Dallas Cowboys: 3 players whose stock rose Week 4, and 2 who fell

Dallas Cowboys Stock Up: Jayron Kearse and Dallas’ new safeties

For years the Dallas Cowboys have largely ignored the safety position and they’ve gotten mostly subpar performance from most of the players they’ve trotted out there.  For whatever reason, it just hasn’t been a position that the team has put significant resources into, and it’s something that has always frustrated a large portion of the fanbase.

Instead of caving to fan pressure and making the splashy move such as acquiring someone like… oh I don’t know… let’s just hypothetically say a former All-Pro who publicly lobbied to come to Dallas and whose name is magically escaping me at the moment, the Cowboys have long opted to sign low risk, low reward players in free agency or trot out late-round draft picks. For the most part, they’ve gotten what they’ve paid for.

This offseason the Cowboys didn’t radically change their philosophy. What did change, however, was the upside of the players they took a chance on. After Donovan Wilson showed a lot of promise at the end of last season, the team went out and signed Damontae Kazee and Jayron Kearse to one-year deals to pair with him. Just before training camp, they also inked former Indianapolis Colts safety Malik Hooker to a similar one-year deal.

With Wilson missing three of the team’s four games so far, all three of Dallas’ offseason safety additions have started at least one game. There has been plenty of playing time to go around for everyone, and for the most part, they’ve looked solid in their action. Kazee has flashed a bit of the ball-hawking ability he had in Atlanta, while Hooker has looked good despite working to still getting his legs under him following his Achilles tear last September.

Kearse meanwhile, has already proven his value and has made multiple big plays in every game this season. I genuinely find it hard to be disappointed by the play that Dallas has gotten from any of these guys to start the year.

On Sunday Jayron Kearse tied Anthony Brown for the team lead with six tackles, two of which came behind the line of scrimmage. He’s been flying around the field every chance he gets and making his presence known. When Wilson comes back, Dan Quinn needs to find ways to keep Kearse out on the field.

I know safety play wasn’t the main story on Sunday afternoon (heck, it wasn’t even the main story in the secondary), but this group has exceeded expectations at pretty much every turn and they looked good again against the Panthers. They’ve flown under the radar, and it’s time to give them their due.