Connor and Poole were good pickups as well. The Cowboys are hoping that Bruce Carter will contribute more than he has this year, and while I have my doubts, I think Connor can be a very good 2 down player for us leaving Carter at the least a Kevin Burnett type 3rd down player. The simple fact is that we needed more depth at the ILB spot and Connor is an upgrade over B. James and Brookings.
Poole is a more athletic FS type who's had better years than Elam ever had. That doesn't mean he's perfect by any means. He's just better than what we had and joins a long list of players trying out 1 year deals with the Cowboys to try to parlay that 1 year into a long term deal when the salary cap explodes next year.
Vickers is an upgrade over Fiametta. He's one of the best FB's in the league and will give us the best blocking from the FB position that we've had in a long, long time. We saw how well our running game worked with quality blocking from a quality FB. Now we get to see how our running game will look behind an even better blocking FB. It should only improve our running game.
Kyle Orton is IMO, a top 32 QB in this league. What that means is that I believe he's actually better than some of the guys who're starting in this league. He's obviously not as good as Romo but he's better than Kitna and worlds better than McGee. He's a QB who we can feel confident about winning with if Romo's hurt. I'm surprised that he was not only willing to take a backup job but that he signed for 3 years. Somebody posted somewhere else that it may be that he looks at it like if Romo gets hurt and misses a few games, Orton can come in, with players like Bryant, Austin, Witten, Murray, and Felix and really look good for those few games. These are the best skill players that he's ever played with IMO. He could light it up, get a lot of interest from other teams that all of the sudden need a QB, and generate a trade with the Cowboys. Win win for both of them.
It then gets a little sticky with the guards we signed. Let me be clear: I do think that Nate Livings and Mackenzy Bernadeau are upgrades over any combination of Kosier, Holland, Dockery, Nagy, or Arkin. Livings is bigger and stronger than any of those guys. He's supposedly fairly good in pass protection. I can only guess that Garrett is enamored with his size for short yardage situations which we've been woefully inadequate at. But he's not the kind of OG who can get out to the 2nd level and really help with the running game either. I read a scouting report that says he has problem with some smaller, quicker DT's. I can only hope this isn't another Fatt Davis situation where he gets turned around like a turnstyle.
Bernadeau is just another young guy to add to the mix. He's probably better and stronger than Nagy and Arkin. He's started. He's at the very least better IMO than they are. The Cowboys see some potential. My whole problem with these two OG's isn't that I don't think they're upgrades. It's that I think there were better players available for around the same money. Jake Scott is 30 years old but so is Livings. He's also a better player than Livings. OC Chris Myers is 30 but he was an all pro last year. One of the best in the league. Resigned for reasonable money with Houston after visiting the Titans. We didn't even kick his tires. I think it's easier to cover up a marginal OG than a marginal OC and we're stuck with Costa now. Not good.
I refuse to count Ogletree as a FA pickup. I refuse to acknowledge he's even on the team.
Now, we've got the franchise tag on Anthony Spencer. I think he's just an average player but we have nobody in the pipeline to replace him (Thank you 2009 draft and Jerry). So he's got an $8.8 million cap hit this year. It could be significantly lowered if we sign him to a long term contract but who wants to sign him to a long term contract?? There's some options in the draft to replace him but they'll probably be gone by #14. My idea now is to sign Kamerion Wimbley. He was released by the Raiders and is an upgrade over Spencer, especially as a pass rusher. He's about as good against the run as Spencer as well. If I'm going to give out a long term deal to someone I'd rather do it with him. It would lower our cap hit as well dramatically, probably by half, and we'd be able to go out after a center like Jason Brown who was just released by the Rams.
What do you all think??
