staying away from Trevon Diggs, Pro Bowl wideout CeeDee Lamb saying of Gilmore, “He’s the smartest defensive back I’ve faced.”

Then big, strong, space-eating defensive tackle. Check.

Cowboys use the 27th pick in the NFL Draft for Michigan DT Mazi Smith, so far with no NFL experience showing signs of clogging up the middle to keep the riffraff off his linebackers, though still needing to refine some techniques to become the much-sought dominate force behind the line of scrimmage.

Finally, shore-up the linebacker corps. Check. Check. Check.

The Cowboys able to re-sign former first-round draft choice Leighton Vander Esch to a reasonable two-year deal. Last year’s fifth-rounder Damone Clark – limited to just 10 games (five starts) with no offseason work or training camp after vertebrae neck fusion surgery following discovery at the NFL Scouting Combine – is coming into his own as the starter next to Vander Esch. And they are working hard to develop young ‘backers Jabril Cox and third-rounder DeMarvion Overshown. And none of this takes into account Micah Parsons, practicing more and more at defensive end while capable of still playing linebacker too.

Pollard tries to be true to quiet personality in taking lead back role for Cowboys from Elliott - Schuyler Dixon, USA Today

Tony Pollard wants to lead by example.

The difference is that Pollard was a fourth-round pick with a much less lucrative rookie contract. The former Memphis player will make more than three times the value of his rookie deal this year alone.

But that isn’t the whole story with Pollard.

“That’s just a part of my mindset, the way I’ve attacked things throughout my life, throughout my career,” Pollard said. “Used to being the underdog, used to being undervalued and overlooked. It’s easy for me to just put the blinders on and go to work.”

Pollard has been close to a full participant in camp in California despite breaking his lower left leg and ankle in the Cowboys’ 19-12 divisional round loss at San Francisco in January.

His progress wasn’t a surprise to Mike McCarthy because of what the coach saw when his new lead back was rehabilitating the injury in the offseason.

Damone Clark: NFL game has ‘slowed down a ton’, primed for big year in 2023 - Patrik Walker, Dallascowboys.com

If the second-year linebacker can put it together, there’s a chance he can be one of the best on the team.

“I’m thankful and grateful that I got the opportunity to play last year,” said Clark following the Cowboys’ third padded practice on Thursday. “They allowed me to go out there [in 2022] — not having an offseason and the [freedom] to make mistakes. Now it’s about learning from the mistakes I made last year and go out there and hit some people.”

A former First-Team All-SEC talent for LSU in 2021, it was discovered by the (guess who?) Cowboys’ medical staff, ahead of the 2022 draft, Clark had a condition that ultimately led him to undergo spinal fusion surgery in his neck in March of that same year.

It would cost him draft status, falling to the fifth-round where Dallas (fate?) grabbed him, but his story was just beginning, and it’s all a testament to both the medical staff’s abilities as well as Clark’s determination and work ethic.

After having not been able to participate in a single offseason program rep — neither rookie minicamp, OTAs, mandatory minicamp nor training camp/preseason — most believed the 2022 season would be redshirt year for the former Tiger.

Turns out, it wasn’t.

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