6 Dallas Cowboys free-agent defenders: Retain or liberate?

The Dallas Cowboys have an opportunity for the team to rebuild their defense

This year was a perfect opportunity for some Dallas Cowboys players to show their worth to a franchise that has no doubt prioritized signing their own players over big-name free agents. The start of free agency showed that was still the case as Dallas started slow out of the gates again.

Then the team started to sign available big names that we all knew were probably past their primes but filled what we all perceived as a need on defense. There were even some reports of players being grouped together with what I assume as pitting players against each other for a better deal.

Players like Ha Ha Clinton-Dix, Gerald McCoy, Everson Griffen, and Dontari Poe all proved that the pastures aren’t necessarily greener on the other side. Those first two players didn’t even play a down for the Dallas Cowboys.

Before you stay on the homegrown product bandwagon, re-signing their own players hasn’t turned out great from the perspective of the defensive side of the ball. Players like linebacker Jaylon Smith and defensive lineman Tyrone Crawford have not played to the amount of money the team has invested in them.

With the Dallas Cowboys having nine unrestricted free agent defenders and only one defensive restricted free agent, the front office can totally remake their defense in what seems like a no-brainer.

I am on the boat that with quarterback Dak Prescott at the helm and a healthy offense, the defense only has to be a middle of the road defense for this team to compete against the top teams in the NFL. So the question I pose is, should the team keep or let go of the team’s homegrown defenders.