The end of the season always brings turnover, both on the coaching staff and in the locker room. While most of the focus in Dallas over the past few days has been on Mike McCarthy, Kellen Moore, and Dan Quinn, the first Cowboys player looking for greener pastures has slipped out the door.
Defensive end Bradlee Anae has signed with the New York Jets, according to his agent. Anae was a fifth-round draft choice out of Utah in 2020.
He was considered one of the best pass rushers in the country coming out of college in terms of stats, but had some work to do to improve his athleticism as he made the transition to the pro game.
Of course, any young edge rusher on the Cowboys roster knows he’ll be competing with the likes of superstars DeMarcus Lawrence and Randy Gregory for playing time. This past season, free agent additions Tarell Basham, Brent Urban, and Carlos Watkins were also lobbying for snaps, while Dorance Armstrong continued to be a solid contributor; Chauncey Golston also came into camp as a promising rookie at the position.
All of those factors combined to offer very limited opportunities for the 6-foot-3-inch native Hawaiian. Anae logged two tackles and a quarterback hit over 50 defensive snaps in 2021 across four games, though he did get additional time on special teams. He was officially waived prior to Week 9 and then re-signed to the practice squad.
While the long-term status of several Dallas edge rushers- Gregory, Urban, Watkins, and Armstrong- is still up in the air, Anae apparently wasn’t going to be in the Cowboys’ plans moving forward. He was not one of the players signed by the Cowboys to a futures deal this week following the team’s playoff loss.
Now he’ll seek a fresh start with the Jets, who finished among the worst in the league in sacks and passing yards allowed in 2021.
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