Wednesday was officially the first day of free agency, although the festivities truly kicked off on Monday with the legal tampering period. The Dallas Cowboys have been known to sit out early free agency, waiting to shop out of the bargain bin. This year, it’s been a little different. Of course, we have to fudge our definition of free agency to include trades that happen around free agency, but the Cowboys made two substantial moves early, and a handful of minor ones in terms of acquisition.
The two major moves include the trade for EDGE Rashan Gary from the Green Bay Packers, and the signing of Jalen Thompson at safety from the Arizona Cardinals. Those are the two that move the needle somewhat, especially on a really bad defense.
The Cowboys also signed S P.J. Locke, NT Otito Ogbonnia, QB Sam Howell, EDGE Tyrus Wheat and they re-signed EDGE Sam Williams.
Based on the early moves, let’s get to some winners and losers of this period.
**Safety position -** The Cowboys made a big move to shore up this position by bringing in a starter in Jalen Thompson, and a rotational guy in P.J. Locke. Thompson is an underrated talent that is perfectly suited to the Cowboys defensive scheme under new defensive coordinator Christian Parker. His versatility and intelligence will allow him to act as a QB of sorts back there, hopefully getting everyone into the proper position.
Thompson played under new secondary coach Ryan Smith, and both he and Locke have past ties to the coaching staff and the new scheme. This was obviously a huge priority for DC Parker.
**EDGE stability** \- The trade for Rashan Gary provides the Cowboys with an EDGE player who is experienced and steady. Gary has never broken through as an elite talent, but he does produce regularly and can be counted on to be part of a rotation of pass rushers. Pairing him with Donovan Ezeiruaku gives the Cowboys two players that can help the defense, even if they aren’t elite. It creates a solid floor for the unit.
Dallas backed that up by brining back Sam Williams on a cheap deal, and that’s a project that has some intrigue. Williams has the traits, so will standing him up and moving him out wide on occasion unlock his potential? It’s worth investigating. Coming back home is Tyrus Wheat, a backup EDGE and a quality special teams player.
It’s not a great room, but at least they have some players there now with James Houston also available.
**Christian Parker** - He probably wants more, but the Cowboys have gone out in free agency and made seven signings/trades for the defense. There are still holes, which we’ll talk about in a bit, but the Cowboys are giving him the type of players he wants. They are building a defense to his specific profile of players. Perhaps nobody will be scrutinized more this season than Parker, so it’s good to see they are going to give him some new players.
**Draft pick** - The Cowboys got rid of two defensive tackles, Osa Odighizuwa and Solomon Thomas, through trades. The Thomas trade was negligible (seventh-round swaps), but the Cowboys did pick up a third-round pick for Odighizuwa. By dealing both, it seems clear that Parker wants a different look from his tackles, and adding NT Otito Ogbonnia in free agency seems like a move in that direction. The Cowboys now have a Day 2 draft pick giving them three in the top 100, and the Cowboys get freedom from Odighizuwa’s contract after taking the dead money hit this year.
‘**War Daddy’ pass rusher** \- Many in Cowboys Nation were hoping to get a new ‘war daddy’ to rush the passer. Someone like Maxx Crosby or Trey Hendrickson. Or even a few names just below that on the free agency scale. Instead, the Cowboys got a solid-but-not-spectacular Rashan Gary. Maybe the Cowboys will score in the first round of the draft, but for now, this is one big area that still seems to have come up a bit short.
**Linebacker room** - Yikes! The Cowboys didn’t get Nakobe Dean, in fact they didn’t get anybody at linebacker. This is one of the thinnest positions on the roster with only DeMarvion Overshown as a true difference-maker. Surely they will sign a guy or two down the road, but it felt like they really needed to score a quality player here. Again, the draft can help, but a sure-fire starting veteran would have been a nice pickup.
**Joe Milton** - The Cowboys signed Sam Howell. They must have done that to provide competition for Milton, which makes you think that Brian Schottenheimer isn’t quite sold on the current QB2.
**Cornerback depth** - Dallas is still short here. DaRon Bland and Shavon Revel are going to be two starters, but behind that is kind of unknown. With the addition of capable safeties in this scheme to sometimes take on slot duties, they may not have to go too deep at corner, but they certainly need more than what they got.
[Our friends at FanDuel have some odds](https://sportsbook.fanduel.com/navigation/nfl) from before free agency began to now. The Cowboys odds have increased slightly.
Cowboys Super Bowl odds pre-free agency: +2700. Now, +2500.
Cowboys Conference odds pre-free agency: +1500, Now, +1300.
Cowboys Division odds pre-free agency: +270. Now, +220.
Who are your winners and losers so far?
See More:
* [Dallas Cowboys Free Agency](/dallas-cowboys-free-agency)