Tag: Markquese Bell

Cowboys need to give these 2 backups more snaps or risk peril in secondary

It’s time the Cowboys give Donovan Wilson a rest and Juanyeh Thomas and Markquese Bell a chance. | From @ReidDHanson

The Cowboys have made it four games into their 2024 campaign and it is already clear certain adjustments are in order. The struggles of the defense combined with recent injuries to key personnel necessitate the urgency of change. Covering the injury losses of Micah Parsons and DeMarcus Lawrence are not easy changes with simple solutions. Altering roles and workloads in the secondary are a different story.

The Cowboys run defense rightfully garners most of the scrutiny in Dallas this season, but the secondary deserves its fair share of constructive criticism as well. Not only does the secondary play a key role in gap assignments in run support, but it’s also responsible for coverage downfield and open field playmaking. Injuries have spread the cornerback room thin, but the Cowboys safety corps remains intact and as deep as any position on the roster.

When reviewing the Cowboys struggles through the first portion of the season it’s almost impossible not to notice Donovan Wilson. Wilson, Dallas’ primary in-the-box safety has struggled immensely in 2024. His gap discipline has been lacking and instincts haven’t been doing his propensity to freelance any favors.

Wilson has always been a feast or famine player. He’s been known to disappear for extended periods of time only to explode on the scene for a monumental play out of the blue. Unfortunately, in 2024 it’s been mostly famine for Wilson, and at a time when the Dallas defense is struggling in discipline and understanding, it might be time to put the veteran safety on ice for a while.

Reserve safeties Juanyeh Thomas and Markquese Bell are seen by many as starting quality players stuck in backup roles in Dallas. Thomas has flashed the ability to play deep in both 2-deep looks as well as in single high safety schemes. And after a year of filling in at linebacker, Bell is more than capable of playing in the box in a thumper role but also matched up in man coverage against the likes of running backs, tight ends and slot receivers.

Depending on the gameplan, either player looks capable of taking over for Wilson, or even Malik Hooker, for portions of a game. If Mike Zimmer is planning more split safety looks that week, Thomas is the better option. If Zimmer wants an extra defender closer to the line of scrimmage, Bell is a great option. The point is he has options as his disposal.

Such a shakeup could get better production from the position, or it might just serve as a wakeup call for the starters. Either outcome would signal success.

There’s a saying, “money plays in the NFL” and that seems to carry extra weight on the Cowboys. Higher drafted players and/or players making big money typically get the benefit of the doubt in Dallas, even if they’re being outplayed by others. Wilson, playing on a fresh three-year, $21 million contract, has the seventh highest salary cap number on the team this season. It’s a status no one would guess by just watching the film this season and it’s a status that brings with it extra scrutiny when performance drops such as it has.

As things stand Thomas and Bell are chronically underused and, in some ways, misused. Thomas and Bell only have a combined 21 defensive snaps this season. That usage rate would be understandable if both starters were playing at All-Pro levels, but neither are. Of the 76 safeties Pro Football Focus has graded, Wilson ranks 48th and Hooker 64th this season. If Thomas and Bell are truly as good as many seem to think they are, they could certainly stand to steal some of the starter’s snaps on defense in coming weeks.

Such a move wouldn’t have to be absolute or permanent, but it would be tapping a resource and potentially fixing a problem.

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Markquese Bell puts on defensive clinic in preseason opener, Cowboys player of the game

The third-year player is on the move again, shining in the Cowboys preseason opener under new DC Mike Zimmer. From @timlettiero

Football is finally back as the Dallas Cowboys kicked off their exhibition schedule against the Los Angeles Rams. Playing in L.A., the Cowboys put on a defensive masterclass for 56 minutes under the direction of their new defensive coordinator, Mike Zimmer. Although the score did not end in their favor, Dallas was able to come away with four interceptions off the arm of QB Stetson Bennett.

It was an overall fantastic showing for the defense but third-year safety —yes safety— Markquese Bell, shined in his return to his natural position.

After the defense allowed a lengthy, 12-play drive to open the game, Bell nearly came away with a tird-down interception in the end zone which allowed Dallas to hold LA to just three.

He’d get his get back as on the very next drive, coming down with the ball after an air-mailed pass from Bennett.

To finish up his tremendous first quarter he’d make a stop inside the Rams own five-yard line before RB Boston Scott could break away for a big gain.

Bell finished his day with a game high nine total tackles, six solo and three assisted, as well as the interception. He was only given two quarters of game time but looked poised and fired up for the regular season.

