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Should the Dallas Cowboys kick the tires on Danny Shelton?

By Steven Mullenax

CHICAGO, IL - APRIL 30: Danny Shelton of the Washington Huskies hugs NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell after being picked #12 overall by the Cleveland Browns during the first round of the 2015 NFL Draft at the Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University on April 30, 2015 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)
CHICAGO, IL - APRIL 30: Danny Shelton of the Washington Huskies hugs NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell after being picked #12 overall by the Cleveland Browns during the first round of the 2015 NFL Draft at the Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University on April 30, 2015 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images) /
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The Dallas Cowboys have a need for a stout run defender along the interior of their defensive line. Would they consider signing someone like Danny Shelton?

After allowing the Los Angeles Rams to gash them for 273 rushing yards in the Divisional round of the playoffs last season,. you have to believe improving their run defense would be a priority for the Dallas Cowboys in 2019.

Despite the Cowboys signing defensive lineman like Christian Covington and Kerry Hyder Jr. in free agency, both of whom are likely to provide depth at defensive tackle, neither is viewed as stout run defenders.

With that being said, Dallas has had success against the run with their current roster. The Cowboys ended last season with the fifth best-run defense in the NFL, allowing just 94.6 yards on the ground to opposing offenses.

Still, that doesn’t mean there isn’t a need for a talented one-technique defensive tackle in Dallas. One that can help collapse those running lanes the Rams so effortlessly created in the Cowboys’ final contest last season. And when it comes to potential free agents, defensive tackle Danny Shelton checks a lot of their normal boxes.

The Cowboys seem to prefer free agents who were former high draft selections and are still young enough to reach their potential. Shelton was a first-round selection (12th overall) by the Cleveland Browns in 2015.

The impressive 6-foot-2, 345-pounder that Pro Football Focus proclaimed as being top-10 in run stop percentage over his last two seasons in Cleveland, is still only 25-years old. And as an added bonus, Shelton played for the New England Patriots last season, earning himself a Super Bowl ring.

But there is a reason why Shelton is on the open market. After the Patriots traded a 2019 third-round selection for him (and a 2018 fifth rounder), New England ended up making the talented run stuffer a healthy scratch for several games towards the end of last season. Shelton bounced back to make a start in the playoffs and played in the Patriots’ Super Bowl victory over the Rams, in which he earned the NFL’s Way to Play Award.

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Clearly, as a former first rounder, Danny Sheldon flashed potential coming out of Washington. But he has struggled to live up to that draft status ever since. With the Dallas Cowboys, perhaps Sheldon could resurrect his career on one of those one-year deals the team seems so fond of these days.

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