Deal or No Deal - Cowboys CB Mike Jenkins

By:  Bobby Shores

One of the biggest story lines so far during this OTA season is what is going to happen with former first round draft pick Mike Jenkins, you know the incumbent starting cornerback that was put on the trade block after the Cowboys picked Morris Claiborne #6 overall, and then once no team offered a high enough pick during the draft Jenkins has now become an important part of the future of the Dallas Cowboys, to paraphrase Jones.

So why is Jenkins staying away from the Cowboys "voluntary" off-season activities? Well for starters they key word is "voluntary", which according to dictionary.com means:

•  "done, made, brought about, undertaken, etc., of one's own accord or by free choice

In layman's terms that means he is not required to show up. Jenkins's agent Drew Rosenhaus has already informed Jones that he will be there for the mandatory sessions, probably because players can get fined up to $10,000 each day which for a player making "only" about $1 million this year could add up quickly. Which brings me to my next point....

Jenkins is unahppy with his contract and feels slighted that he is still playing on his rookie deal signed when he was drafted in 2008 and that the Cowboys have taken care of Orlando Scandrick by signing him to a 5-year $27 million extension with $10 million guaranteed, and he was taken 4 rounds later (calculator out....yep he was taken in the 5th round) in that same draft. He is also upset because ANOTHER 2007 5th round draft pick, Brandon Carr, just signed a 5-year $50.1 million contract with $25.5 million guaranteed, the richest contract signed by any free agent defensive back in 2012. And what does Jenkins have that NEITHER of these two corners the Cowboys have richly rewarded this past year have? A Pro Bowl to their name, that's right, Mike Jenkins was named to the Pro Bowl back in 2010.

Mo Claiborne(24) & Brandon Carr(39)

Even though Jones says that Jenkins is going to be a part of the Cowboys future, and is saying that nothing a team can offer will be worth what he is worth to the team, the reality of NFL Economics says that this will be the last year Jenkins is a member of the Cowboys, barring an injury and a highly unlikely 2013 franchise tag. Teams can't afford to devote that much money to one position.

While there are plenty of teams out there that could greatly improve with the addition of Jenkins, and a couple of those teams (Lions and Colts) supposedly making offers for him, the fact is he is more valuable to America's Team than most anything they would give for him. Think about it this way, Jenkins played almost the 2011 season injured, from a busted shoulder (that required major surgery), to lingering knee, hamstring and neck injuries and won't be ready to resume practicing until training camp at the earliest. So any team that trades for him will be taking a risk that he won't be ready to go, will play as well as he has at times when healthy and can pick up a new defense on an accelerated schedule. 

So what is that worth, in terms of a draft pick? Probably a 5th round pick that maybe goes up to a 4th round pick depending on playing time. Well guess what happens if the Cowboys let him walk next off-season? They most likely get a 3rd round compensatory pick.

Besides the compensatory pick, what is Jenkins value to the Cowboys? Remember last year, when the Cowboys secondary was regularly torched by opponents due to injury and ineffectiveness? I believe it was the Jets game when Terence Newman was out, Jenkins was out, Scandrick rolled an ankle and the 2 corners were Alan Ball and Bryan McCann with Barry Church coming in on the Nickel package. You forgot about that, didn't you? In my opinion, having 4 corners capable of starting is a luxury, it's a luxury the Cowboys can afford and should take advantage of this year, especially if you can find a way to get them all on the field at once (remember my article a while back about the declining value of NFL Safety's....read it now).

So taking all this into account the starting point for me to even consider trading Jenkins is a 2nd and 5th round pick. Even then I wouldn't talk about it unless another cornerback (my money is on Mario Butler) steps up during training camp while other teams suffer crippling injuries and/or realize that their hopes for a playoff run are unreachable without another starting corner.

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Q & A: Mid-to-Late Round Corners for Cowboys

By:  Bobby Shores
Check out recent articles:  First Round Cornerbacks, NFL Draft Quick Hits on - Dontari Poe (Biggest Potential Draft Bust), Andrew Luck, Robert Griffin III, Jake Bequette, My 2012 NFL Draft Player Rankings By Position and the Evolution of NFL Defense's What will happen to the Safety Position?

