As one should have expected, the Dallas Cowboys front office is starting to get more active in free agency now that the first wave of players have started agreeing to deals. The team is in need of pass rush help and Stephen Jones and company are looking to fill the voids left by David Irving and Randy Gregory.
On Monday, the Cowboys inked former Texas Tech Red Raider Kerry Hyder Jr. to a one-year deal to bring him back home. Hyder spent the last four seasons with the Detroit Lions.
Hyder had a career high of eight sacks back in 2016 but has missed a considerable amount of time since that breakout season. He is the perfect type of player for Defensive Coordinator Rod Marinelli in Dallas. Hyder comes as a huge effort player who is a bit of low risk-high reward type of signing. With Dallas earmarking the majority of their money toward contract extensions, Hyder’s deal is exactly the kind of signing they should be looking to make.
Hyder likely isn’t a player who will find his way into the starting lineup the Cowboys, at least not at first. More likely, Hyder would work his way into the rotation on the line and spell Dallas’ first team pass rushers.
However, in the past, Marinelli has gotten the most out of guys that were a bit under the radar such as Antwaun Woods last year. Hyder fits that mold as well, after Detroit changed to more of a 3-4 scheme under new head coach Matt Patricia last season. It’s possible that Hyder could blossom in Dallas and earn additional playing time.
Signing Kerry Hyder Jr. wasn’t the biggest news to come along the defensive line for the Cowboys over the last 24 hours, however.
The Cowboys are set to meet with Robert Quinn on Tuesday. Quinn spent most of his career in St. Louis and then Los Angeles with the Rams before moving over to the Miami Dolphins last season. Obviously, the Cowboys are still looking to make a move to help generate more of a pass rush in a pass-happy league. Quinn isn’t the same player he once was, but he can still make a contribution opposite of DeMarcus Lawrence who consistently gets the most attention when the defense is on the field.
Quinn would be a great complimentary piece for Tank and along with Hyder, this would give the Dallas Cowboys the flexibility to continue to develop either Taco Charlton or Dorrance Armstrong without having to rush them into starting duty. The Cowboys could still address the position in the NFL Draft but most impact defensive ends are found in the top 45 selections and Dallas won’t come to the podium until the 58th pick, barring any trades to move up.
Over the last two seasons, Robert Quinn has accumulated 15 total sacks. That same number would rank him second on the Cowboys above Tyrone Crawford, David Irving, Maliek Collins and Randy Gregory. Irving is gone and Gregory was recently suspended indefinitely meaning Dallas still needs a strong option to put on the other side of Lawrence along the line.
The big issues for Quinn is that the team in Miami is changing their defensive scheme and he wasn’t very comfortable with that scheme in Los Angeles either. Should the Cowboys pull off a trade with Miami for the 8-year pro, it may not be the sexy move you’ve seen other teams make in the first few days of free agency, but it could be a move to really help this team at a position of need.
Do you think that the Cowboys should continue to try to sign defensive line help or should they focus on finding younger options in the draft? Share your thoughts with Patrick @DraftCowboys.
