Also in the news, Dak Prescott’s ranking among all 2019 starters, a decision coming at linebacker, and a former Cowboys coach lands a job.
A former Cowboys position coach has found a new team. And a new Cowboys assistant is being honored by his old team.
In addition, Dallas has a decision to make regarding two members of their linebacking corps, Dak Prescott ranks lower than you think on one particular list, and there are guesses as to what the team might do in free agency if they want to make a “splash.” Oh, and Dez Bryant is tweeting directly to fans, which is always fun. This time he’s plotting out his responsibilities should he get his wishes with a return to the Cowboys roster. That’s on tap in this edition of News and Notes.
The dust is still settling from the coaching staff blowup in Dallas, and now one of the pieces has settled somewhere else. Former wide receivers coach Sanjay Lal will take over the same responsibilities in Seattle, it was announced Friday. Lal was with the Cowboys in 2018 and 2019, helping Amari Cooper get acclimated as a target for Dak Prescott and aiding in the development of Michael Gallup.
Lal will now work with a group that includes receivers Tyler Lockett and DK Metcalf. The Cowboys will get reacquainted with Lal in 2020 when they travel to Seattle to take on the Seahawks.
Fifty-seven different men started at least one game at quarterback in the NFL last season. The league website efforts to rank them all based on their 2019 performances. The top of the list includes the usual suspects: Lamar Jackson, Patrick Mahomes, Russell Wilson, and Drew Brees.
Cowboys fans will have to scroll further than expected to find Dak Prescott. Despite a career-best year and being one of only five QBs since 1950 to post a passer rating of 95-plus in at least three of his first four NFL seasons, Prescott placed just 11th on the list. While that puts him ahead of Matt Ryan, Tom Brady, and Jimmy Garoppolo, it also (somewhat questionably) ranks him behind Ryan Tannehill, Kirk Cousins, Matthew Stafford, and Carson Wentz.
Word circulated last week that Jerry Jones “wants to make a big splash” at the 2020 NFL Draft, according to a team insider. But with free agency looming, he wouldn’t have to wait that long to generate some big waves within the Cowboys locker room.
Terence Watson looks into his crystal ball and forecasts four names that could conceivably turn the tide for the 8-8 Cowboys next season. Among his picks? A potential Robert Quinn replacement that would give Dallas a dangerous pass rush, a former first-round safety who would be an immediate upgrade over Jeff Heath, and a big-leg kicker who the Cowboys’ new special teams coach already knows quite well.
Before Al Harris gets down to the real nitty-gritty of coaching the cornerbacks in Dallas, he has a little unfinished business back at Lambeau Field. Harris will be inducted into the Packers Hall of Fame on April 18 alongside his fellow Packers CB Charles Woodson. Hall has chosen his agent, Jack Bechta, to be his presenter.
Harris played in Green Bay from 2003 to 2010. In 2007 and 2008, under then-Packers head coach Mike McCarthy, the former Texas A&M star turned in consecutive Pro Bowl seasons. After retiring as a player in 2013, Harris interned on the staff in Miami and was an assistant coach in Kansas City for six seasons before reuniting with McCarthy in Dallas.
Yeah… about that “role they gave Witten” thing Dez Bryant said a while back…
Bryant has taken to engaging selective fans via Twitter as he continues his comeback bid, and his vocal pass on interior blocking duties was just one example from over the weekend. Bryant was also asked where he thinks he could contribute on the already-loaded roster.
“Easy.. guys will need a breather… I’m a huge target in the redzone.. you create all different types packages with all of the talent… my motto is scoring.. I don’t care about yards.. all I care about is 6,” he wrote to a different follower regarding his self-projected duties.
Sean Lee’s future in Dallas is in flux, but what the organization decides to do with fellow linebacker Joe Thomas may be the deciding factor. Lee is, of course, the more decorated of the two, the more established member of the Cowboys family. And any conversation regarding Lee must at least acknowledge his injury-riddled past.
Thomas is five years younger and has history with Mike McCarthy. He was with the Packers in his rookie season when a knee injury put him on injured reserve; he returned later to the team’s practice squad. After two weeks on the Cowboys’ practice squad in 2015, Thomas was brought back to Green Bay and played in 37 games under McCarthy, including five postseason contests through the 2017 season.
Jess Haynie writes that both linebackers could be re-signed by Dallas, but warns that “if it comes to one or the other, Cowboys fans shouldn’t assume that Sean Lee is the easy pick.”
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