Dallas Cowboys Nation

Any interest in Jim Leonhard?

He’s a free agent now, or will be shortly, and with the Raven’s having to deal with free agency with both Terrell Suggs and Ray Lewis, speculation is that they won’t have the cap space left to reward Leonhard for his performance this season.

A veteran that’s played safety for both the Bills and Ravens, Leonhard found his success under Defensive Coordinator Rex Ryan in Baltimore.

He’s certainly been a hot commodity for them, which begs the question from Dallas fans, Could he/Would he be a good fit in Dallas?

A fan has asked the question, now let’s hear some answers from fans. Use the comments and tell us all if you’re for or against this idea?

CN.net Position Breakdown – Safety

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. Continue reading

Roy Williams, Linebacker Bound?

This is exactly the kind of stuff I want to be hearing right now!

Move Roy Williams from safety to linebacker? Why would anyone doubt that the soundness of a move like that? I could understand if someone like Ed Reed was available this off-season to the Cowboys, then yeah, cut Williams and get the extra cap space so you can get a high caliber safety. But that just isn’t the case.

If you cut Williams, who replaces him? Who is going to step in and be the hard hitter that he always been? Sure, he struggles in coverage, but against the run he’s still good old Roy.

Maybe there is a point in that he would be facing bigger and stronger linemen every down, but he did that at safety back when Woodson had the air covered. I see Roy Williams a little like Parcels saw Dat Nguyen, a little small, but definitely talented enough.

A middle linebacker usually gets enough help from the rest of the defensive backs that even put into coverage on a tight end or back; Williams could get the job done.

The Cowboys did try him at linebacker in sub-packages for a while, and he wasn’t that great, true. But there is a big difference between a safety coming in as a linebacker sometimes, and a linebacker roaming the field.

Maybe it’s just wishful thinking on my part, but I’d like to find ways to get our current personnel playing to their strengths. And at safety, in coverage, Roy Williams is not doing that.