Dallas Cowboys: Can this second-year defender crack the active roster?
Can this former sixth rounder rise from the practice squad ranks to the Dallas Cowboys’ active roster in 2018? An uber-talented secondary will make it tough.
Let’s be honest. Last year’s youth revolution in the Dallas Cowboys‘ defensive secondary went a lot smoother than most expected. After years with veterans like cornerbacks Brandon Carr and Morris Claiborne starting on the outside, Orlando Scandrick in the slot plus Barry Church at safety; no one was quite sure what to expect when three of those four did not return in 2017.
In the place of Carr, Claiborne and Church emerged rookie defensive backs Chidobe Awuzie, Jourdan Lewis and Xavier Woods last season. Longtime special teams ace and safety Jeff Heath also helped to re-energize this secondary along with help from second-year defenders Anthony Brown and Kavon Frazier.
In fact, all but one of the five defensive players selected in the first six rounds of the 2017 NFL Draft played significant roles in aiding this Cowboys’ defense in ranking just outside the top ten in passing defense (11th) in the NFL last year.
The one absentee … former Florida State cornerback Marquez White. Selected late in the sixth round, White was considered a developmental project coming out of college. But his 6-0, 190 pound frame makes him an ideal defender in a secondary now run by the former leader the Seattle Seahawks’ Legion of Boom, Kris Richard
"” [Marquez] White is intriguing because he spent last season on the practice squad after Dallas used a sixth round pick on him, so obviously they like him,” wrote Jon Machota for the Dallas Morning News. “The addition of Kris Richard adds to that intrigue because he prefers the taller/bigger corners. White is listed at 6-0, which makes him one of the tallest CBs on the roster.”"
The 23-year old has the traits and physical frame to excel in Richard’s new secondary in Dallas. But it’s unclear if the lone year White spent on the practice squad was enough to clean up his sloppy technique, footwork and mental miscues.
In his second season, White likely finds himself manning one of the hardest positions on the Cowboys to crack the active roster. With cornerbacks Byron Jones, Awuzie, Lewis and Brown likely already locks to make the team, plus last year’s surprise Duke Thomas and a slew of undrafted rookies to compete with; the former Seminole could easily find himself on the practice squad for a second-year in a row.
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With another offseason training program under their collective belts, this very young but ultra-talented Dallas Cowboys passing defense should vault themselves into being one of the best secondaries in football this upcoming season. Whether Marquez White is on that unit or not will be determined by just how much he’s developed in the past year.