Dallas Cowboys: With no Earl Thomas, who will step up at safety?

The Dallas Cowboys appear to once again be passing on signing star safety Earl Thomas, so who can Big D count on to step up?

The Earl Thomas hot stove is nothing new for the Dallas Cowboys. Ever since December 23, 2017, when the Seattle Seahawks beat the Cowboys 21-12 in a game that ended Dallas’ postseason hopes, the team has been linked to Thomas on a constant basis.

After that game, Thomas followed then head coach Jason Garrett to the Cowboys locker room and infamously told him; “If y’all have the chance, come get me.” Thomas became a free agent after the 2018 season and ultimately signed with the Baltimore Ravens.

In his prime, Thomas was a superstar well on his way to punching a ticket into Canton. As a member of the Seahawks vaunted Legion of Boom secondary, he helped to solidify the back end of a defense that was one of the best in the modern era.

Thomas was cut by the Ravens over the weekend after getting into a fight with his teammate, Chuck Clark during practice last Friday. Now, it appears that the chances that Thomas comes to Dallas are yet again pretty remote. While Cowboys owner Jerry Jones seemed to leave the door open on signing Thomas, it’s still being reported that they are not expected to offer him a contract.

Dallas’ need for improvement is obvious. Over the past decade, safety has been a position consistently in need of an upgrade. In fact, the Cowboys have not had a safety selected to a Pro Bowl since 2007 when both Ken Hamlin and Roy Williams made it, and they haven’t had an All-Pro since Williams was selected 17 years ago in 2003.

It’s also no secret that the defense in Big D has struggled mightily to take the ball away. Last year they managed to create a turnover just 17 times, good for 26th in the entire NFL.

Over the past two seasons, Xavier Woods has solidified himself as one of the starters on the back end of the defense. Woods is just 25 and has started all 29 of the games he’s appeared in since 2018.

He’s played well and has continued to grow into his role with each passing year. Last season Woods grabbed two interceptions, good for the team lead on a defense that managed to pick off just seven passes all season.

This offseason Dallas brought in Ha Ha Clinton-Dix from the Chicago Bears to pair with Woods. Clinton-Dix is a veteran safety who has a strong connection to new head coach Mike McCarthy dating back to their time together on the Green Bay Packers.

McCarthy drafted Clinton-Dix in the first round of the 2014 draft and he was a starter for the Packers until he was traded in 2018. He was a solid safety in Green Bay, even earning a Pro Bowl nod in 2016.

So far though Clinton-Dix has done very little to actually earn a starting role on the defense. That isn’t the kind of news Cowboys fans are hoping to hear about a veteran who was supposed to bring stability to the back of Dallas’ defense.

As it stands right now Clinton-Dix’s 16 career interceptions are the most on the team. The next closest player is linebacker Sean Lee who has 14. With Clinton-Dix struggling, Darian Thompson has been seeing more action with the first-team defense as of late and appears to be the favorite to start opposite Xavier Woods.

Thompson started four games at safety for the Cowboys last season and provided strong support on special teams. Now entering his fifth season, Thompson has earned a reputation as a hard worker who makes the most of every rep.

The problem for Dallas is that neither Ha Ha Clinton-Dix nor Darian Thompson is anywhere close to the player that Earl Thomas is, even at this juncture in his career. While it is possible that the combination of the two of them could help the Cowboys improve this season, neither are game-changers.

Dallas is trying to get as many looks at safety as they can during camp. Even cornerback Daryl Worley and fourth-round pick Reggie Robinson II who was originally drafted as a cornerback earlier this year saw some time at safety during practice yesterday.

It goes without saying this is not the situation that the Cowboys want to be in. Over the years this team has seen what having a weak secondary unit can do to your defense. In the same way that having a weak pass rush puts more pressure on your secondary to cover their men like glue, having a weak secondary makes the pass rush null and void if guys are consistently able to get open deep in the middle of the field.

If the Cowboys have really resigned themselves to not signing Thomas there are still other free-agent options available, albeit with their own red flags. Former Ravens safety Tony Jefferson was cut earlier this offseason while recovering from a torn ACL, but if healthy he could be a solid veteran to add into the mix. Former Miami Dolphins safety Reshad Jones is on the wrong side of 30 and only played in four games last season, but his 21 career interceptions would lead the team by a mile.

Improving the big D in Dallas will need to start with better play out of the safety position and more takeaways from the defense as a whole. While dreams of having Earl Thomas run wild in free space may be dashed, for now, the Dallas Cowboys are hoping that some of the safeties already on their roster are ready to take a big leap, but they also shouldn’t discount any other option.