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Dallas Cowboys 2018 offseason thread


DougO

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6 hours ago, EvilCaseMcCoy said:

4 mil a year seems like a lot for an analyst and a no brainer for witten.  I'm happy for him but will miss him terribly.  He's the Tim Duncan (big fundamental) of the cowboys and the guy I would've been most excited to see finally win a championship. 

Is this role to replace Gruden or just as an additional color analyst?

Also, I was unaware that Hanna retired.  I wonder if we'll sign a veteran for that group.  Swaim is the top dog with 9 career catches.

Uhm.... Jon Gruden has a new job now.

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3 hours ago, C-Man said:

Yeah, this is bullshit. His production had seriously declined but he was a great locker room guy and decent enough in the run game. He was still good for 50 catches this year, which is pretty good production from a TE.

Can't blame him for the move, though. I still don't see it -- him as a compelling color guy, I mean. His weekly BaD Radio show is an immediate punchout every time.

He caught 50 balls but how many were of any impact lately? We could spread his catches to more meaningful plays. He was too much of a safety net at times for Dak. Where it became counter productive. Maybe now Dak can look further down field instead of the 3 yard Witten routes that the defense didn't cover because he couldn't move any longer. I'm excited to see a Dez/Witten less offense moving forward.

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1 hour ago, Vic Mackey said:

He caught 50 balls but how many were of any impact lately? We could spread his catches to more meaningful plays. He was too much of a safety net at times for Dak. Where it became counter productive. Maybe now Dak can look further down field instead of the 3 yard Witten routes that the defense didn't cover because he couldn't move any longer. I'm excited to see a Dez/Witten less offense moving forward.

Do you think Dak is ready to lead both in what he says and by example because I’m not real sure about it? Dallas is a player led team not a coach led team and there is a reason you see a lot of former Cowboys saying they appreciate Witten teaching them how to be a professional football player. There is also a reason that writers are saying it’s the first time in 15 years Witten’s vehicle isn’t in the parking lot on a voluntary workout day.

As a fan it’s not wrong to say his off the field contributions are going to be missed even though his on the field contributions have diminished significantly.

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3 hours ago, PittsburghTiger said:

Other than his rookie season when he had 35 catches in 54 targets Whitten had at least 63 catches in every season, nine times with at least 70. I'd say he is a first-ballot HoF guy, especially since he's 4th all-time in receptions.

It's good that he's retiring before Gronkowski so he doesn't get Drew Pearsoned out of the hall.

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4 minutes ago, futureman said:

how about jerry during that press conference?  he really looks like a fucking ghoul.  fucking undead skeleton.  just terrible. 

Crypt keeper..... Has he gotten the nanite infusion for his liver yet?  

On another note.....

He's also had the best QB rating throwing into tight windows last year..... So there were some good things and growth that took place in Dak last year, it's sometimes getting better and learning doesn't always translate to straight line success.  He definitely got into some bad, bad habits after the Atlanta game, namely his feet were a mess as he wasn't trusting the edges much anymore and who could blame him.  Still, he needs to work on keeping his feet and balance underneath him because he becomes very inaccurate if he's throwing without balance (as most QBs not named Rodgers and Wilson do)....

 

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I like Dak a lot. Always did. People give him too much crap for the funky season that was a total team effort. Some was on him, some with a lot of other problems in the way. He certainly has areas he can improve on, and the team sure has a lot of areas they can improve on to make him more effective.

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https://www.bloggingtheboys.com/2018/5/4/17313676/cowboys-2018-draft-film-review-of-second-round-pick-connor-williams

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The 2018 NFL Draft is over, but we are not done reviewing the draft just yet! In the coming days, BTB will release film reviews on each player drafted by the Dallas Cowboys. This article features second-round pick Connor Williams out of Texas.


For viewers of the 2017 Dallas Cowboys, one thing was clear - in comparison to past years the offensive line did not live up to expectations. Injuries and overall inconsistencies led to a dip for the 2017 group in comparison to the 2016 group.

