3 Cowboys who will immediately benefit from Mike Zimmer’s arrival
3. Donovan Wilson, S
Safety play has typically been a hallmark of Mike Zimmer's defenses and it stands to reason that the Dallas Cowboys will have multiple players benefitting at that position group.
While Israel Mukuamu or Juanyeh Thomas could be in line to play more hybrid roles, Donovan Wilson and Malik Hooker could be in line to play the "Harrison Smith" and "Anthony Harris" roles. Meaning they will have a ton of responsibility heaped upon them, but it won't be anything they can't handle.
Wilson looks poised to take on the role of Harrison Smith in Zimmer's Dallas defense, which means we'll be seeing him all over the field.
And one thing it almost certainly means? We'll be seeing Wilson utilized more in the pass rush department.
One thing to note on Zimmer is he similarly blitzes and disguises his DBs as Spags.
— Skywalker Steele (@SkywalkerSteele) February 13, 2024
Under Zimm, Harrison Smith blitzed 135 times between 2018-2021.
DQ dialed back Dono in 2023 only blitzing him 17 times, but in 2022 he led the position in QB hits while blitzing 30 times. pic.twitter.com/x259i8romW
Wilson has been extremely effective in this regard in the past, as recently as 2022. In the 2022 season, Wilson racked up 9 QB hits and 5.0 sacks for the Cowboys defense. That production dipped to just 1 QB hit and 0 sacks in the 2023 season, but why?
Well, it's pretty simple actually. In 2022, Wilson was sent on a blitz 30 times. In 2023, he was sent 17 times. Although he didn't maintain the same effectiveness per blitz in 2023, the lack of frequency certainly played a role.
It seems reasonable to assume that we'll see Wilson attacking as a blitzer far more often in the 2024 season than we saw in 2023.
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