Following the departure of Barry Church in the offseason, the Cowboys opted to promote Jeff Heath and Byron Jones as their new starting safety combination. 12 games into the 2017 season, it is safe to say that the experiment was a failure. It is not that Jones and Heath are terrible players, on the contrary they are both valuable contributors on the team and both high character guys.
I think Bryon Jones is a really nice player. He is super athletic and the best option the Cowboys have to cover the elite pass catching tight ends the Cowboys often face in the NFL. I love his work ethic, he never gives up on a play and will chase down ball carriers from behind often making touchdown saving tackles. The Cowboys really value his position flexibility as well, since he can play both safety spots and corner back. The problem with Jones is that he is more of a jack of all trades and master of nothing type of player. I think he could excel in a complementary role but he is not strong enough to be an in the box type of safety and not enough of a playmaker to be a quality center fielder.
Jeff Heath, like Byron Jones is an excellent role player. He was really effective last year in spurts and he can really lay the wood when he tackles. He has been a reliable special teams contributor throughout his career and this year he showed additional versatility as an emergency place kicker when Dan Bailey was injured at San Francisco. Unlike Jones, who was a first round pick, Heath was an undrafted free agent and had to fight hard to carve out a role for himself on this team but unfortunately he can’t be trusted as a starting safety.
While it is clear that the starting combination of Jones and Heath is not the answer at safety for the Dallas Cowboys, what is the answer then? Does the safety position become the Cowboys top priority in next year’s draft? Or, do the Cowboys contradict their recent free agency philosophy and try to secure a top tier talented safety?
Let me present to you option “C”, the guys on their current roster. Last week Kavon Frazier and Rookie Xavier Woods were given a much more prominent role and both have responded well. Neither one of those guys has been flawless but both are young and deserve an opportunity to grow and develop. Both of these young safeties have shown glimpses of something the Cowboys have been lacking at that position. They have shown the propensity to be playmakers. For that reason I would like to see more of those two before the season is over. And while Jones and Heath are young, Frazier and Woods are younger and will hit free agency later. That is all the more reason to give these guys and opportunity to prove themselves.
I hope that Frazier and Woods continue to get more opportunities and potentially take over the starting roles. It is likely that they may end up being similar to Jones and Heath, great role players who become overwhelmed in a full time starting role. But there is also the possibility that maybe this combination could be the future backfield for the Dallas Cowboys. There is only one way to find out for sure.
*Photo by Kieth Allison https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/legalcode