Free agency begins Friday in the NFL, as does the 2009 NFL league year, and while the Cowboys are fairly certain which players will stay and which will go, who is coming in remains a mystery.
The most notable of the Cowboys free agents is Chris Canty. It has been reported many times that he is seeking the kind of contracts that every player in the NFL dreams of, the only problem is that he didn’t well enough to earn that kind of money from the Cowboys.
Upgrades!
Some of you may have noticed that we’re seeking some additional writers for CowboysNation.net. It’s a move inspired by my desire to provide as well rounded a site as I can for you.
The first of a few that I have planned to bring on is Phillip Baggett from A Cowboy Nation. The site has been online for just over a year now, and he’s got some edgy opinions and a solid knowledge of the 2009 draft class. This is a joint venture in which we will each “moonlight” on each other’s sites in order to expand the range of each, and both.
This is active as of yesterday, so look out for posts from Bags030404 and lets show some love for another True Blue Fan.
I have been in search for another writer to add to the staff here at A Cowboy Nation for several months now. An opportunity presented itself to me last week, that I simply could not turn down. I happen to be surfing the web one day and went to a site that I had visited before, Cowboys Nation. I sent an email to the creator of the blog introducing myself, and made a proposition to him about joining the staff. After working through some things we have finally come to an arrangement. Bryson Treece will begin writing for A Cowboy Nation effective immediately! I think he will add to the site in many ways, and we are very excited to have him on board with us! As of right now he will continue to write on both sites, and I will also be posting on Cowboys Nation. So without further ado please join me in welcoming Mr. Treece to A Cowboy Nation!
With the latest and shameful coming out of Valley Ranch this week, it makes sense finally to put some of these pieces into place for next season. One of my favorite speculations at this point is coming from www.CowboysFanRebellion.com. MSchmidt64 is the author, and you can also find him over at www.DallasCowboysCentral.com. Here’s a piece of his article followed by a link to check out the whole thing.
COWBOYS TO HAVE NEW HEAD COACH IN ‘09
Many of the more level-headed among us had a feeling that this team wouldn’t open up Yet-To-Be-Decided-Corporate-Sponsor Stadium with Wade Phillips at the helm. Or at least, that’s what we hoped.
Come on. Wade Phillips? A head coach who has never won a playoff game in his long, long, NFL career? A man who has just presided over quite possibly one of the most embarrassing seasons ever for your Dallas Cowboys? A character who, in terms of the always important marketability angle, is more likely to cause fans to part with their hard earned dollars for a multitude of various prescription and non-prescription drugs as opposed to personal seat licenses?
So it was no real surprise when I logged onto the interweb recently and found out, officially, that he’s no longer running the show. Sure, there had been evidence before. Hints dropped here and there. But now we know for sure. Ladies and Gentlemen, the Head Coach for the 2009 Dallas Cowboys will be…. Jerry Jones.
Head Coach Jerry Jones. To be honest, I wanted to come up with a catchier moniker for the old-new big man, one that would appropriately characterize his role as Owner/General Manager/Head Coach/Team Physician/Quality Control/Character Consultant for the organization. But with “slash” already taken by Kordell Stewart, and “solidus,” while appropriately sinister, sounding more like one of the Transformers, I’m just not creative enough to do better (aside: work in Jerry Jones reconstructive face surgery angle here? Take this down). Maybe Jerry/Jones? Ehh.
So Head Coach Jones it is. And why not?
- He already decides what schemes we’ll run (Was Phillips the best coach available? Or the best 3-4 coach available?).
- He already decides if players are being utilized correctly.
- He’s already refused to bring in much needed help for former head coach Wade Phillips, and, in refusing to hire him a Defensive Coordinator, essentially relegated him to that role.
- He already sets the fines for players who break team rules.
- He’s already the guy that players go to when they have complaints about other coaches or players.
- He’s already the guy that gives pre- and post-game pep talks in the locker room and on the sidelines.
- He’s already the guy that looks at the X-Rays on injured players.
- He already sits next to Wade during Press Conferences and probably has provided him with note cards with what he’s supposed to talk about on them.
