After landing defensive end Benson Mayowa from the Raiders, the Cowboys remain in the market for help on the edge, tweets Ian Rapoport of NFL.com. According to Rapoport, Dallas is bringing in veteran defensive end Jason Jones for a visit. Josina Anderson of ESPN (Twitter link) hears from Jones that he’s flying in tonight and meeting with the team tomorrow.
It’s no surprise that the Cowboys continue to seek defensive end help, since both Greg Hardy and Jeremy Mincey are free agents. As for Jones, the 29-year-old has been a full-time starter in Detroit for the last two seasons, picking up a total of 9.5 sacks in his last two seasons. In 2015, Pro Football Focus ranked him 43rd out of 110 qualified edge defenders, assigning him solid grades as both as a pass rusher and a run defender.
As we wait to see whether Jones ends up landing a deal in Dallas, let’s round up several more updates on free agency…
- In addition to meeting with Jones, the Cowboys will also host offensive lineman Joe Looney, sources tell Todd Archer of ESPN.com (Twitter link). Looney can play guard and center, and would be a candidate to replace Mackenzy Bernadeau as an interior depth piece in Dallas.
- Defensive end Kroy Biermann is paying a visit to the Bills today, a source tells Conor Orr of NFL.com (Twitter link). Biermann, 30, has spent his entire eight-year NFL career as a Falcon, picking up a total of seven sacks in the past two seasons.
- After signing Jared Cook, the Packers likely won’t do much else on the free agent market. However, Tom Pelissero of USA Today tweets that Green Bay has been “poking around” on running backs, including Ronnie Hillman.
- The Cowboys have interest in safety Dashon Goldson, and Washington is also open to the free agent safety’s return, according to Mike Garafolo of FOX Sports (Twitter link), who expresses surprise that Goldson remains unsigned.
- Cornerback Brandon Boykin said today that he had offers from about four other teams before he agreed to sign with the Panthers, and Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com (Twitter link) believes that two of those offers were from the Chiefs and Falcons.
Jones is a solid player, but he is obviously not going to solve Dallas’ pass rushing problems. Joey Bosa-to-Dallas just makes too much sense, regardless of what the Cowboys are currently leaking to the media, and even though there are some quality rushers to be had in the middle rounds of the draft. But you can never have too many quality linemen on either side of the ball, and Jones certainly fits the bill.
Teams are built on the lines. End of story.
Wasn’t Goldson one of the worst ranked Safeties last year? Wouldn’t Reggie Nelson be a better target?
And so Ted Thompson must be addressing his need for a LB in the draft. In which that means in the 5th round or later.
I think he comes away with Jaylon Smith in 1st or 2nd.
Jaylon smith won’t be available until 2017, and there are fears that his knee is so bad he won’t ever be the same player. Smith will be luck to go in the second round, and my guess is he is a third round pick