What Cowboys Say About Robert Quinn Vs. Byron Jones - And What Quinn Says In Return
Increasingly, Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones finds himself giving speeches that are different versions of his "He's one of the five best people I've met in football'' compliment. Once upon a time, such praise was reserved for the likes of Jason Witten, an iconic Cowboy and future Hall-of-Famer.
Turns out, 2019 sack leader Robert Quinn is approaching that lofty "top-five'' status, too. Maybe both because Quinn proved to be a quality person and, well, leading the team in sacks never hurts.
Jerry this week at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis called Quinn "one of the top people" he's ever known and called him "the real deal." The suggestion was strong: Jones would like the free-agent Quinn, acquired in a cheap trade from the Miami Dolphins last offseason, to come back to the Cowboys.
Quinn has told CowboysSI.com he wants the same thing.
"Since I got here,'' Quinn says, recalling his summer arrival from the Dolphins via a trade that cost Dallas just a sixth-round pick, "at first I joined a locker room full of strangers, and then they became friends and some of them became brothers.
"You love when things happen like that.''
Can things happen like that in 2020? The good news for Quinn and the 2019 Cowboys is that he flashed some of the pass-rush gifts that made him the NFL Defensive Player of the Year as a member of the Rams. The bad news for the 2020 Cowboys is that by finishing as one of the individual highlights of the 2019 NFL season for the 8-8 team (with 34 tackles, two forced fumbles and a team-best 11.5 sacks), he rejuvenated his career.
"Overall, I guess I proved to people I've still got it,'' Quinn tells us. "Personally, my standards are a little bit higher than what I achieved this year. I expect more out of myself. But I guess you can look at the pluses. In some way, it was a pretty good season.
"But I'm hard on myself. I always want more.''
Quinn also has every right to "want more'' at the pay window. His previous contract paid him an average of $12 million APY. The franchise tag for a defensive end is about $18 million. Slot him somewhere in between there and the easy prediction is that Dallas - which has $80-plus million in cap room but has earmarked much of that dough to retain free agents Dak Prescott and Amari Cooper - will opt to not break the bank on a player who is almost 30.
But maybe there is a way ... especially if, as we reported earlier this week, Quinn is edging ahead of another quality free agent, Byron Jones, as a Dallas priority.
"We got some work to do,'' Jerry said of retaining Byron. "It’s a real challenge.”
It is significant that Jerry views Quinn as doable while viewing Byron as "a challenge.'' That might have something to do with new coach Mike McCarthy's expressed desire to employ "six pass-rushers'' on his 53-man roster. If you need six ... and one has one foot in the door at The Star ... why not try to keep him.
The Cowboys' roster is presently in cupboard-is-empty status when it comes to D-linemen; part of that cap room is slated to be used to fill about 24 holes on the roster; that's how many unsigned players Dallas has. There can be answers in the 2020 NFL Draft. But when it comes to the "brotherhood''? It was Tyrone Crawford and Quinn's other Cowboys D-line "brothers'' who noted at training camp that he moves fluidly, as if he doesn't have elbows or knees, but then "strikes viciously'' at the QB ... So as CowboysSI.com was first to report, his in-house nickname became "Black Cobra.''
But, Quinn says, "It's a business - you know how it goes. I've never been a free agent before, so it's an interesting process I'm about to go through. We'll just sit back and see what happens.''
It's a business for the Cowboys and Robert Quinn. It's also a business for the Cowboys and Byron Jones ... and Dallas may have made its choice with one to continue in business with.
