Dallas Cowboys: 4 second-wave free agents that still make sense

Malik Hooker, Safety

Our own Joey Pollizze recently broke down why former Atlanta Falcon and free-agent safety Damontae Kazee is the right choice for the Cowboys. You can read his work here. So we’ll make the case for the Cowboys signing Malik Hooker, the other safety the team will reportedly meet with sometime this week.

A former first-round selection by the Indianapolis Colts in 2017, Hooker is exactly the kind of player the Cowboys’ brass seem to prefer to take chances on. That being a very talented player that was a high draft selection and is still young enough to turn their career around. And, for whatever reason, things simply haven’t worked out for them.

In the case of Hooker, it’s the fact he’s been injury-prone. Before suffering a season-ending Achilles injury two weeks into last season in Indy, the 24-year old safety had missed a total of 15 games over his first three years in the league.

When healthy, Hooker appears to live up to his draft status, racking in seven interceptions over his first three seasons as a true free safety who excels in coverage. In 2019, he also posted a career-high 51 tackles as a 13-game starter.

With the recent signing of Keanu Neal, plus the fact the Cowboys have a promising young safety in Donovon Wilson already, taking a flier on Hooker in addition to drafting for the position makes a ton of sense.