In a pretty shocking move, the Dallas Cowboys released starting Safety Ken Hamlin and Left Tackle Flozell Adams.  This move isn’t the shock as we’ve all expected it to take place, the shock lies in the timing.  I foresaw the move taking place but I expected the draft to go by first.  It looks like the Cowboys know exactly what they want and they’re ready to keep this young talented team, exactly that, a YOUNG talented team.

There are drawbacks though, you will not find immediate success in the successors of the position.  Doug Free who is projected to start in Flo’s place will undoubtedly let Tony Romo get slammed quite a bit, while Mike Hamlin or whoever mixes in, will let big plays happen.

In foresight I see this being a beneficial move for the future.  However, if your expecting results this season, you’re going to be disappointed.  I am waiting comments from Jerry, Wade, and the coaching staff, as well as other players and updated news.  As we figure stuff out, we’ll let you know!

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In part one of this series we discussed how we see things shaking down amongst the over populated line backing corps.

This next group some might say is the most critical to the Cowboys success, and I would be one of those people. As far as the defense goes this unit holds all the keys to success!

This very potent and powerful defense cannot do the things it wants without solid secondary play. The Cowboys have spent a lot of time and draft picks on shoring up the secondary, from first on the depth chart down to the last man on the chart.

So let’s take a look at what they have going to camp!

Corners:

Terrence Newman – Will be the starting Left Corner (barring Injury)

Mike Jenkins – Heading into camp as the leading candidate to start at Right Corner, but will have to battle to keep the spot.

Orlando Scandrick – The leading candidate to replace Jenkins if he stumbles, and most assuredly the best Nickel corner on the team.

Alan Ball – Alan has a leg up on the rest of the competition heading into camp based off of the solid year he had in 2008 with the boys.

Mike Mickens – By most accounts the steal of the draft, thought by many to be a top of the 2^nd round guy the Cowboys were able to wait and pick him up in the middle of the 7^th. Should be able to contribute in special teams right away.

Safeties:

Ken Hamlin – Will be the starting Free Safety again this year for the Cowboys, and thanks to an upgrade at Strong safety Hamlin should be able to get back to his 2007 Pro Bowl form.

Gerald Sensebaugh – One of the Cowboys top free agents acquisitions this year should add a much needed dimension to the Cowboys secondary.

Courtney Brown – Originally a Corner but made the switch to Safety at the start of 2007. Brown has the ability to be a ball hawking safety, this being his third year with the team and at safety means that this is a make or break year for him. Could also see some time at corner.

Pat Watkins – Is a big athletic, rangy player the Cowboys had high hopes for this young man, unfortunately that has not come to fruition just yet. Pat is a solid special teams player (has gotten lost a few times however) Special teams play will not keep him on the team this year, he must prove his worth as a safety.

Jerome Carter – Former 4^th round selection of the St.Louis Rams in 2005 and spent all of last year out of work, was signed to a futures contract by the Cowboys in January.

DeAngelo Smith – The Cowboys used the first of two 5th round picks on Mike Mickens collegiate teammate. DeAngelo was a top cornerback in college but the Cowboys have moved him over to safety, giving themselves more options at the position. In the early stages of his career could see some opportunities at corner as well.

Michael Hamlin – The second of two 5^th round selections Hamlin is a pure Free Safety, while lacking a little in the pure speed department he makes up for in instincts and awareness, hard hitting safety that has a nose for the ball and an exceptional leader.

Last year the Cowboys kept seven Cornerbacks and 4 Safeties, and I think those are probably pretty decent figures to go with this year. So with that in mind the coaching staff will have some major decisions to make.

With eleven spots available and 12 players vying for those spots the competition could get very heated in San Antonio.

My belief is that the Cowboys will end up releasing Jerome Carter, and then use DeAngelo Smith, and Courtney Brown as “Tweeners” leaving the secondary looking something like this.

Left Corner:

Terrence Newman , Orlando Scandrick

Right Corner:

Mike Jenkins , Alan Ball

Sub Packages:

Courtney Brown , DeAngelo Smith

Free Safety:

Ken Hamlin , Courtney Brown , DeAngelo Smith

Strong Safety:

Gerald Sensebaugh , Michael Hamlin , Pat Watkins

I would however like to say that I would not be a bit surprised if Pat Watkins was released as well. Pat has gotten several opportunities to claim a spot on this team and has simply not capitalized on those opportunities.

Who stays and who goes in your view?

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Now that I’ve taken more than five minutes to form an opinion of this whole “Dan Reeves won’t join the Cowboys staff” ordeal, I’m going to try to lay this out as best I can.