How he will be fully utilized remains to be seen however today might have been a glimpse into what could potentially be a fantastic relationship between Bell and Zimmer. He had some very encouraging words about his new DC after the game.

“It’s the type of defense that he brings and the type of culture that he brings to the team,” said Bell of his new coordinator. “He has a great scheme and we love it. We love it. It’s gonna work, it’s gonna work.

“We’re putting it in and it’s fresh, and we have our edits about it but when you see it in real life, it works.” – via DallasCowboys.com

LOOK: Cowboys safety Markquese Bell picks off Rams QB Stetson Bennett

The Cowboys’ safety must miss being penciled in as a starter, because he’s already making preseason plays.

The Dallas defense bent but didn’t break on their opening drive, keeping the Los Angeles Rams to three points in the exhibition opener. There were no such things on drive No. 2.

That’s because on 3rd-and-8 they didn’t allow a completion nor conversion. Instead they gave the ball back to their offense courtesy of safety Markquese Bell. Commonly thought to be No. 4 on the depth chart after spending most of the 2023 as a linebacker due to attrition, Bell announced that he should not be overlooked.

Rams QB Stetson Bennett overthrew his target, UT rookie Jordan Whittington, and Bell was well aware, reaching up to snag the ball out of the air for the interception.

Bell almost kept the Rams off the scoreboard on the first drive with an end zone interception he wasn’t able to bring in, but he had no such difficulty on this one, the first turnover of the young exhibition season.

Cowboys’ Markquese Bell likely to return to safety in 2024

From @ToddBrock24f7: The undrafted Florida A&M safety filled in at LB for the injury-plagued Cowboys, but Zimmer will likely put him back where he can excel.

The experiment was born out of necessity and actually brought surprising results, for a while. But now it seems likely that Cowboys safety-turned-part-time-linebacker Markquese Bell will return to his natural position in the Dallas secondary for 2024.

David Moore of the Dallas Morning News projected the switch in a piece last week, and the sentiment was echoed the same day by Patrik Walker, who covers the team from inside The Star. It’s not a breaking development, and it’s not even official, but it sure seems to be one of the more obvious moves to be made by new defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer.

Bell, who went undrafted out of Florida A&M in 2022, showed plenty of promise in five game appearances during his rookie season. He showed enough, in fact, that he became the latest Cowboys defender to be asked to moonlight at another position in Dan Quinn’s flexibility-above-all defense in 2023.

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DeMarvion Overshown was lost in the preseason, and Leighton Vander Esch went down in Week 5. When the team didn’t bring in reinforcements from outside the building, the 6-foot-3-inch 205-pounder was tasked with taking on linebacker duties.

He did well, logging a top-10 defensive snap count and racking up 94 tackles to finish second on the team while lining up primarily at ‘backer. He also added four passes defended, three tackles for loss, and two forced fumbles, ending up with a top-20 PFF grade and a coverage score that made him fifth-best among all linebackers.

But Bell and the Cowboys’ undersized LB corps were exposed late in the season and especially in the playoffs. Green Bay quarterback Jordan Love said as much when he revealed that the Packers’ game plan in the wild card round was to pound the run game.

“I’m not trying to talk,” Love told Micah Parsons on a podcast, “but y’all[‘s] linebackers, you know? I think you had a DB playing linebacker.”

The Packers’ ground attack rolled for 143 yards that day. But that wasn’t an anomaly. The 2023 Cowboys allowed 125 rushing yards or more five times all last season, including playoffs. Three of those games were played Week 15 or later.

By the time the season was winding down, so was the novelty- and effectiveness- of Dallas camouflaging their safeties as linebackers.

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Now with Zimmer at the helm, Cowboys fans can likely expect to see a return to bigger bodies in the middle of the defense. Free agent signee Eric Kendricks weighs in at 232. Damone Clark and Buddy Johnson are 240 apiece. Even Overshown, the lightest of the team’s true linebackers, came in at 220 last year, a full 15 pounds beefier than Bell.

But Bell more than showed he can have an impact on the team moving forward. His skills will likely be put to better use in a talented safety corps that includes veterans Malik Hooker and Donovan Wilson, along with promising youngsters Juanyeh Thomas and Israel Mukuamu.

While the Cowboys could stand to add to their linebacker numbers in the draft, the team seems well-poised to carry on at the safety position, even without Jayron Kearse (who is still on the free agent market). Bell’s admirable play at linebacker should help cement his spot on the roster, except now it will likely be in the position where he can not just hold his own but truly excel.

