Dallas Cowboys Offseason Moves – 2009 Edition, Part 2

In Part 1 I listed the offseason moves the Dallas Cowboys have made so far.  Part 2 was initially supposed to look at how these and other moves (made before the offseason began) address the needs of the Cowboys, but it started to run long so I’m splitting it up further.  In Part 2, we will explore the expunging of the troublemakers and the prospects for the receiving corps.  In Part 3, we’ll cover the defense and in Part 4, we’ll do special teams.

Let’s start with the obvious: the clearing out of the troublemakers.  The prevailing theory was that the ‘Boys fell apart at the end of the season last year primarily due to a divided locker room.  Too many guys were complaining and causing trouble, especially “ol’ reliable” himself, T.O.  Because Romo is a very laid-back guy, he didn’t step up and take control of the situation like he should have.  Whether or not that lead to the breakdown of the Cowboys on the field, the situation needed to be handled, and handled it was.  The question is, was it handled correctly?

Dallas started clearing out the troublemakers immediately following the season by cutting Adam “Pacman” Jones, who’s talent on the field was far outstripped by his drama off the field and by his midseason suspension for punching the bodyguard that was there to keep him out of trouble.  The Cowboys continued clearing house by not renewing the contract of Tank Johnson, who became a free agent at the end of the season.  Tank wasn’t good enough to take the starting nose tackle job and so he apparently complained about it all season behind the scenes.

The biggest move, though, and the most controversial, came when Jerry Jones released Terrell Owens on March 5^th.   Since then, there’s been lots of debate about whether this was the right move for the Cowboys.  On one hand, T.O. is a whiner and a crybaby who has torn apart the locker room of both the 49ers and the Iggles (thanks for that).  On the other hand, his talent was undeniable.  In fact, he was voted onto the recent list of the top 50 players in Cowboys history, which is no mean feat.  From DallasCowboys.com:

…when he was on the field, Owens was one of the best players in Cowboys history. Despite a rather short stint in Dallas, Owens is one of three Cowboys to have at least three 1,000-yard receiving seasons.

He owns the Cowboys record for most touchdown catches in a season with 15 in 2007, breaking Frank Clarke’s 35-year-old record of 14. Owens is also tied for third on that list with 13 touchdown catches, which led the entire NFL in 2006.

With 3,587 receiving yards in three seasons, Owens surpassed Jay Novacek (3,576) for eighth place on the Cowboys’ all-time receiving lists. T.O. is seventh in team history with 38 touchdowns catches.

Did dumping T.O. make the Cowboys a better team?  Time will tell…  His talent will be missed, though.  Other moves that could be seen as clearing out troublemakers are the Spencer/Kitna trade and cutting Greg Ellis.  There are theories circulating that Anthony Spencer was the unidentified source of the Owens/Romo/Witten soap opera story, and that’s why he was traded.  I don’t know if that’s true, but with the ‘Boys troubles at DB, you have to think they would have hung on to someone like Spencer.  Then again, with the impressive play of rookies Scandrick and Jenkins last year, Spencer’s role was likely to be reduced this season anyway, so the move could be seen as simply getting younger.  Ellis has been a bone of contention in past years because he was always complaining about his contract, but that didn’t seem to be the case this year, so I don’t know if you can chalk that one up to clearing house.  More likely that one was also done in an effort to get younger.

So what effect will these moves have on the Cowboys in 2009?  That remains to be seen, but I don’t have a whole lot of confidence in the receiving corps now that Owens is gone.  Roy Williams (now the only Roy Williams on the roster, so I don’t have to keep talking about the “other Roy Williams”) has his work cut out for him this year.  Expectations are high.  He is apparently expected to somehow perform better than he has ever done before.  I’ll believe it when I see it.

As for the other receivers, there’s Patrick Crayton, who can generally be relied on for 700 yards and a handful of touchdowns, regardless of whether he is number 2 or 3 on the depth chart.  There’s also a lot of hype around Miles Austin, who showed flashes of talent last year, but has had injury problems.  In fact, that’s pretty much the story of the other (non-rookie) WR’s on the roster, Sam Hurd and Isaiah Stanback.  All have shown brief flashes of talent, but all have been plagued by injuries.

As for the rookies, we’re looking at 7^th round pick Manuel Johnson, undrafted Kevin Ogletree and “The 80th Man” Julian Hawkins, the winner of Michael Irvin’s 4th and Long reality show.  Honestly there aren’t a whole lot of expectations from any of these guys, though Hawkins is probably the fan favorite to make the team simply because it would make a great story.

As you can see, the receiving corps is a huge question mark for the Cowboys this year and one that could make them regret the decision to cut the most talented player on the offense (I would say the whole team if it weren’t for DeMarcus Ware).

Stay tuned for Part 3, wherein we will cover the defense.

Tags: Dallas Cowboys, DeMarcus Ware, draft, injuries, Jerry Jones, Miles Austin, Offseason, Patrick Crayton, Tank Johnson, Terrell Owens, troublemakers

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