After the 2016 season, Doug Free retired and Ronald Leary signed elsewhere in free agency. Dallas needed to replace their left guard and right tackle. La’el Collins made the transition over to right tackle, showing more bright spots than rough patches in his first year at the position in the NFL. However, the Cowboys struggled at left guard with the duo of Jonathan Cooper and Chaz Green.

Despite their lack of talent at the position, left tackle Tyron Smith was still able to help out whoever was at left guard. But once Smith’s back concerns starting kicking in, that is really when the bottom fell out for this group.

Dallas knew that they needed to get back to their identity on the offensive side of the ball in the 2018 season. With the question of left guard, the Cowboys had a variety of directions they could have gone in to improve their group. After selecting the best player available on their board in Leighton Vander Esch in the first round, the Cowboys drafted another Day 1 starter at pick No. 50 in Texas’ Connor Williams.

Despite being just 20-years-old, Williams has been a very productive and reliable player over the last few seasons with the Texas Longhorns. Williams moves extremely well. He’s fluid in his motions, has great footwork, and excellent technique to go along with it. On top of these traits, Williams displays good hand placement that allows him to bully and push around the defensive lineman across from him.

Despite playing tackle during his college tenure, the Cowboys will take advantage of Williams’ lateral quickness, refined technique, and shorter arms, and instead use him at guard. There really is not a better situation in the NFL for a rookie to step into than play between Smith to his left and Travis Frederick to his right. Let’s take a look at some of Williams’ snaps to see what makes him special.

At just 295 pounds, Williams has the mold and frame to stick with quicker pass rushers. Although he was beaten off the snap by this defensive end on this play, the good news is his recovery, hand placement and his ability to keep pace with him that leads to a nasty pancake block.

Look how easy it is for Williams to stick with the man in front of him. He makes a nice initial punch, then moves laterally so efficiently. Each step is fluid and none are wasted. Williams can simply hover around with the opposition that are trying to get past him. It is quite impressive.

Going back to his functional strength, Williams can handle a bull rush. Once initial contact is made, Williams has enough strength to set his feet and hold up the defender.

Because his hands are so powerful and his footwork is so seamless, he is going to be a difficult player at the second level of the defense for linebackers to handle. In this clip, Williams makes his initial block, disengages and gets hold of an Oklahoma State linebacker and does not let up or let go.

 
 

This clip provides a close-up of Williams’ combination of hand placement and balance. Williams does not give away his position. He does not lean or lunge into defenders. He instead engages, settles his feet, and punches with his hands to provide proper spacing. Leaning or lunging has given him some issues in college, one area where he needs to be more consistent.

A contributor from the get-go at Texas, Williams is a refined offensive lineman that has been seasoned very well. He is ready to be a Day 1 starter in the NFL thanks to smooth footwork, lateral quickness, hand placement, and his intelligence.

Due to his shorter arms, Williams will be better suited to play guard in the NFL. However, in the unfortunate event that the Cowboys get bitten by the injury bug upfront, there is no reason why Williams could not step down and provide an impact at tackle.

Over the offseason, Williams would benefit from adding more core strength so he can have better opportunities tat leverage in the NFL. In Dallas’ heavy zone-blocking scheme, the Cowboys are going to get a player who can move quite well laterally.

Drafted in the second round, the Cowboys got awesome value for a player that has the potential to make Pro Bowls in his NFL career. With the addition of Williams, the Cowboys should have no problem getting back to their ways of running the football and tiring out defenses.

Games Watched: West Virginia (2017), Maryland (2017), Baylor (2016), Oklahoma State (2016).

 

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On 5/3/2018 at 1:58 PM, C-Man said:

Yeah, this is bullshit. His production had seriously declined but he was a great locker room guy and decent enough in the run game. He was still good for 50 catches this year, which is pretty good production from a TE.

Can't blame him for the move, though. I still don't see it -- him as a compelling color guy, I mean. His weekly BaD Radio show is an immediate punchout every time.

The guy was still playing virtually every offensive snap in the season so of course his raw numbers were going to look servicable. He wasnt getting any YAC though and most of his receptions were underneath and didnt do any damage. 