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Cowboys’ Markquese Bell to be named NFL HBCU Player of the Year

From @ToddBrock24f7: The dynamic safety/linebacker out of Florida A&M joins a long line of Cowboys greats who have come to the pros from HBCUs.

Jerry Rice. Walter Payton. Michael Strahan. Deacon Jones. Richard Dent. Mel Blount. Art Shell. Steve McNair.

Theirs are some of the most legendary names in NFL history, but their individual journeys to the loftiest ranks in the sport had somewhat more humble beginnings.

They are just a few of the players who came to the pros by way of the nation’s historically Black colleges and universities. And now one of the Cowboys’ own is being recognized as the most outstanding HBCU player in the game for 2023.

Safety Markquese Bell will be honored during Super Bowl Week as the NFL HBCU Spotlight Player of the Year.

“I am humbly grateful for this honor and acknowledgment to be selected for the NFL HBCU Spotlight Player of the Year for the 2023 season,” Bell said.

The just-turned-25-year-old went undrafted out of Florida A&M in 2022 and made the Cowboys’ initial 53-man roster after impressing coaches during training camp. He was still learning the ropes during his rookie campaign, taking just 22 defensive snaps in five game appearances.

But his second season saw a huge jump in his involvement, as well as his production. In a safety/linebacker hybrid role, Bell was in on 649 defensive snaps in the regular season, representing more than 60% of the unit’s action.

Playing in every game (and starting 12 of them), Bell racked up 94 tackles, second-most on the team and forced two fumbles, also second-best.

But he won’t be resting on those numbers heading into his third NFL season.

“I know that I must work extremely hard during this off-season to condition my body to prepare for the everyday grind as a professional football player,” Bell said, per The Famuan. “I am extremely excited about getting with my coaches and teammates this off-season to study my craft and add more tools to my toolbelt.”

There’s a high bar set for Bell in Dallas, as several of the franchise’s all-time greats also came from HBCUs, including Rayfield Wright (Fort Valley State), Bob Hayes (Florida A&M), Ed “Too Tall” Jones (Tennessee State), Everson Walls (Grambling State), Jethro Pugh (Elizabeth City State), Erik Williams (Central State), and Nate Newton (Florida A&M).

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Several HBCU alums are currently on NFL rosters: Javon Hargrave, Grover Stewart, Isaiah Bolden, Darius Leonard, and Terron Armstead are among them.

While the still-new NFL HBCU Combine and recent national attention given to smaller programs like Jackson State- under the former leadership of Cowboys legend Deion Sanders- have created opportunities for many players who might not otherwise get the looks from NFL teams, Bell is aware that he’s an ambassador for HBCUs and a role model for other under-recognized players every time he steps on the field.

“I do realize God has placed upon me to lead and be an example for many,” Bell explained, “and for that matter, I have accepted my calling to be intentional in the most positive way that I know as to the lives I affect from those watching me.”

There will be plenty watching in the fall as Bell embarks on his third season as a key contributor within the Cowboys defense.

Bell will be honored as the NFL HBCU Spotlight Player of the Year at The Super Bowl Soulful Celebration, airing Feb. 10 on CBS. Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott will receive the prestigious Faith in Action Award at the same event. Bills safety Damar Hamlin will be presented with the New Beginnings Award,” while CBS host and ex-NFL wide receiver Nate Burleson will be given the Lifetime of Inspiration Award.

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Studs and duds in Cowboys’ NFC East clinching 38-10 Week 18 win

The studs on offense led the way for the Dallas Cowboys in their 38-10 NFC East clinching win over the Washington Commanders in Week 18. | From @BenGrimaldi

The Dallas Cowboys had one mission in Week 18, to leave Washington D.C. with a win and the NFC East title. Mission accomplished as the Cowboys routed the Washington Commanders in a 38-10 win that secured the team’s second division title in the last three years.

They took a little bit of time to get going, but a barrage that started late in the second quarter saw the Cowboys assert their dominance and blow out the Commanders behind a complete team effort. In a rivalry matchup, Mike McCarthy had to know his team would get everything the Commanders had in what was likely Ron Rivera’s last game with the team, and Dallas withstood the aggressive approach to pull away for the victory.

It was another great performance for the offense, while the defense got three more turnovers to guide the Cowboys. Here are the studs and duds from an NFC East clinching win for the Cowboys in Week 18.

Cowboys banking big on Bell, Clark with Vander Esch out for year

How good Markquese Bell and Damone Clark have been for the Cowboys and why it’s so important they stay healthy going forward. | From @ReidDHanson

It seems as if the Cowboys pulled off the Band-Aid on the Leighton Vander Esch situation. Speaking on 105.3 the Fan Tuesday, Dallas owner Jerry Jones announced their star LB would miss the remainder of the season following a neck injury suffered in Week 5.

