Mr.Po

2
Messages
2,711
Reaction score
0
Little to show for 2012 shopping spree

August, 8, 2013

By Tim MacMahon | ESPN.com

OXNARD, Calif. – Much was made of Dallas’ free agency shopping spree in 2012. Less than a year and a half later, the Cowboys don’t have much to show from the seven-player class.

If the Cowboys had their choice, only one of those players would see significant playing time for the team this season.

A quick recap on the class’ contributions to the Cowboys and where they stand with the franchise now:

CB Brandon Carr (five years, $50 million): Jerry Jones readily admitted the Cowboys paid “retail” to fill a major need. Carr had a solid first season in Dallas but didn’t perform well enough to merit serious consideration for his first Pro Bowl appearance. The hope is that he’ll benefit from Monte Kiffin’s scheme, which relies on cornerbacks to get in receivers’ faces and play physical.

OG Nate Livings (five years, $18.7 million): The Cowboys hoped that Ronald Leary would beat out Livings even before the veteran needed arthroscopic surgery on his knee, likely sidelining Livings for the rest of training camp. The question now is whether the Cowboys will cut Livings despite his $1.7 million salary being guaranteed this season.

OG Mackenzy Bernadeau (four years, $11 million): The Cowboys tried to replace Bernadeau with Brandon Moore, but the ex-Jet changed his mind and decided to retire. Bernadeau, who was demoted to a backup his last season in Carolina, has had injury issues since arriving in Dallas. The Cowboys clearly aren’t confident that they can count on him after he struggled last season, missed all of offseason workouts while recovering from shoulder surgery and was sidelined the first two weeks of camp with a strained hamstring.

QB Kyle Orton (three years, $10.5 million): Orton threw only 10 passes last season. The Cowboys would love it if he played that little again this year. They signed him purely as an insurance policy, albeit a pretty expensive one. They’re confident that they’ll have an adequate quarterback if Tony Romo goes down, but it’d be a major dropoff.

LB Dan Connor (two years, $6.5 million): It’s funny to think that a year ago Connor vs. Bruce Carter was considered one of the best position battles in camp. Connor, who got a $2.7 million signing bonus, became a cap casualty after a 58-tackle season. He signed a one-year, $780,000 deal with the New York Giants.

FB Lawrence Vickers (two years, $2.4 million): Vickers was a bit player for a team that statistically had the worst rushing attack in franchise history. He’s out of football now, cut by the Cowboys after they decided to scrap the fullback position in favor of using multiple tight ends.

S Brodney Pool (one year, $1.1 million): Pool was guaranteed only $100,000. He didn’t exactly earn that money, flunking the pre-camp conditioning test and getting cut soon thereafter when it was clear he had no chance to beat out Barry Church for the starting job.
 

Texas Ace

Practice Squad
Messages
402
Reaction score
0
Of course there is little to show of this "shopping spree".

Of the 7 players they went after, 1 was a backup and 3 others suck at playing football.

Conor was a bad fit and Vickers didn't quite work out.

It's not like they went after a bunch of solid, proven players or something.
 
Messages
46,859
Reaction score
5
Don't know how you can say Carr wasn't worth the money.

Could be argued he won us the Pittsburgh game, and we wouldn't have beaten Cincinatti without that int and 37 yard return either.
 

dbair1967

Administrator
Messages
54,704
Reaction score
6,040
Carr and Orton were good signings. Orton definitely gives us a quality chance if something happens to Romo whether its for a game or two or for a longer period.

I think most everyone thought Vickers and Connor were good signings at the time too.
 

jnday

UDFA
Messages
2,680
Reaction score
0
If Romo goes down, the season is over with or without Orton. He may could hold it together for a game or two, but I wouldn't bet on it. When it comes to Carr, he is an expensive cap hit considering that he is not an elite CB. He got picked on more than Mo did last year and he even said that he was disappointed with his play last year. I think there was cheaper options that could have turned in the same level of play. Carr is slightly above average, but he is not going to shut down anybody. Jerry could have addressed the CB position at any other time and got a much better deal on a CB. Ten million s year should get s little more than just a solid player.
 
