Can the revamped Dallas Cowboys defense shock the NFL?

The Dallas Cowboys completely revamped their defense. Can it shock the NFL?

The Dallas Cowboys‘ agenda heading into the 2020 NFL offseason was overfull. They lost key players, but found a way to fill in their spots, and more.

While Dallas lost five starters, they somehow pulled together some strings and, at the very least, shocked me. In total, they grabbed five starters and added three nice depth pieces. Can this revamped Cowboys defense shock the NFL?

Players Lost

Quick, let’s recap who Dallas let walk away in free agency. There were two starting-caliber players, one elite player, and one fringe Pro Bowl player.

The biggest name of them all became the highest-paid defensive back in NFL history in cornerback Byron Jones. He sits just behind Darius Slay for the lead in average annual value.

While making one Pro Bowl doesn’t sound like much, he constantly gave opposing quarterbacks a hard time. Giving up a low 53.1 completion percentage and 6.2 yards per target, he left a huge hole in the Cowboys’ defense.

The next guy had a great bounce back season. You might remember hearing announcers say something along the lines of “Robert Quinn with the sack” a lot. Well, 12 times this past season as he had 11.5 sacks.

The next two aren’t necessarily big losses, but they were at critical positions. Defensive tackle Maliek Collins and safety Jeff Heath wanted to see the new Raiders stadium and joined Las Vegas.

Neither of them has any accolades that would catch your attention. Not one Pro Bowl to be found, but they were solid starters where the Cowboys needed help.

With those two leaving, there were big questions at the safety position and the interior defensive line. Somehow, Dallas needed to cover for Collins’ 763 defensive snaps and Heath’s 719 defensive snaps.