Last season Garrett should have met with him before the season and told him he was going to get more bench time so the offense could incorporate more spread concepts. They had just drafted Switzer and had the personnel to go 4 receiver and no TE to force defenses to remove the extra LB from the box and sub a DB to cover Switzer. That gives an offensive line known for elite individual talent the ability to go against a light box and open holes for Zeke or whoever replaced him. 

I dont know if it was Garrett or Jerry who fucked that up but it should have happened but didn't. Witten, for as great as his career has been, was a major reason for the predictability of the Cowboys offense. 

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1 hour ago, In10se said:

The guy was still playing virtually every offensive snap in the season so of course his raw numbers were going to look servicable. He wasnt getting any YAC though and most of his receptions were underneath and didnt do any damage. 

Last season Garrett should have met with him before the season and told him he was going to get more bench time so the offense could incorporate more spread concepts. They had just drafted Switzer and had the personnel to go 4 receiver and no TE to force defenses to remove the extra LB from the box and sub a DB to cover Switzer. That gives an offensive line known for elite individual talent the ability to go against a light box and open holes for Zeke or whoever replaced him. 

I dont know if it was Garrett or Jerry who fucked that up but it should have happened but didn't. Witten, for as great as his career has been, was a major reason for the predictability of the Cowboys offense. 

Switzer had a hamstring injury in training camp which kept him out almost a month and for most of training camp.  He also had a couple of weeks of limited reps in practice to manage it.  Switzer wasn't ready to step in and play a ton of snaps on offense.  Couple this with Tyronn's injuries and Elliott's suspension and it probably necessitates a player who could be depended on to understand formations and pass pro......  Witten still controlled the middle of the field vs zone concepts.  Yea, his YAC sucked and it's a valid criticism that he had no explosion left but he still understood how to get open and caught most of his catchable targets (he had some bad drops in the beginning of the season).  He also was still a capable blocker and was as sturdy as ever.  The best ability is availability.  Swaim got hurt in limited snaps.  Hanna was already compromised and couldn't play a ton but gutted it out.  Gathers got hurt on the practice field.  We didn't have any TEs to rely on other than Witten..... Maybe his retirement will force Linehan/Garrett to get more creative, but I wouldn't get my fucking hopes up....

 

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2 hours ago, In10se said:

The guy was still playing virtually every offensive snap in the season so of course his raw numbers were going to look servicable. He wasnt getting any YAC though and most of his receptions were underneath and didnt do any damage. 

Last season Garrett should have met with him before the season and told him he was going to get more bench time so the offense could incorporate more spread concepts. They had just drafted Switzer and had the personnel to go 4 receiver and no TE to force defenses to remove the extra LB from the box and sub a DB to cover Switzer. That gives an offensive line known for elite individual talent the ability to go against a light box and open holes for Zeke or whoever replaced him. 

I dont know if it was Garrett or Jerry who fucked that up but it should have happened but didn't. Witten, for as great as his career has been, was a major reason for the predictability of the Cowboys offense. 

Yes, they talked a lot about splitting out the other TEs as well,  just like they always talked about all the secret weapons and scheme stuff with guys like Dunbar, and now Austin. But they always scrap it because they can never actually scheme or execute it properly. They talk about a lot of shit, but they have never shown any ability to back it up with action.

The only time they ever executed a brilliant plan was when they decided, "fuck it, we'll just run the damn ball behind these beasts and control the clock." Then they forgot how to do it, even when they were completely over-matched by an opposing pass rush and every indicator in the book said that's what they needed to do. That's why I have lost all confidence in the innovative and scheming abilities of the staff.

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On 5/5/2018 at 9:59 AM, In10se said:

The guy was still playing virtually every offensive snap in the season so of course his raw numbers were going to look servicable. He wasnt getting any YAC though and most of his receptions were underneath and didnt do any damage. 