Messages
3,665
Reaction score
22
If Romo goes down, the season is over with or without Orton. He may could hold it together for a game or two, but I wouldn't bet on it. When it comes to Carr, he is an expensive cap hit considering that he is not an elite CB. He got picked on more than Mo did last year and he even said that he was disappointed with his play last year. I think there was cheaper options that could have turned in the same level of play. Carr is slightly above average, but he is not going to shut down anybody. Jerry could have addressed the CB position at any other time and got a much better deal on a CB. Ten million s year should get s little more than just a solid player.

I think the Cowboys had no choice but to replace TNew, so I understand the Carr signing. TNew had gotten so bad that the defense simply was not viable with him. I agree that Carr is not a shut down corner, but given the current NFL rules, it is next to impossible for any player to be a shut down corner.

I think that given the other needs the Cowboys had when they drafted Claiborne, the Cowboys would have been better off not spending a 1st and 2nd round pick on Claiborne. The team could have picked up both a CB and an OL with those two choices ... and I think the team would be better off now if they had.
 

junk

UDFA
Messages
2,719
Reaction score
0
I think the Cowboys had no choice but to replace TNew, so I understand the Carr signing. TNew had gotten so bad that the defense simply was not viable with him. I agree that Carr is not a shut down corner, but given the current NFL rules, it is next to impossible for any player to be a shut down corner.

I think that given the other needs the Cowboys had when they drafted Claiborne, the Cowboys would have been better off not spending a 1st and 2nd round pick on Claiborne. The team could have picked up both a CB and an OL with those two choices ... and I think the team would be better off now if they had.

What they paid for Carr was definitely market value at the time. I'm now wondering, had they waited, if the market wouldn't have been much cheaper due to the new CBA. That Carr contract is a huge cap hit that has to be renegotiated year after year.

However, they went completely overboard by also moving up for Carr. Then they essentially negated the need for strong man corners by moving to Kiffin's defense. Just shows the lack of foresight by the organization.
 
Messages
3,455
Reaction score
0
Well the Cowboys were going to let Newman go and they had a hurt corner in Jenkins. They had to make a move. I personally think Carr is an outstanding corner and was a good pickup. I think everyone hated the guards that were signed. That was a mistake.
 

dbair1967

Administrator
Messages
54,704
Reaction score
6,040
However, they went completely overboard by also moving up for Carr. Then they essentially negated the need for strong man corners by moving to Kiffin's defense. Just shows the lack of foresight by the organization.

Obviously you meant move up for Claiborne, but the idea that Kiffin doesn't want or doesn't need good CB's I think is way off. He's had to make do with what he had previously, but having good man to man CB's isn't a drawback for him. It just enhances other things he might be able to do with his defense.
 

jnday

UDFA
Messages
2,680
Reaction score
0
If any team loses their starting QB, their season is pretty much over jnday.

Why are they overpaying for a backup QB then? That is just like throwing 3.5 million a year down the drain.
 
Messages
3,665
Reaction score
22
Why are they overpaying for a backup QB then? That is just like throwing 3.5 million a year down the drain.

Yeah, that's a good point. Kitna was a very decent backup QB, but he didn't make the Romo-less season particularly successful or watchable.

I guess if Romo were knocked out for only a limited number of couple of games, the expenditure would seem more worth it.
 
Messages
6,827
Reaction score
1
I agree with Middy. Carr wasn't the second coming of Deion Sanders, but he gave us the best CB play we've had in quite awhile.
 

cmd34(work)

Draft Pick
Messages
4,342
Reaction score
0
Here's my emotions for the 2012 spree.

Carr? Sweet!!!!
Orton? Makes sense.
Bernadeau? Seems like a scrub but maybe Callahan knows something.
Vickers? Solid fullback.
Connor? Decent back-up I guess.
Pool? Are you kidding me?
Livings? F You Jerry!
 

Bob Sacamano

All-Pro
Messages
26,436
Reaction score
3
Here's my emotions for the 2012 spree.

Carr? Sweet!!!!
Orton? Makes sense.
Bernadeau? Seems like a scrub but maybe Callahan knows something.
Vickers? Solid fullback.
Connor? Decent back-up I guess.
Pool? Are you kidding me?
Livings? F You Jerry!

All we heard was:

wah
wah wah
wah wah wah wah
wahwahwahwah
WAHWAHWAHWAHWAHWAH!!!
 
Top Bottom