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By SportsDayDFW.com Contact SportsDayDFW.com on Twitter: @SportsDayDFW


Yes, the Cowboys will field a secondary next season, but gone are several familiar faces in Barry Church, Brandon Carr, Morris Claiborne and J.J. Wilcox.

And while Dallas has made some additions to its defense in free agency, it's not hard to think of what struggles could lie ahead -- at least for the secondary -- while NFC East rivals stock up on wide receiver help.

Could the Cowboys have better prepared themselves for this mass exodus of defensive backs? Maybe. One line of thought this offseason did center on them being able to re-sign Carr or Claiborne, which never materialized.

Though there was no telling how 2017 free agency would unfold back in March of last year, CBSSports.com columnist Pete Prisco believes passing on Jalen Ramsey with the fourth overall pick of the 2016 draft is a decision that will impact the Cowboys in the near future now that Carr and Claiborne are gone.

In drafting running back Ezekiel Elliott -- who, don't you forget, led the league in rushing as a rookie -- the Cowboys went against conventional wisdom.

Many agreed Dallas would eventually regret passing on Ramsey.

A team with the No. 4 pick in the first round doesn't squander that selection on a running back in today's NFL, especially when that team has crying needs on the defensive side of the ball like Dallas did last year (and still does).

Ramsey, the defensive back out of Florida State who wound up going to Jacksonville at No. 5, made the Pro Football Writers Association's 2016 All-Rookie team after starting 16 games at corner for the Jaguars.

Ramsey came away with two interceptions, returning one of them for a touchdown. He also knocked down 14 passes, forced a fumble and had 65 tackles.

Elliott was PFWA's Rookie of the Year after rushing for 1,631 yards and 16 touchdowns (350 total touches).

And as SportsDay's David Moore wrote in January, a defensive player, no matter how talented, can't insert himself into the game to that extent.

Sure, productive running backs can be found later in the draft (see: Chicago's Jordan Howard), but the Cowboys saw more than just a good back in Elliott.

"Is he a once-in-10-years kind of back?" owner Jerry Jones asked. "Well, the guy that was taken the year before from Georgia [Todd Gurley] had the speed aspect of it but didn't have the away from the ball. Not to take anything away from him but didn't have the away from the ball. Yes, this guy could be once in 10 years.

"That type of dialogue went on, and we got satisfied that he was worth that pick."

Back to that defense: At cornerback, Dallas returns veteran Orlando Scandrick and rookie Anthony Brown, who didn't have a chance to ease into anything last year because of injuries to others and mostly thrived anyway. Carroll, who signed a three-year, $10 million deal, performed solidly for the Philadelphia Eagles last season, with 55 tackles, one interception and 11 pass breakups.

But Dallas still needs to add bodies at corner. Will the team's first pick in this year's draft address the position? Follow draft experts' predictions here.
 
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"Well, the guy that was taken the year before from Georgia [Todd Gurley] had the speed aspect of it but didn't have the away from the ball. Not to take anything away from him but didn't have the away from the ball. Yes, this guy could be once in 10 years.

What?
 

theoneandonly

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Ramsey had 2 picks, 1 forced fumble, and 14 PDs. I would have expected more than that out of the 4th pick in the draft. Guys that create turn overs are so few and far between nowadays that people seem to have forgotten how valuable they are, and Ramsey does not appear to be one of those. If 2016 is any indication Elliott had the bigger impact but the guy needs to grow a brain.
 

MrB

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Ramsey had 2 picks, 1 forced fumble, and 14 PDs. I would have expected more than that out of the 4th pick in the draft. Guys that create turn overs are so few and far between nowadays that people seem to have forgotten how valuable they are, and Ramsey does not appear to be one of those. If 2016 is any indication Elliott had the bigger impact but the guy needs to grow a brain.

And he got that on a defense that has more overall talent than the Dallas defense. So he likely wouldn't have even got those numbers in Dallas.
 

dbair1967

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Yawn. What a fucking moron.