Last season Garrett should have met with him before the season and told him he was going to get more bench time so the offense could incorporate more spread concepts. They had just drafted Switzer and had the personnel to go 4 receiver and no TE to force defenses to remove the extra LB from the box and sub a DB to cover Switzer. That gives an offensive line known for elite individual talent the ability to go against a light box and open holes for Zeke or whoever replaced him. 

I dont know if it was Garrett or Jerry who fucked that up but it should have happened but didn't. Witten, for as great as his career has been, was a major reason for the predictability of the Cowboys offense. 

Spot on. There's more to sports than just numbers on paper and not all numbers are created equal. Witten had very little impact on games as his career went on. Again, he was open all the time because no team even bothered to guard him. They will gladly give up 3-5 yard passes all day. He was way too much of a safety net for Dak. I felt Dak relied on those short ass throws way too often. Especially on 3rd down. And Witten loved to run shorts in front of the sticks. Out offense was TE heavy so naturally Witten will rack up the catches. Loved his time here but this was a long time coming.

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9 hours ago, Vic Mackey said:

Spot on. There's more to sports than just numbers on paper and not all numbers are created equal. Witten had very little impact on games as his career went on. Again, he was open all the time because no team even bothered to guard him. They will gladly give up 3-5 yard passes all day. He was way too much of a safety net for Dak. I felt Dak relied on those short ass throws way too often. Especially on 3rd down. And Witten loved to run shorts in front of the sticks. Out offense was TE heavy so naturally Witten will rack up the catches. Loved his time here but this was a long time coming.

I would agree that the offense was too geared up to play to the TE being used as a safety net but he was still getting open on those Y option routes.  Not everything was a safety net. 

The bigger problem was with the way we used personnel made how we used most of the roster predictable.  In the passing game we pretty much always kept our wideouts running the routes they are best at running to cover up their flaws.  Beasley runs his  3-4 options.  How often did you see him run a flag or seam route?  Witten runs his 3-4 options.  Dez ran 3-4 routes.  The guys on the other side of the ball knew this and it made the offense easier to defend against.  Having one of 2 guys like that is fine but it seems like none of the wideouts were versatile route runners.

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It was a double-edged sword. The way they used personnel was largely hindered by the what the personnel was capable of doing on a consistent basis. And they were never able to scheme properly for what their personnel was capable of doing. They needed a combination of different personnel and different scheming.

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To piggyback on how we use personnel..... Switzer has his observations from last year.  Basically, they tried to force him into a Dunbar/Lucky role he was ill suited for.  Now they have Austin for that role and we'll see if it will be any more successful.  Seems odd to draft a prolific college WR and then try to make him a combo player.  I mean I'd like to see more creativity in our schemes but it's an odd use or analysis of a player's strengths.

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Switzer: I don't know. That's something I'm still kind of pondering. The more I think on it, I think that they had a different plan for me than what I was capable of doing. I don't know. Looking back I had two or three rushes in the NFL before receptions and I was taking reps at running back at times. I don't know if were trying to use me as like a scat-back or what. There was a lot of talk about my high school days and being a RB and I don't think I ever fit that mold as a change-of-pace back or someone with slide sweeps and carries. I don't know if that's the plan they had for me [because] it was never spoken, but when I try to piece these things together -- that's kind of what I'm thinking. ...I think that had a little bit to do with it because I can't really think of anything else. ...I did, like coach Garrett [told] me, I did everything [asked of me] and more. I felt like that, too. I'm not really sure. That's about as good of a guess as I have.

https://247sports.com/nfl/dallas-cowboys/Bolt/EXCLUSIVE-Ryan-Switzer-discusses-unexpected-divorce-from-Cowboys-feeling-wanted-by-Raiders-and-more-118031958

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He was a weapon for about one and a half games, when healthy. They were never able to get him into the game plan the way they always dreamed about, because football is football, not a bunch of cutesy stuff nobody has time for, and everybody can see coming when he's on the field, so it scares nobody.