Initially there were hopes the 27-year-old would return from IR at some point in 2023. But the severity and nature of the injury coupled with his history of neck issues made that little more than wishful thinking. Now the reality has set in and Dallas must settle in to their alternative options for the remainder of the season.

As for Vander Esch’s long-term prognosis, it’s likely nothing will be decided officially until the offseason. But the short-term fallout is something that needs to be recognized. Reinforcements are not on the way this season and aside from some possible low-level churning, this is the LB squad Dallas has from here on out.

Even for a team like the Cowboys, who run very little base defense and rely heavily on their safeties in big nickel groups, they are desperately thin at the LB position. Only Damone Clark and Micah Parsons are listed as official LBs on the active roster.

Granted, Parsons is primarily an EDGE and Markquese Bell is a LB in most senses of the job description, but the point remains: they are thin and possibly an injury away from disaster.

When the postseason nears and yards get tough, having legit LBs on the field will be key. Jayron Kearse and Donovan Wilson are nice in a pinch and can serve many of the LB responsibilities, but they have limitations against the run.

While Dallas has multiple options on their practice squad, Clark and Bell are the only true starting level entities on the roster. Preserving them for the season is paramount because they represent the Cowboys best efforts at LB and especially at run defense.

Markquese Bell fast becoming a star on the Cowboys defense

A look inside Bell’s breakout season at LB and how he elevates the entire Cowboys defense when he’s on the field. | From @ReidDHanson

The Cowboys knew there was something special with Markquese Bell from the start. Despite going undrafted in 2022, Dallas made him a priority signing, inking the Florida A&M safety to a $200,000 guaranteed base salary with a $15,000 bonus.

Bell, a former four-star recruit, had a somewhat odd college career. He was suspended indefinitely from Maryland before even playing a single snap. He rebooted in junior college for a year before resurfacing at Florida A&M who didn’t even play in 2020 for COVID-19 concerns.

At 6-foot-2, 212 pounds, Bell impressed in the areas of speed, stature and athleticism. The Cowboys looked past his winding path to the NFL, or any possible red flags along the way, and envisioned what he could be in Dallas.

Dan Quinn, the Cowboys defensive coordinator, saw a player who fit the mold. Quinn values large and long box safeties on his defense. In Quinn’s scheme, the lines were often blurred between safety and linebacker so having a safety stout enough to hold up to the demands of the position was critical.

The main issues standing in Bell’s way weren’t his abilities, but rather the log jam of talent in front of him on the depth chart. Donovan Wilson, Malik Hooker and Jayron Kearse all demanded full-time workloads, leaving very few snaps to someone like Bell.

But a season-ending injury to DeMarvion Overshown in the preseason changed everything for Bell this season.

Overshown, a standout rookie LB, factored greatly into the Cowboys defense in 2023. Losing him was critical because Dallas was already extremely thin in LB depth. It was at this point Bell’s career pivoted, and things couldn’t have worked out better for the Cowboys or for Bell.

In the critical Week 6 matchup against the Chargers, Bell had his coming out party, logging seven tackles, a pass deflection, and of course that critical goal line stop that might have saved the game and potentially the Cowboys’ season.

When the Cowboys converted him to LB, there was a concern that a former defensive back would struggle with the dirty work needed to hold up against the run. Six weeks in, Bell has put those concerns to bed. When Bell is on the field, opposing offenses average 0.14 net yards over average less than when he’s off the field.

Bell is the eighth-highest graded LB by Pro Football Focus, who give him strong marks in coverage, run defense and pass rush. He’s the youngest player in their top-10, and based on his diverse skill set and versatility across the formation, a valuable tool going forward.

Striping away the analysis and focusing solely on the raw numbers tells an equally impressive story. When calculating the success rates and expected points added of plays in which Bell was on the field, we learn the EPA against goes from -0.148 to -0.1935 and offensive success rate against drops from 43.1% to 39.1%, as well.

This means Bell elevates the Cowboys defense from fourth to second in EPA, and in success rate he rockets them from 14th to first in the NFL. The entire unit plays better when Bell is on the field.

The Cowboys probably knew they had something in Bell when they guaranteed him all that money as a UDFA signing back in 2022. They just probably didn’t know it was going to be at LB.

Bell is fast becoming a star on this Cowboys defense and should factor enormously into their success going forward in 2023.

