How Cowboys Grade Their Free Agency Signings - And What It Means For NFL Draft

How Do The Dallas Cowboys Themselves Grade Their NFL Free Agency Signings? And How Does Their View Impact What They Do In This Week's NFL Draft? Answers Inside

FRISCO - The Dallas Cowboys have fully turned their attention to this week's NFL Draft, so more free-agent signings aren't really on the agenda.

But what happened in free agency - with Dallas having signed newcomers Ha Ha Clinton-Dix, Gerald McCoy, Dontari Poe, Maurice Canady, Greg Zeurlein and Blake Bell - is instructive as it relates to the draft.

If Dallas did free agency "right,'' using vets to fill needs, it frees Dallas to do the draft "right,'' trying its best to go "Best Available.'''

Overall,'' said Cowboys COO Stephen Jones in a recent visit on 105.3 The Fan, "I think we did a good job.''

Let's allow Stephen to walk us through this:

On McCoy and Poe: "We found a couple big (defensive) tackles in McCoy and Paul. We found we’re going to have a little different philosophy change at how we look at players on the defensive side of the ball. 

"I think McCoy would fit in any defense. But to get a big body like Poe, probably wouldn’t have been a guy we normally would’ve been interested in during the defensive coordinator Rod) Marinelli era.''

OUR TAKE: This is all about a change from Rod to Mike McCarthy and Mike Nolan, who want more beef upfront. Remind yourself, though: One philosophy isn't "bad,'' the other "good.'' The only way to judge them is to wait to see what works. Marinelli is with Jon Gruden now with the Raiders; if they use smaller, quicker D-tackles (like Maliek Collins, who left Dallas for Vegas) and win, Marinelli will be lauded for it.

As it relates to the draft? The signings eliminate "need,'' really.

On Clinton-Dix: "We actually stepped up and put some capital into the safety position with Ha Ha Clinton Dix,'' Stephen said.

OUR TAKE: That's a rather dubious claim. Dallas tosses a cheap dart at this position every spring. Clinton-Dix is a ballhawk, for sure. But is he better than Jeff Heath (Raiders)? The Cowboys don't want to be done here. Draft a safety? Take some more swings at Jamal Adams? All in play.

On Canady: "In the secondary we got Canady and will certainly continue to look to improve there,'' Stephen said.

OUR TAKE: Canady has zero impact on this draft; he's established very little in his short NFL time. The Cowboys would love Florida cornerback CJ Henderson to fall for them at 17, and like cornerbacks AJ Terrell (Clemson) and Trevon Diggs (Alabama), too.

On Bell: "And then with losing Jason Witten (also to the Raiders), we felt like we needed to add to the tight end position,'' Stephen said. "We did that as well with Blake Bell.''

OUR TAKE: Bell, formerly of the Chiefs, is an established blocking tight end - far better at it than Witten was. Now we get a chance to see if Blake Jarwin, who becomes TE1, can do things consistently better than Witten as a pass-catcher?

Is Dallas done here? We wonder what happens if UCLA tight end Devin Asiasi is still available this weekend in a middle round ...

On Zuerlein: "And then we did a little special teams work with Zuerlein,'' Stephen said. "It was certainly a tough situation with the kicker last year, although Kai (Forbath) stepped up and did a great job of coming in… That will be a good competition there.''

OUR TAKE: Stephen is not kidding here; Zuerlein is not guaranteed of winning the job just because of his contract, due to the offset language in it. The competition will be real.

"Filling holes on defense was our focus,'' Jones said in summary. "I think for the most part we’ve done a nice job of filling are obvious needs with free agency. That’s always our goal.''

And now, onto the next set of goals: the NFL Draft.