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On 5/5/2018 at 12:20 PM, DougO said:

Yes, they talked a lot about splitting out the other TEs as well,  just like they always talked about all the secret weapons and scheme stuff with guys like Dunbar, and now Austin. But they always scrap it because they can never actually scheme or execute it properly. They talk about a lot of shit, but they have never shown any ability to back it up with action.

The only time they ever executed a brilliant plan was when they decided, "fuck it, we'll just run the damn ball behind these beasts and control the clock." Then they forgot how to do it, even when they were completely over-matched by an opposing pass rush and every indicator in the book said that's what they needed to do. That's why I have lost all confidence in the innovative and scheming abilities of the staff.

Except the line wasn't nearly the same as it was in 2016. Leary was gone, Free retired. Chaz Green, who everybody except Drew knew was a terrible pick at the time, was terrible when forced into action. Then you have a situation where you lose Zeke for six games to suspension. Oh, yeah, and Tyron Smith has back issues. They weren't the same team they were on the O-line the previous year.

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On May 5, 2018 at 9:59 AM, In10se said:

The guy was still playing virtually every offensive snap in the season so of course his raw numbers were going to look servicable. He wasnt getting any YAC though and most of his receptions were underneath and didnt do any damage. 

Last season Garrett should have met with him before the season and told him he was going to get more bench time so the offense could incorporate more spread concepts. They had just drafted Switzer and had the personnel to go 4 receiver and no TE to force defenses to remove the extra LB from the box and sub a DB to cover Switzer. That gives an offensive line known for elite individual talent the ability to go against a light box and open holes for Zeke or whoever replaced him. 

I dont know if it was Garrett or Jerry who fucked that up but it should have happened but didn't. Witten, for as great as his career has been, was a major reason for the predictability of the Cowboys offense. 

 

Sometimes next season I'll say "damn, Witten woulda caught that" or "run the right damn pattern". Or a combination of many o shit comments. Hopefully not too many times.

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https://www.bloggingtheboys.com/2018/5/8/17330822/report-dallas-cowboys-rumors-scheduling-visit-from-free-agent-defensive-tackle-terrell-mcclain

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Report: Terrell McClain is scheduling a visit with the Cowboys later this week

Could a reunion be in the cards for the Cowboys and McClain?

By Dave Halprin  May 8, 2018, 9:15am CDT
 

Sometimes you don’t know you’ll miss someone until they are gone. That may be the case for the Dallas Cowboys and Terrell McClain. The former Cowboys player was recently released by Washington, and possibly could be headed for a reunion with his old team.

ALERT: Source tells me #Cowboys have scheduled a visit to the Star this week with DT Terrell McClain. Team would love an affordable reunion here.

— mike fisher ✭ (@fishsports) May 8, 2018

McClain left after the 2016 season to play in Washington, who offered him an inflated four-year, $21 million deal. He had one disappointing season where he played out of postion before he was let go after Washington drafted two interior linemen at the end of April.

The Cowboys need a 1-tech player for the rotation, and McClain was able to play well there when he was healthy for the Cowboys. The problem of injury is what kept McClain from really establishing himself in Dallas, although his 2016 season was very productive. The Cowboys run defense suffered last season and they need to improve in that area to be a truly solid defense. Drafting Leighton Vander Esch will help, but they need someone to help keep him clean up front.

Dallas will have competition for his services. He already has two other teams interested.

After spending time with the #Dolphins last week, free agent DT Terrell McClain is visiting the #49ers today, source said. Would be a solid late free agency add.

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) May 7, 2018

Former Cowboys starting DT Terrell McClain's visit to the Dolphins ended without a contract. But it remains a strong possibility down the road. Sides will keep in touch.

— Barry Jackson (@flasportsbuzz) May 7, 2018

 

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32 minutes ago, EvilCaseMcCoy said:

Is there a reason we'd be more excited with McClain over Jihad?  

 

The Cowboys only had one true 1-tech on the roster, Price, and he's coming off a major knee injury. Jihad was an end that played some inside and probably seen as a potential 3-tech  rotation guy, similar to Crawford. McClain would be insurance as a two-down run stuffer, at the very least. They should sign him and see how things shake out.

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