Do Cowboys Have The Guys to Make Winners of Fassel's Special Teams?
FRISCO - The Dallas Cowboys' foray into NFL Free Agency produced a bundle of "we-like-our-own'' signings, including in the area of special teams.
But given that Dallas' special-teams units, collectively, were ranked No. 31 in the NFL in 2019 ... what is there to like?
New special-teams coordinator John "Bones'' Fassel had, we're told, a major voice in advising COO Stephen Jones, head coach Mike McCarthy and personnel boss Will McClay on who to retain.
And so, many of the top contributors from 2019 have been retained via free agency. Long snapper L.P. Ladouceur re-signed for another year. C.J. Goodwin, back on a one-year deal, is listed as a "defensive back,'' but really, he's a specialist who led the Cowboys in special-teams snaps. Safety Darian Thompson signed a two-year contract; he didn't excel at safety, but he can do so on teams. Joe Thomas has a one-year deal, and while coaches think he has starter potential at linebacker, he's ready now in this department. Linebacker Justin March is also back on a one-year contract.
"You know I can’t wait to turns special teams into a real factor with Coach Fassel here this year,'' March tells me.
Oh, and in addition to kicker Kai Forbath recently re-signing on a one-year deal, Fassel oversaw Dallas' successful pursuit of another kicker, the accomplished Greg Zuerlein - who was with Fassel for eight years with the Los Angeles Rams. (Additionally, Dallas signed young free-agent cornerback Maurice Canady; maybe he can help here, too.)
That collection of bodies - and the hiring of Fassel, who replaces Keith O'Quinn (who has moved back into scouting) - speaks to how serious Dallas is about fixing this issue.
But ... the two guys who were arguably Dallas' best special-teamers in 2019 are defensive backs Byron Jones and Jeff Heath. They were core guys, for years, and did everything, including leadership.
"A lot of the successes that come with special teams have to do with intangibles," Fassel says. "The personnel is a huge part of it, and the player development is a huge part of it. But when you can get a group of running backs, linebackers, tight ends, receivers, DBs to become cohesive and make it seem like those guys are valuable to a team, that's probably the biggest component to being successful on special teams.''
Fassel's reputation says he has a knack for that. He won't talk about what went wrong under now-departed head coach Jason Garrett's final season in Dallas. Instead, he says, "I look forward to building it how I want to build it.''
Fassel has joined this organization's leadership group to hand-pick its building blocks. Getting better in this department is surely in part about "schematics and technique,'' as Fassel says. And it's about psyche, about "Building chemistry and building pride and getting them to feel like they're important when a lot of times they're backups on offense or defense, but they're a starter on special teams. That's kind of my message to them: 'You're important to this football team.'"
But it's also about bodies - special-teams bodies who don't give up blocked punts, who don't miss field goals, who don't allow touchdowns.