There are a couple of possibilities, obviously, for what happened or not with this deal, while none of them leave us with the outcome that we mostly wanted, a good outcome is still possible in some cases.

The most shared opinion among fans, myself included, so far is that Jerry Jones wouldn’t give Reeves the kind of authority and control that he either was seeking, or felt he needed to do other parts of the proposed job effectively. Either way boils down to more of the same … and the beat goes on.

Dan Reeves could have merely been a consultant for a brief time while certain things were discussed. He already shared his own opinion of the team with the media, so it makes sense that he would be brought in to consult for a limited time during the regrouping sessions this off-season. Furthermore, it’s possible that the initial report out of San Francisco was either false, mistaken, or the result of the 49ers management turning down a delayed hire for Reeves while he consulted with the Cowboys first. Far fetched, I know.

If this is the case, then the Cowboys, in some way, should have let on to the fact that he wasn’t going to around long, especially after a report to the contrary surfaced in California.

Still another possible reason is that the Cowboys and Dan Reeves didn’t see eye to eye on things. It basically boils back down to Jones not being willing to give in and give Reeves what he thought was necessary. It kind of seems pointless for that to be the case since you bring in a revered former coach to be a consultant so you can change your current direction with his new strategies and ideas. But alas, Jerry will be Jerry.

Regardless of why it didn’t work out with Reeves, though, this team must move on. It’s a free for all to figure out what comes next, but I suspect there are still some major concerns to deal with before free agency and the draft come around.

The Cowboys have yet to name a replacement for Brian Stewart. As I blogged earlier, it’s been reported that Todd Grantham has moved into the defensive coordinators office, and that could have just been done to allow Reeves an office while he was here. What doesn’t make sense with that is going through the trouble to move Grantham to another office when Reeves could have simply taken the open office. It makes more sense that Grantham was moved into that office because they have plans for him to use it long-term.

Terrell Owens may or may not be an issue that the Cowboys are considering possible solutions for, but the media and many fans certainly are. We’re about down to the fundamental responsibility of the team officials to make an announcement on him one way or another for the sake of the millions that pay their salaries. Yeah, I know. But what else can I say about it? Either they are thinking about releasing him, or they’re not. Either way, make a statement to shut everyone up. It’s not like Jerry Jones is apposed to telling us all that someone isn’t leaving while still considering the opposite. See “Brian Stewart Won’t Be Back Next Season” on the True Blue Fan Club blog.

Several free agents have yet to be decided upon with regard to the Cowboys possible efforts to resign them, like Chris Canty, Keith Davis, Kevin Burnett, Zach Thomas, and a couple of others.

A decision still needs to be made on SS Roy Williams this off-season. His performance has been miserable despite missing most of the 2008 season with two breaks in his forearm. The Cowboys actually stand to gain a little over $2 million towards the 2009 cap by cutting him, and could possibly work out even more benefits by trading him to another team soon. It stands to reason that some teams running a 4-3 defense would be happy to have him since he’s never a distraction and has great stats while playing in a 4-3.

If Owens or Williams are released, in one way or another then comes to work of finding a suitable replacement for both, though an argument exists to find certain types of players both positions even if they both stay. The safety position has been weak since Williams’ production dropped off while Parcels was here, and we need a speed receiver to spread the field more than Owens, Roy E. Williams, and Crayton can do. Miles Austin has some great speed and other nice abilities that make him a solid option for that burst of much needed speed, but his inability to stay healthy has hampered his success.

That doesn’t even get into all the smaller things that need to be worked out like how training camp will be handled this year after direct mention of changes from Wade Phillips in his final press conference of the season.

So we’ll stay tuned for that.

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Since I believe the biggest need this off-season for the Cowboys is at safety, I’m going to offer my breakdown of the players we currently have on the roster.

Roy Williams -
I know, obvious first pick, but Williams is coming off his seventh year in the league and deserves first mention. After all, he has been a safety on the Cowboys roster longer than any other safety here.

Sad to say though, that after Woodson retired, Williams has done little else to warrant first mention, anywhere.

He missed most of 2008 after breaking his forearm not once, but twice, and landed on IR. Many will still agree now, as we did then, that him being injured actually solved the problem of how to limit his liability on the field in coverage.

I think he still has talent, but he doesn’t seem to keep his head in a game and loses focus, which leads to mistakes in all aspects of his game. If Campo, having a full season and two off-seasons to get Williams thinking like a football player again, then I say he stays. But he’d have to really wow the coaches and Jerry Jones in order to justify his salary for the year. Read the rest of this entry »

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