You can see the full article and comment on it by going to www.CowboysFanRebellion.com. While you’re there take a minute and sign the petition to have Jerry Jones hire a real GM. We’re really starting to gain some support, so you won’t be alone. Sign The Petition.
It’s amazing to me how things can get so out of shape after a disappointing season in Dallas. Never mind that the team did win 9 games on one of the tougher schedules in the league, or that they lost a game to each of the eventual Super Bowl contenders by 6 points, one in overtime. It all comes crashing down.
It’s been a slow end of the week and weekend so far news-wise, so it’s easy to recap what has happened this weekend. There’s been two major stories to come out of Indianapolis at the NFL Scouting Combine, first is Wade’s now infamous “I can’t … against the rules” comment when asked for an update at the combine on Friday, and second is Michael Crabtree and his broken foot.
It’s nothing new for the Cowboys to be thrust into the media spotlight at any event in football, even during the Super Bowl and Pro Bowl the Cowboys were discussed in-game by the analysts calling each game. But the team usually never sinks to such a low as this, one man stepping up and claiming ultimate rule and power over a team, is that even possible?
Jerry Jones has tried to do it in the past, but he’s never been quite so successful at it until now. “I’m the guy that’s got the full picture,” Jones says, and he adds, “I just want to make sure you’re not getting bits and pieces of information. That’s not doing anybody any good and you’re not making accurate reports.” So please, let us see what is accurate.
Since Jerry Jones, who is now beyond any doubt Head Coach Jerry Jones, is the guy then we can safely say that the spread of misinformation amongst the media is his fault. Sure, he’s made it clear today that he wasn’t the one giving the false information to the press, but then he’s also taking control with his gag order, essentially placing his team on lock down. That’s to say that he has the power to do so, to control the situation, why else would he be doing this?
So that must mean that he failed to enforce his rule in the past, that’s how the misinformation leaked to the press.
He says “All I’m trying to say is basically that’s where you need to go to see where the status of that decision is.” Since he is the only Dallas Cowboy allowed to speak to the media now, it means that he is where to go for the status of all decisions.
So how about it Jerry … What’s going on with Terrell Owens? What is the plan to fix the woes of the 2008 season? How will you declare a leader for this team on the field? Who will be coaching the players? What players are staying and going? Can the fans sit down in this new stadium? Is team chemistry important? Is 9-7 good enough?
For most of that, he simply isn’t saying at this point. But Head Coach Jerry has stated that 9-7 is good enough, which brings me to my next point. Sure, the Cardinals went 9-7 and made it to the Super Bowl, they played their best football at the right time of the year. Let us not forget, though, that had they been in any other division they probably wouldn’t have gotten the chance to play their best football in January. The combined record of their NFC West opponents was 13-35, so Arizona knew they were in the playoffs in mid December.
Even the AFC West, with the Chiefs, Raiders, Broncos, and Chargers; still had more combined wins than the NFC West. And it took a week 17 showdown between the Chargers and Broncos to hold all teams in that division at no better a record than .500.
Being that the Cowboys play in the NFC East division, I think it’s safe to say that while a 9-7 division title can happen, it won’t for the Cowboys.
But the real question, the one that will not be asked at this event, or any other, is how can one man run a football team in the NFL? Jerry Jones has tried to do it for 20 years now, and while it started with the likes of Troy Aikman and Jimmy Johnson, without them this team hasn’t even won a playoff game.
A lot of the time, Jimmy Johnson is given credit for running a Super Bowl franchise, but he was just the Head Coach. He was the coach at a time when Jerry Jones didn’t know enough about the sport to try doing so much as he does now, and he had something extra. He knew how to approach Jerry Jones; he knew how to handle his players.
In the years since our last playoff win he’s tried it Jimmy’s way and been tough. He’s tried it Chan’s way and been lenient, he’s even tried being tough the Parcels way, and none of it has really worked for him.
Maybe he’s figured doing it the way someone else would isn’t good enough anymore, so he’s doing it his way, I don’t know. But I can tell you that gagging your entire coaching staff during their time of the year isn’t going to work.
Letting your players be the primary source of misinformation to the media isn’t going to work. Coddling your players with new deals and huge contracts whenever they want isn’t going to work. And bringing in fading talent isn’t going to work either.
