Analyzing The Cowboys' Biggest Weakness - Is There A Fix?
FRISCO - There are plenty of reasons to believe the Dallas Cowboys can win the NFC East, and if you squint just a little, you can envision the 2020 Cowboys catapulting beyond even that this year. But as SI's Conor Orr writes, "No NFL roster is perfect, and oftentimes the imperfections end up mattering far more than the strengths. They are highlighted in the game plan. Attacked and exploited. And so in that way, the old saying is true: A chain is only as strong as its weakest link.''
So ... what are each NFL teams' weakest links? In the video above, Orr and I find ourselves on the exact same page when it comes to Dallas. And here, Orr flushes out his thoughts on the hole in the Croster ...
"Haha Clinton-Dix reunites with former coach Mike McCarthy to add a little bit of stability to this unit, though is it enough? There are reasons the Jamal Adams pipe dream persists, even if it oscillates from potentially true to merely a figment of a Cowboy fan’s imagination. What’s weird (and kind of amazing) about Dallas in 2019 is that in their three most commonly used defenses, they were a top-11 team in expected points added. They could effectively mask the presence of sub-par play at the position. In comes Mike Nolan to try and help after three years as the Saints’ linebackers coach. The Saints had one of the best base defenses in football last season and arguably some of the best safety play in the league last year.''
Safety, as I often point out, is one of the positions in the salary-cap era that Dallas has decided is a place where there must be some "give'' - that is, as COO Stephen Jones likes to say, "You can't pay max money to everybody.''
Clinton-Dix is a Band-Aid here, with Jeff Heath gone. Xavier Woods is still seen by the personnel people inside The Star as somebody with star potential; that can help. And yes, like the Earl Thomas pursuit before it, the Jamal Adams dream (he's once again expressed unhappiness with the Jets' failed promises) is alive until it isn't.
One possible solution: Chidobe Awuzie taking some snaps at safety?
Want the rest of the NFL teams' weakest link? See here for the AFC, and Orr dives into each NFC team here.