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‘About that life’: Cowboys, Dan Quinn launch new star in converted LB Markquese Bell

From @ToddBrock24f7: When a promising rookie was lost for the year, Cowboys DC Dan Quinn had an unlikely fix: asking a small-school undrafted safety to play LB.

Looking up and down the gauntlet of talent that is the 2023 Cowboys defense, there are plenty of early-round draft picks. Eight of the unit’s starting 11 on opening night were taken in the first three rounds of their respective draft classes. Another three first-rounders, a second-rounder, and two more third-rounders were waiting to come in off the bench as needed.

But it was an undrafted player out of a small HBCU who led them all in tackles versus the Giants.

What’s more impressive, Markquese Bell did it less than a month after being thrust into a new position as an injury replacement.

“The fact that he’s just a few weeks in on the job shows what kind of instincts he has,” Cowboys defensive coordinator Dan Quinn said this week following Bell’s eight-tackle performance in the team’s 40-0 stonewalling of the Giants.

“We’re just trying to enhance those good speed and hitting qualities and put him down close into that space to do it. I was very encouraged by him to get extended play time [Sunday] night: some big hits, a forced fumble. Those were things that I know are in his DNA, and it was very cool to see those come out.”

A safety at Florida A&M, Bell signed with the Cowboys after the 2022 draft. He got into just five games as a rookie, logging only 22 snaps with the defense and recording one tackle.

But when third-round prospect DeMarvion Overshown’s promising debut season was wiped out by a preseason injury in August, the 6-foot-2-inch, 215-pound Bell answered Quinn’s call.

“That definitely was part of why we wanted him so much in the first place,” the coordinator explained, “because he has the length and the size to do that. And then when D-Mo was injured, there was really only one other person that had that kind of speed and striking ability, and that was ‘Quese. So when Bell gets in there, you feel some of those same type of run-and-hit factor plays, that he can match up and go. That’s why, for me, there was really no one else I was going to call to make that move other than Markqeuse, because I had a vision for him coming out of A&M, that he could do the linebacker jobs.”

It’s a tactic Quinn has become famous for, creating hybrid roles for his most gifted athletes: Micah Parsons, Jayron Kearse, Dante Fowler, Israel Mukuamu, to name a few shapeshifters from just the current roster.

“Putting guys into different spaces,” Quinn said. “That’s what is fun about our defense.”

Fun might not be the word that the Giants offense would have used Sunday night to describe Bell’s inspired play over 31 defensive snaps as a converted linebacker.

 

“I think the sound of his hit that took place when there was a contact, you felt explosion. You felt hitting. You felt striking ability. That’s what I look for from a linebacker or a safety,” Quinn told reporters. “Knowing that he’s going to be in where the action is and he is about that life? That’s a good thing.”

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Bell was just one of a number of younger Cowboys defenders to make a difference in Week 1. Juanyeh Thomas blocked the field goal try that set up Noah Igbinoghene to score the first points of the season. DaRon Bland had the first interception of 2023. Sam Williams, Devin Harper, Damone Clark, Osa Odighizuwa, Chauncey Golston: all lesser-known relative newcomers who played important roles.

Sometimes a phenom like Parsons comes along and is an instant superstar. Sometimes a guy has to travel a slightly different path.

But it could be the willingness of Bell and other young players to take on- and succeed with- unexpected challenges that helps the whole crew get to where they’re trying to ultimately go this season.

Because it sounds like Sunday night was just first time Cowboys fans will be hearing this Bell ring loud and proud on the field.

“Seeing guys make impacts like that,” Quinn reflected, “that’s what it’s all about, and they’re going to get better and better as they go.”

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3 things to watch for in Cowboys preseason finale vs Raiders

Preseason games are meaningless in the record books, but not to the coaches, front office, and many Dallas Cowboys players. | From @cdpiglet

By this time in the preseason, NFL teams have most things figured out and are simply preparing for the start of the regular season. The Dallas Cowboys have likely already answered most of their own questions regarding the 53-man roster.

They know which veterans they can cut now to bring back later so they can protect and stash a young prospect like pass rusher Isaiah Land or offensive guard T.J. Bass. The coaches understand who not to play to protect them for the games that matter. Seeing them a few extra snaps would not be worth the risk of injury in the coaches’ minds.

Even though 90% of the questions might be answered, the last preseason game still has the ability to answer a few outstanding ones. A handful of roster spots are still in question, and the team could want to see someone in a different role. Here are some of things fans should watch for when the Cowboys take on the Las Vegas Raiders on Saturday.