The simple truth is that Jerry is asserting his control over this franchise without controlling anything. His players talk to the media, but his coaches can’t. He imposes fines to the players that are cheaper than my gas bill. His overpaid Offensive Coordinator interviews for every job available, every year.
The only thing Jerry is controlling is who gets more time in front of the cameras, and while he’s made it clear that his coaches aren’t good enough for it, he’s also made it clear that his players are.
Personally, I’d rather my coaches talking and my players working, not the other way around.
With all the talk about Terrell Owens and whether he’ll be in a Cowboys uniform next year, the subject of whether or not we can sustain a potent passing game without him has been raised. It’s something that nobody has the answers on, but it makes me wonder, why don’t we?
What is it about Roy Williams that says he can’t handle the load without T.O. across the field? Perhaps the best argument against him is that he played for the Lions until last year, and I know this because I’ve seen it written in so many places, and by so many people. The popular opinion is that he sucks because he was with the Lions.
People like to throw out there that he’s only had one season over 1,000 yards, but what I don’t understand is why the same amount of logic isn’t placed on both sides of the discussion.
He played for the Lions … when is the last time the Lions did anything notable in their passing game? Even I had Mike Furrey on my fantasy team a couple of years ago, but that was also the same year in which Williams got his 1,000 yards, so something was obviously working better that year.
So he comes to Dallas, narrowly escaping a full claim to the worst season in NFL history, and he catches 19 passes for a couple hundred yards. The truth is that Williams, while he caught fewer passes than he could have, was only about 3 yards per catch behind Owens. That means that had our offense not collapsed from mid-season on, he could have ended up with more yards than Owens. Sure, it’s not likely since Owens is the number one wide out, but it’s possible that he could have without him doing anything different.
That has to make you wonder something, how can we be facing such trouble without Owens when Williams was producing at a similar level per catch? Now watch that, I said per catch. A lot went into why Williams had fewer catches, some of it was his fault, some of it wasn’t, so we can’t really make claim to the cause in either direction.
What we do know is, even after Jerry Jones so cryptically told the attending reporters at his press conference yesterday that they weren’t going to get the answer they wanted, that even if he does cut Owens loose, he wasn’t the only guy producing.
T.O. was the only player at a skill position playing in every game of the season.
T.O. did have a blow out game against his former team, nearly breaking his own career record for yards in a game.
None of that says that this team won’t produce over the top should he be gone in 7 months. And to say that we need to pick up another receiver either through the draft or free agency is just idiotic. Why would the Cowboys risk bringing in another player as a project from the draft when we still have Stanback, Austin, and Hurd who have yet to progress past that same status?
Why would we bring in another free agent receiver when we’ve got Williams not playing up to his ability last season; Owens the center of a bigger fuss than Bill Clinton, and the other free agent wide outs we’ve brought in during this decade that have quite literally flopped?
A lot of what’s being said centers around the attention that Owens gets, some off the field, and some on the field. Can this team be any good without Owens occupying double coverage? Well, tell me this, how did Michael Irvin do it all those years? He was never the fastest receiver; he was just a go-up-and-grab-it type of guy. For all accounts, Williams is that type of guy also, he’s just never had a QB worth $60 million throwing it to him.
Give it an off-season, a full training camp and preseason, and you’ll see that Owens is going to get more competition from his right than from the defensive backs facing him.
I have been compiling a list of players who could be available to the Cowboys when they pick in the second round of the upcoming draft. Some of the players on this list will be there when Jerry and Stephen make their selection. Others will involve some “horse trading” to allow them the opportunity.
Make the jump to see the the top ten on the Cowboy Nation Big board!
“You and I both know that the one you are asking about all the time, if I have an answer for . . . if I gave you the answer you want to hear, then you would already have had it, so the fact you don’t have it ought to tell you something. Or it should.“
I’m sure you’ve all seen it by now … it’s been on every Cowboys related headline since the words were first spoken. Jerry Jones found a way to once again let himself be open for interpretation.
A lot of you have expressed confusion over what he said, but let’s look at it and see just how clearly he answered the T.O. question.
“If I gave you the answer you want to hear …” We all know that most of the beat writers that were at that press conference have been spouting off about the T.O. situation. Most of them, most of the time, have expressed their desire to see Owens released. So my take on this answer is that Jones is saying if we were going to hear Owens will be released, we would have heard it by now.
