Cowboys news: Cornerback was a concern all season after injuries, remains one through offseason
Despite multiple All-Pros, this position is big need for Cowboys – Ben Grimaldi, The Cowboys Wire
Cornerback is a virtual need for every team in every offseason, but with the injuries Dallas had last year it is especially important they find depth.
Caelen Carson is currently the third CB on the roster, and if Diggs is out, he’d be elevated to a starter. There were high hopes for the fifth-round prospect from the 2024 draft, but injuries saw him play just six games as a rookie. The lack of playing time limited his growth and he didn’t have a positive impact. Carson is heading into his second year and the hope is he can stay healthy enough to play up to his potential.
With Diggs availability up in the air, having just one bonafide corner in a league that eats up bad ones is not ideal.
There are other options on the roster, but none should elicit confidence. Andrew Booth was traded to the Cowboys last August and the former second-round CB has now shown he can’t play with two teams. Dallas also has veteran corner Tony Pride, a journeyman.
With free agency and the draft approaching, the Cowboys need to seriously consider adding one or more CBs.
The team could start by re-signing Jourdan Lewis, who was the team’s best CB last season. Lewis has spent each of his eight years in the NFL with Dallas and is considered one of the better slot corners in the league. The Cowboys allowed Lewis to test the open market last year but brought him back on cheap one-year deal and he paid dividends.
Good CBs are hard to come by and Lewis’ 2024 performance could make him an expensive option to keep. Lewis has said he’d like to return, but he understands it’s a business and could make a bigger payday somewhere else. Not re-signing him could mean big trouble for the secondary.
If Lewis comes back, that gives the Cowboys two solid CBs to start the year with the hope that Diggs returns and Carson works out. If the veteran CB signs elsewhere, Dallas will be in an even bigger hole at the position. Either way, that’s not enough talent at CB.
The Cowboys need to strongly consider selecting a CB high in the draft, and the first round needs to be in consideration.
The time is coming when the Cowboys will have to choose between Trevon Diggs and DaRon Bland – Dan Rogers, Blogging The Boys
The Cowboys may never get the best out of Trevon Diggs and DaRon Bland playing together due to injuries.
Soon, the day will arrive when the Cowboys will have to choose which of these players will be a part of their future. Diggs is entering the second year of his five-year, $97 million deal he signed in 2023. On the surface, it looks as if the Cowboys are committed to him regardless, however, that is not completely true. The team was able to get a deal done early with him and in the process, only a third of it was guaranteed. This means the team has some early-exit escape hatches built in. This is important because Diggs just had chondral tissue graft surgery last month. His timetable is uncertain, but he’s expected to miss offseason workouts and parts of training camp. When will he be back on the field and playing at full strength?
The Cowboys have already paid out his guaranteed money and they haven’t restructured a cent, meaning it will be easy for them to get out of his contract at any point during his last few years with the team. If they are not happy with what he is doing on the field, they can simply move on without any huge financial repercussions.
Moving away from Diggs means moving forward with Bland as the team’s new CB1. Bland is in the last year of his contract. If they want to move forward with him, they should try to work in an extension this summer before he hits free agency next offseason. If they let him play out his rookie deal, they’ll either have to let him walk and get a compensatory pick, or franchise tag him while they figure out what they want to do. It’s a slippery slope, and this one may not have an obvious answer, but the Cowboys don’t seem like a team that would be willing to pay top money for two cornerbacks. And in that case, one of them has got to go, but which one?
Micah Parsons being recruited by former teammate is terrifying for Cowboys fans – Luke Norris, The Landry Hat
It is really, really hard to picture Micah Parsons playing for any other team but the Dallas Cowboys.
Micah Parsons’ college teammate, Bears safety Jaqaun Brisker, would love a reunion in the Windy City
For those who missed Rapaport’s recent report, here’s what the NFL Network insider had to say about the Cowboys possibly being open to trade offers for Parsons:
“Normally open with his opinions, the Cowboys’ 25-year-old superstar hasn’t said much of anything about the team’s promotion of Brian Schottenheimer after a surprise parting of ways with head coach Mike McCarthy — a move Parsons called ‘devastating’”, Rapaport wrote.
“While there have been no trade talks, sources say there have at least been some internal discussions about whether to pay Parsons or trade him for a king’s ransom. If the Cowboys are willing to listen, they may get it.”
Even before this report, Parsons was already being linked to other teams, as this was always a slight possibility given how much money the Cowboys have wrapped up in Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb. And once the report broke, more rumors began to swirl, one of which involved the Chicago Bears, who may only be a few players away from being a genuine contender in the NFC.
As Rapaport noted, it would obviously take a ton from any team to get Dallas to deal one of the best defensive players in the league. But even if Bears GM Ryan Poles has to give up a few first-round picks, Parsons is clearly going to be better than anyone they could get in the draft.
Micah Parsons: Defensive coordinator change is challenging, but part of being a pro – Josh Alper, Pro Football Talk
Parsons had a strong connection with Dan Quinn, Mike Zimmer, and now will work with Matt Eberflus as his third defensive coordinator.
Parsons said last week that picking up another new scheme isn’t ideal and will have its complications, but it’s also just a fact of life in the NFL.
“It’s just learning a new system and getting another coach’s adjustments to how I like to play, what I like to do . . . and implicate me,” Parsons said, via the team’s website. “Obviously, it is challenging with a third [defensive coordinator] and is obviously not the greatest thing in the world but, I mean, that’s part of being a pro. You’ve got to make adjustments.”
Parsons has been one of the best defensive players in the league since he joined the Cowboys, so there’s little reason to think that his transition is going to be at the top of the list of problems for the team to overcome this offseason.
Re-Drafting 2023 NFL Draft After 2 Years – Tyler Brooke, The 33rd Team
Mazi Smith is one of the only known commodities on the roster at defensive tackle right now, but Cowboys fans will still question what could have been with his first-round pick.
The 2023 NFL Draft may not have produced as many promising stars at the quarterback position as the 2024 class, but it has more than a few emerging stars who will be entering their third NFL season in 2025.
A re-draft is a great way to look back at a draft class to evaluate if players lived up to their draft billing while highlighting unheralded prospects who have taken the league by storm. This isn’t meant to criticize teams or players but rather be a thought experiment to imagine what the NFL would look like if these teams got a do-over.
Without resetting trades for draft picks or altering the final draft order, let’s dive into a full first-round re-draft for the 2023 NFL Draft.
26. Dallas Cowboys
Original Pick: Mazi Smith, DL
New Pick: Byron Young, EDGE
The Dallas Cowboys are still waiting for Smith to have a positive impact at the NFL level, so instead of taking an interior defender, they can take a productive EDGE.
While he’s not a complete player yet, Young has found a lot of success rushing the passer in two seasons, generating 15.5 sacks, three forced fumbles, and 105 pressures. He would at least be a rotational defensive end behind Micah Parsons and DeMarcus Lawrence early in his career before being a full-time starter.
