Source: Hooker & Kazee Visiting Cowboys; Here's Schedule
FRISCO - There might be some wining and dining involved. But more likely for Dallas Cowboys safety targets Malik Hooker and Damontae Kazee, there will be interviews and medicals.
And a source tells CowboysSI.com that those visits are slated to take place on Wednesday here at The Star in Frisco, after a Tuesday DFW arrival.
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The Cowboys have already locked up former Atlanta Falcons strong safety Keanu Neal to re-join his former coach Dan Quinn in Dallas, with the new Cowboys coordinator an important part of bringing the 6-1, 216-pounder to town - to play a sort of "hybrid'' position that will ask him to work as a linebacker and a safety.
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Neal, 25, has pedigree as a first-round pick of the Falcons in 2016 out of Florida.
The search is now on for help at free safety. Kazee, 27, is also a Falcons ex, and a ballhawk. But despite his penchant for takeaways (he recorded seven interceptions in 2018), the former fifth-rounder is smallish (5-10, 184) and he's coming off an injury issue, as he tore his Achilles' tendon in Week 4 of the 2020 season.
Hooker, 24, was a college superstar at Ohio State and was an instant hit for the Indianapolis Colts as a first-round pick in the NFL Draft. But injuries have slowed his career as well. A healthy Hooker (6-1, 214) would be a first-rate difference-maker in Dallas; coming out in 2017 he was compared to Ed Reed. But early on he endured a series of injuries and then, like Kazee, Hooker tore his Achilles, ending his 2020 season.
Therefore, the purpose of the Tuesday/Wednesday visits - again, at least as much as the wining and dining and recruiting and negotiating - is to check on the health of the two free safety candidates.