Your guess is really as good as mine, but if I were a betting man, I’d bet strongly in favor of keeping Owens after hearing a statement like that. Only time will tell if Jones backs it up.
Just in case anyone was missing info on who the free agents are this year, here’s a list as taken from DC.com.
The Cowboys face some tough decisions with regards to each of these players, and considering the team has some solid needs at certain positions, look for the Cowboys to make some moves that most of us won’t agree with.
| UNRESTRICTED FREE AGENTS | RESTRICTED FREE AGENTS | |
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* OG Joe Berger |
* WR Miles Austin |
* Number one in that category would probably be Cory Proctor. His abysmal play in 2008 cost us many things, but above all it taught us that Kosier was sorely missed, and then that Holland was almost as missed as Kosier was. Behind Kozier the Cowboys didn’t lose this year, though that’s not saying much since he only played in three regular season games.
Cory Proctor is the first backup at center behind Pro Bowler Andre Gurode, and for his ability to play at both positions, Proctor will likely be retained assuming his price doesn’t climb too high. Something tells me teams won’t be breaking the bank for this guy. Holland played much better than Proctor, but again, a backup center with experience is still needed even after Holland is resigned.
* Another one of the concerns is backup quarterback, and while Brad Johnson is not a free agent, it’s almost safe to say that he will be sometime in the coming months after such miserable play. So that leaves Brooks Bollinger, a younger quarterback with backup written all over him. He too lacked any real production during Romo’s three game sit, but he was better than Johnson. Bollinger managed to drive the team to a touchdown against the Giants in week 9, which was the only time he looked comfortable behind center.
There are a lot of quarterbacks available in free agency this year, and few available within reach in the draft, but the free agents are mostly guys looking for a chance to start, which is virtually impossible here given Romo’s contract and performance. So I think the Cowboys are going to take a look at each available quarterback before the draft, and if another backup to go with Bollinger isn’t found, they’ll draft one in the later rounds. In either case, I believe the team will resign Bollinger since he did show some marked improvement once he got more practice snaps with the first team.
* Chris Canty has been an issue all off-season. Talks have been on-going throughout the past year between the Cowboys, Canty, and his agent, to work out a contract extension for him, but most of us are aware of his agent’s words that he wants Tommy Kelly kind of money. It’s no question that he contributed to the defense in 2008, just as it’s no question that he isn’t deserving of the kind of money he’s looking for.
To make matters worse, he spoke publicly recently and said that he has always been and will always be a Parcels kind of guy, which seems to point toward Canty actively pursuing a spot with the Dolphins. No matter what though, given that the contract talks have basically stalled here, he will test the market to see what he can get.
* Keith Davis, who last year departed the Cowboys for the Dolphins in a similar situation to Canty’s, returned to Dallas after losing out on the starting job in Miami. Upon his return he was immediately named a team captain and resumed his roles as the special teams leader and backup strong safety. Injuries thrust him into the starting line up by week 5, and he started all but three games after that. This includes the end of the year when he suffered a third degree sprain of his MCL without missing a full game from the injury.
His strength is as a role player, special teams ace and backup safety, and his abilities in both aspects warrant signing him to a long term deal. I expect him to test the market once more though before settling for his role in Dallas.
* Miles Austin is another concern for the club, but only because they have to wait and see who offers what for him. the Cowboys are expected to place a second round tender on Austin, giving them the right of first refusal should another team make him an offer, and if the Cowboys choose not to match the offer, they would receive a 2009 second round pick as compensation. His inability to stay healthy last year is an issue, but he will most likely be resigned. His upside is still substantial and he should make an impact and a bid for more playing time in 2009 as long as he can stay healthy.
* The only other real concern lies at the middle linebacker position since both Zach Thomas and Kevin Burnett are unrestricted free agents come February 27th. Thomas stated after the season ending loss to Philly that he didn’t feel comfortable at his position, the Will linebacker, since he had played his entire career as a Mike linebacker, the spot currently held by should-be Pro Bowler Bradie James. Look for the aging Thomas to explore his options in free agency, though don’t rule him out to return next year.