Philadelphia Eagles necessitates Dallas Cowboys must sign Earl Thomas

The Dallas Cowboys finally have the chance to land safety Earl Thomas. With division and playoff hopes beyond that, it’s actually a must that they do it.

The Dallas Cowboys are probably perking up in their collective seats right now. A guy that they have been tied to for at least the last two years has suddenly hit the market again.

Although the circumstances surrounding Earl Thomas‘s sudden availability aren’t the best ones to hear if you’re now thinking about bringing him into the fold of your organization, with the right parameters in place and after the right conversations, it is something the Cowboys must consider.

While they have a ton of youth in their defensive backfield, while they’ve needed an upgrade at safety for a few years now, and while they did make one with the addition of Ha Ha Clinton-Dix, there can still be uses made of a guy of Thomas’s ilk.

Of course, there are those that wonder if he still has it. Some even wonder if he was still worth the hassle and if so, would the Ravens have allowed such an incident to cause his dismissal?

It doesn’t matter though, the Cowboys still have to go get him and here’s why. Let’s look at a set of NFL East season predictions to reveal the whole story.

The Dallas Cowboys have been hot on Earl Thomas trails for a few years. Now though, they must land their guy for their divisional hopes.

Gary Gramling of Sports Illustrated recently released his predictions for the outcome of the NFC East. He had the Dallas Cowboys coming in second place in the division at a record of 10-6, behind a Philadelphia Eagles team with a record of 11-5.

While the Philadelphia Eagles winning the division prediction was jarring enough, that wasn’t the thing that most caught my eye with Gramling’s analysis. Here’s what I mean.

"But while this season will repeat last year’s two-team race, neither Philadelphia nor Dallas will again be hovering around the .500 mark in late December. … this year Philly will have a veritable 4×100 relay of new receivers … Meanwhile, the defense has a new No. 1 cornerback in free agent Darius Slay, who will look even better in Philadelphia than he did behind the Lions’ nonexistent pass rush."

The Darius Slay blurb is worth a note, but not the jackpot information here. When you look at how Gramling laid out what they now have along the perimeters, it’s some real nitro on the edges.

With that kind of speed and explosiveness, you not only need a guy that has shown to be one of the premiere ballhawks in the league, but you also need a guy who instills a bit of fear into quarterbacks about making the passes and receivers in going up or across the middle to make those plays.

Basically, this is why the Eagles make it a must that the Cowboys go get Earl Thomas. Thomas is exactly the kind of guy described and even on the backside of his best days, worth the money it would cost to have him in the Cowboys current defensive backfield.

With the Cowboys always thinking Super Bowl, you must first get out of your division. With as crazy as things have been in recent years with the records and the wild card scenario, the only way to ensure a berth is by winning your division.

Earl Thomas patrolling over the top would go a long way towards helping the Cowboys be ready to deal with what the team that is their direct competition this year will be looking to throw at them. That’s why that team, the Philadelphia Eagles, necessitate that the Cowboys sign Earl Thomas.