FRISCO, Texas – What has happened at the secondary position over the last week or so has seemed to turn many Cowboys fans into a frantic state.
Honestly, I think it's rather comical.
Sure, teams need depth and the defensive backfield too a rather big hit here in free agency. But if you go off the panic attack that Cowboys Nation is having, it's like the offseason is now officially over and the Cowboys have to play a game tomorrow.
Calm down.
Ok, so maybe the Fuel Light has come on and there aren't a lot of gas stations at every corner for the next few miles.
But you're far from standing on the side of the road without a cell phone.
I really don't think the Cowboys' secondary is in terrible shape right now, especially at cornerback. In fact, if you just show some patience, the Cowboys might end up with a better cornerback spot than they had last year.
At safety, that might be a different story but neither is in awful shape, especially here in March.
Let's focus on the cornerback position, the one that most recently saw two players leave the Cowboys after five seasons with the club.
Morris Claiborne and Brandon Carr. Thanks for the service. Both were good – at times – and frustrating in others.
I don't blame either one of them for walking out the door for more money. I don't blame the Cowboys for letting them.
Let's not forget what the Cowboys lost here. The best thing about Mo was his potential to be great. It's not like we had really seen it. Sure, he played well early last season but he got hurt – again. Had he not been the No. 6 overall pick in 2012, Claiborne wouldn't have received the benefit of the doubt so many times. And I'm pretty sure the Jets wouldn't have signed him for that deal either. He was a great prospect that hasn't panned out yet and it's going to take a while before every team in the league decides to pass. You knew someone was going to give Mo Claiborne an offer. The Cowboys just decided it wasn't going to be them this time.
So if he goes to New York and stays healthy and develops "Claiborne Island" over there? Oh well. Then it just wasn't meant to be.
As for Carr, yeah I would've liked to see him come back at the right price. Apparently, the price wasn't right for both sides.
Think about it, the best thing we say about Carr is that he's on the field. Now, that's a good thing in its own right. But you'd like to think cornerbacks would get a more glowing description than just being durable.
[embeddedad0]And frankly, if he wasn't compared to Claiborne all the time, then maybe we wouldn't really talk about him playing and starting every game.
Honestly, I really like Carr. Not only as a person, but I think he was underrated as a player. Sure, he got beat on some plays from time to time. And he could've picked off a lot more passes later in his Cowboys' career.
But there were plenty of games where he was rather quiet – and that's definitely a good thing.
Personally, I wanted to see Carr come back on another contract because I've been one of the few in the media that thinks he's a good player.
But I don't think the Cowboys are in trouble because he's gone. That goes for Claiborne. That goes for J.J. Wilcox and that even goes for Barry Church.
This is kind of like having a stubbed toe, sore ribs, a sprained ankle and a toothache. None of them are too bad to handle but if they all happen at once, you might think you're breaking down.
I really don't think this secondary is breaking down.
To me, Nolan Carroll is pretty much the same as Carr. If you draft a corner or two this year, you have to hope they can be on the field and contribute as much as Claiborne. If you can get that, you're really not in a worse situation in 2017 as you were last year.
In fact, if they can find some rookies to contribute as much as Anthony Brown did last year, the cornerback position could be even better.