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Question:  You recently addressed potential first round cornerbacks, but what about mid-to-late round corners that could be available for the Cowboys if they go in a different direction with their first round pick?

ReclinerQB Thoughts:  I am going to start this off the same way I started off the previous article about first round corners, and that is talking about our current defense and what we need:  while most fans want to put the failure of the defense this past season on the secondary, I believe the lack of a consistent pass rush made it nearly impossible for our defensive backs to cover and that a good pass rush is a secondary's best friend. I am also not naive enough to think that we don't need to upgrade the secondary, particularly the depth at cornerback and the starters at safety.

When healthy, Mike Jenkins and Orlando Scandrick are solid starters, but we have next to nothing behind them.While Brandon Carr is a great addition, you can never have to many quality starters, especially since Jenkins will be a free agent this year and if he doesn't come back then we are shallow again at a critical position.

So who are possibilities in the second or later rounds? Some of the CB's that I like are Georgia's Brandon Boykin, Nebraska's Alfonzo Dennard and Oregon's Cliff Harris.

2012 NFL Draft Hopeful CB Brandon Boykin

Brandon Boykin-Georgia - Undersized for an NFL corner (barely 5'9) but plays taller as he can jump very well, has great speed and plays very physical. He will probably never be a teams #1 corner, but with his quick feet I think he will be the nickel corner and play the slot immediately and battle until he is the #2 guy. He has good ball skills and is constantly improving. I love what I have heard about him, that he is a natural leader, will outwork everyone and plays every practice like it is a game; these are the kind of players I like and the Cowboys need (I have a feeling that the players take practices a little to lightly at Valley Ranch)

If the Cowboys got him, he would be able to contribute on defense as well as special teams as he is a returner which is a major need, and I think he would instantly become the heart and soul of the special teams, something we have not had since Keith Davis left the team 5 or so years ago.

2012 NFL Draft Hopeful CB Alfonzo Dennard

Alfonzo Dennard-Nebraska - I did not see Dennard play a lot in college, but I had heard that he was better than Prince Amukamara and was going to be a high first round pick. So I was excited when I got to sit down and watch the bowl game where he would be matching up against a potential first round wide receiver in Alshon Jeffrey. I quit watching him after the third quarter (and not just because he got thrown out), he had given up over 140 receiving yards to Jeffrey and a touchdown at that point.

Besides that one game, I did watch some other film on him and was never impressed with what I saw, did not have very good ball recognition or tackling skills (seems like he arm tackles instead of squaring up on ball carriers). He is also to easy to take out of the game, as he is routinely caught fighting with opponents instead of paying attention to the game. The Cowboys should take him off their draft board, no matter how far he falls (and I think he will fall).

2012 NFL Draft Hopeful CB Cliff Harris

Cliff Harris-Oregon - Best way to describe Harris is "talented but troubled". His style of play is Explosive! Harris comes from the Deion Sanders style of playing defensive back, he is great in man coverage as he is long, lean, plays the man and the ball well and could be an elite corner and showed it in 2010 when he had 6 INT's and 23 passes defensed. He also has skills as a punt returner, when he brought 4 back to the house, again in 2010. Notice a pattern here? He fell off the map in 2011 and did not play much after having multiple off the field problems. The weaknesses in his game is that due to his lean size he is not very welcoming when it comes to contact, he never seems to avoid it, but does not go looking for it.

Hopefully spending most of the 2011 suspended and seeing his future hang in the balance will humble Harris and make him realize that natural talent alone will not carry him to greatness. If he can interview well and stay out of trouble, he could be the next 5th round or later steal at corner for the Cowboys (remember that Orlando Scandrick had a 2nd round grade but fell to the 5th).