Ramsey might end up being a really, really good CB (or safety), but I don't think he'll ever be a DOMINANT player. Not because he cant be really good, but because the position he plays makes it impossible for him to really alter a game all by himself. The days of Mike Haynes, Lester Hayes and Deion Sanders where a "franchise" CB could really make a huge difference are way done and gone IMO.

Zeke Elliott is already a dominant player. He alters every game and every play he's on the field. He's literally a threat to score every time he has the ball. Teams cant stop him unless they dedicate 8 or 8 guys to the LOS, and even then sometimes they cant stop him. It's why I wanted him over Ramsey last year, because with the 4th pick of the draft we needed to be relatively sure we were hitting the jackpot, and we did with Elliott.

if Ramsey would have played exactly like he did in Jacksonville and posted the same numbers here that he did there everyone would be talking about how we wasted the pick.
 

MrB

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Yawn. What a fucking moron.

Ramsey might end up being a really, really good CB (or safety), but I don't think he'll ever be a DOMINANT player. Not because he cant be really good, but because the position he plays makes it impossible for him to really alter a game all by himself. The days of Mike Haynes, Lester Hayes and Deion Sanders where a "franchise" CB could really make a huge difference are way done and gone IMO.

Zeke Elliott is already a dominant player. He alters every game and every play he's on the field. He's literally a threat to score every time he has the ball. Teams cant stop him unless they dedicate 8 or 8 guys to the LOS, and even then sometimes they cant stop him. It's why I wanted him over Ramsey last year, because with the 4th pick of the draft we needed to be relatively sure we were hitting the jackpot, and we did with Elliott.

if Ramsey would have played exactly like he did in Jacksonville and posted the same numbers here that he did there everyone would be talking about how we wasted the pick.

And how we should have drafted Zeke.
 

ThoughtExperiment

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Let's face it, we could draft Jalen Ramsey, Zeke Elliott, Lawrence Taylor, Randy Moss and Randy White all in the same draft and Garrett would find a way to waste them.
 
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Let's face it, we could draft Jalen Ramsey, Zeke Elliott, Lawrence Taylor, Randy Moss and Randy White all in the same draft and Garrett would find a way to waste them.


All Garrett would need is to have to make a critical decision during a two minute warning. Not even the 1972 Dolphins could survive that.
 
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Because the NFL is too offense friendly. QB's get the ball out of their hands after three step drops. CB's cant touch receivers. There's no intimidation over going over the middle because big hits are penalized. It's an offensive league anymore.

Think of the games best corners the past X number of years. Sherman... Revis, etc. How many times did we play them where Dez victimized them. And they were the best. It's just a different league now.
 

dbair1967

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Just out of curiosity why is that?

Look at the way the game is played now. The rules are EXTREMELY stacked in the offense's, particularly the passing games favor.

Its why if the 92-95 Cowboys played in this league today, Aikman would have obliterated a ton of records. Totally different game.
 
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dbair1967

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Also athletes like Deion are special and very rare.

Deion was a great athlete no doubt, but he was also a great CB technician. He also had great instincts.

That said, while he would no doubt be "good" in todays game, he'd be nowhere near AS GOOD as he was then.
 

NoMoRedJ

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Because the NFL is too offense friendly. QB's get the ball out of their hands after three step drops. CB's cant touch receivers. There's no intimidation over going over the middle because big hits are penalized. It's an offensive league anymore.

Think of the games best corners the past X number of years. Sherman... Revis, etc. How many times did we play them where Dez victimized them. And they were the best. It's just a different league now.

I agree its a much different game. Just wanted to see what he would say.
 

NoMoRedJ

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Look at the ay the game is played now. The rules are EXTREMELY stacked in the offense's, particularly the passing games favor.

Its why if the 92-95 Cowboys played in this league today, Aikman would have obliterated a ton of records. Totally different game.

Agreed.
 
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