Tag: Byron Jones

For nearly half a decade, it seemed as if the Dallas Cowboys had a habit of finding future All-Pros in the NFL draft, especially with their premiere selections. Their past three drafts however, haven’t been nearly as fruitful, yielding relatively disappointing results twice, and an injury concern in the third.

DT Trysten Hill, the team’s most premium selection from the 2019 draft, represents both their latest stumble, and the first test for Mike McCarthy’s new defensive coaching staff. Can Jim Tomsula jumpstart Hill’s career, and turn him into the player originally envisioned?

A black eye on the previous coaching regime was how stubborn they could be at times. From Jason Garrett’s RKG’s to favoring players with positional flexibility, Dallas certainly had a set of criteria they searched for in adding players to their roster. While their methods were responsible for plenty of hits, the recent misses also stick out like sore thumbs, costing them more than just lost draft capital.

For example, the Cowboys refused to commit 2015 first rounder Byron Jones to a single position during his first season. Instead, they used him as a Swiss army knife, rotating Jones between cornerback, nickel back and safety. He spent the following two seasons playing both safety positions, mostly bore out of need, before Kris Richard moved him back to cornerback full time in 2018, where he’s since flourished. That’s all well-and-good, except Dallas now may be preparing to let Jones walk in free agency, having effectively wasted the first three years of his rookie contract.

Similarly, the team spent a first-round pick on DE Taco Charlton, only to perhaps have him spend his most productive seasons on someone else’s defense. Charlton quickly fell out of favor with the Cowboys, and he was unceremoniously released after just 27 games over two seasons.

He was quickly picked up on waivers by Miami, making his 2019 season debut and recording a sack against the Cowboys in Week 3. But the revenge didn’t just end there, as Charlton proceeded to record more sacks in ten games with his new team (five) than he did during his total Dallas tenure (four). Now, all sacks aren’t built the same, and Charlton didn’t appear to ascend into a great artist, but the stat increase is worth noting.

Was Hill poised to become the Cowboys’ latest victim of mismanagement? Representing the biggest investment the team had made in the DT position in years, many were hoping Hill would make a huge impact in the middle of the Dallas defense. Instead, he could barely see the field, and often seemed overmatched when he did.

Perhaps a big reason Hill wasn’t impactful last year was because the Cowboys put too much on his plate, too early.

The most snaps Hill played in any game last season came in the first professional game he played. He played 34 snaps (nearly half of the team’s defensive plays) in Week 3, recording zero tackles and two QB hits. He again received a sizable chunk snaps the next week against New Orleans (27), but again was mostly invisible, combining for just a single tackle.

When veteran defensive lineman Tyrone Crawford returned from injury in Week 5, Hill received just 11 defensive snaps to Crawford’s 23, and was left inactive in Week 6.

By then, Dallas quickly realized they need to go in a different direction, and promptly brought in Michael Bennett during the bye week. Hill didn’t appear again until the Thanksgiving Day game against the Bills, and his rookie season was largely written off, and his future in doubt.

Yet with the coaching turnover in Dallas, perhaps no current player stands to gain more than Hill.

McCarthy filled out his staff with waves of experienced and respected leadership, especially on the defensive side of the ball, with Mike Nolan, George Edwards, and Tomsula. They’ll take over a talented yet underachieving defense, and bring a much-needed new perspective and mindset.

McCarthy’s been saying all the right things since before he even became the next Cowboys coach, but especially encouraging was this quote, vowing to take the opposite approach of the last Dallas staff, and fit defensive scheme to players, rather than the other way around.

Mike McCarthy on the Cowboys defense: “It’s our job as coaches to make sure our scheme boundaries are plenty wide enough to fit any excellent football player into our program. … We’re a sub defense b/c we’ll play it 80-85 percent of the time. But we’re a 4-man line defense.”

— Jon Machota (@jonmachota) January 17, 2020

For Hill, this represents an opportunity to find his footing with help from coaches aiming to put him the best position to succeed. A renowned player’s coach, the eccentric Tomsula is known for propelling the careers notable players like Justin Smith, and the young collection of defensive lineman in Washington. Notably, the transformation of DT Matt Ioannidis, a 2016 fifth round pick out of Temple, can also partly be attributed to Tomsula.

Ioannidis’s rookie season was just as unassuming as Hill’s. He appeared in just 10 games, and recorded only eight total tackles, none being for sacks. Tomsula joined the Redskins staff the next year, and  Ioannidis improved each season since, becoming one of the most unheralded yet productive defensive tackles in the league.

He’s increased both his tackle for loss (zero in 2016, three in 2017, six in 2018, and 11 in 2019) as well as his sack totals (zero, 4.5, 7.5, and 8.5-led team) in each season under Tomsula. He’s recorded 44 QB hits over the past three seasons, and last year set career-highs in both games played and total tackles (64). Before the 2019 season, Washington signed him to a three-year, $21.75M contract extension, and specifically credited Tomsula for helping him reach his new found heights:

“A lot of it has to do with the coaching and teaching of Coach Tomsula and the strength staff down there on the bottom floor”.

Will Tomsula help Hill make a similar leap?

The opportunity will be there. Bennett is out of contract, and so too is starting 3-tech Maliek Collins. Crawford will likely return from injury, but there’s definitely an opportunity for Hill to get a large majority of those vacated snaps, if he can be anywhere close to what Rod Marinelli saw from him in offseason workouts that drove him to demand Hill be their first pick of 2019.

Having him fulfill his promise as a player will go a long way towards improving the Cowboys defense next season, and finally address a position that’s long-needed a playmaking presence. The new Dallas coaching staff has made a lot of promises, but they can definitely start cashing them ASAP, beginning with Hill.