So if the Cowboys get a chance at these guys, where would I be comfortable drafting them right now? I would be happy grabbing Boykin in the 2nd round, as he can help in all aspects of the game (defense, returner and special teams ace), I want nothing to do with Dennard and if Cliff is around in the 5th round then grab him IF you feel that he has changed and is taking his life and talents seriously.

My main worry with cornerbacks this year is that they are all being overvalued in my opinion because every team needs more with the passing game explosion. It seems that 2nd round corners are being pushed into high first round (Stephon Gilmore) and small school "project corners" are being pushed up from 4th and 5th round to 2nd (Josh Robinson, Trumaine Johnson and Dwight Bentley).

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Who are these New Look Cowboys (Defense)?

By:  Bobby Shores

Many Dallas Cowboys fans were hesitant to believe in their defense at the beginning of the season when it looked like the defensive personnel was going to essentially stay the same, no flashy free agent signings or high draft picks were used to shore up a defense that ranked near the bottom of the league in every statistical category in 2010. But led by new Defensive Coordinator Rob Ryan, a second year 2nd round draft pick inside linebacker and a journeyman safety; this defense has become a unit to reckon with.

Sean Lee - An instinctual and intelligent player that possessed an innate ability to always know where a play was going and to seamlessly flow through traffic to get there, Lee looked like the next great linebacker in a long line at Penn State. But after tearing his ACL in 2008 he never regained his quickness and ability before the Cowboys used a 2nd round pick on him in the draft. Couple his knee injury with all the minor injuries that he suffered his rookie year that helped keep him off the field, and Cowboys fans didn't have a lot of faith in him being much better than the old and slow linebacking corp of Bradie James and Keith Brooking that he was supposed to help replace.....but little did we know.

 Enter the first game of the 2011 season, Lee led the team with 12 tackles (10 solo) and an interception. That is when people first started to take notice. Lee followed that performance with 22 tackles, 3 tackles for loss, an interception and 3 passes defensed in the next three games. Now fans are not only noticing Lee, but declaring him a star. He has become a leader on the defense, spending countless hours studying his playbook and watching film which has helped him call the plays in the huddle and ensure that everybody is in the right spot.

His biggest attributes though are what made him great, pre-ACL tear at Penn State, that innate ability to diagnose plays before they happen, allowing him to get to the ball and make plays seemingly before the offense even knows what is going on. If the Cowboys latest 2nd round inside linebacker coming off a major knee injury, Bruce Carter, works out nearly as well as the first one, then they will have a linebacking tandem to reckon with for years to come.

Abe Elam/Gerald Sensabaugh - The safety position for the Cowboys for the last few years (ok well really since Darren Woodson retired) has been more of a "disaster" than a "safety", and when they did not address this position high in the draft and instead brought back a recent free agent disappointment in Sensabaugh and a journeyman in Elam, hopes were not high.....Especially since this nearly identical secondary last year spent more time pointing fingers at each other and yelling back and forth amongst themselves and the sideline then actually stopping the opponents....

In comes Elam with his conservative style of play and two years experience in Rob Ryan's defense lining up the secondary in the right places and keeping the lines of communication open with the front seven to make sure that everyone is on the same page, the amount of big plays the secondary gives up has reduced dramatically. While Elam plays conservative, Sensabaugh's ability to make plays (blocked FG, 2 fumbles and 2nd on the team in INT's & Tackles) has been greatly enhanced because he is playing much looser and more confident which has allowed his great athleticism to shine through.

While the secondary is still a work in progress, the improvement from last year, even with multiple starters missing significant time throughout the year has allowed the Cowboys to stay competitive.

The Rest of the Best - You cannot write an article about the Cowboys defense and not mention the contributions these guys have made:

DeMarcus Ware - Most disruptive defender in the NFL, if not the best defensive player, leading the league with 14 sacks.

Bradie James/Keith Brooking - While both have lost a few steps and are role players, the leadership and enthusiasm they bring everyday cannot be understated.

Terence Newman - While he always seems to be battling injuries and has missed significant time the last few years, and was nearly cut before the season started, he leads the team with 4 INT's and has to be the Cowboys "Comeback Player of the Year"

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