Cowboys Free Agency: 9 available Falcons from Dan Quinn’s defense
The Dallas Cowboys are going to need reinforcements if they are going to step their defensive performance up from the pitiful 2020 version they trolled with. To lead that effort, the club has removed Mike Nolan and implemented Dan Quinn, who stewarded three different defenses to the Super Bowl.
Twice as DC of the Seattle Seahawks and once in his role as head coach of the Atlanta Falcons, Quinn has been able to command quality efforts that worked when the games counted most. Now, he’ll look to do that for Dallas. One standard rule when bringing in any coach who was recently with another team is that their former players may be interested in working for them again. If that’s the case with Quinn, a few free agents from the Falcons could be under consideration to wear the star in 2021.
Safety Damontae Kazee
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2020 PFF Grade: 65.1 Kazee played just 22.3% of the snaps this season after wrecking his Achilles in the fourth game of the season. Kazee has been a free safety the majority of his career, though he started several games early in 2019 as a slot corner. In 2018, he tallied seven interceptions and could be a reasonably inexpensive solution to matchup with Donovan Wilson.
Edge Charles Harris
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2020 PFF Grade: 55.4 Harris was a 2017 first-round pick of the Dolphins, but hasn't done much with his career and is now a rotational guy with 6.5 career sacks. He did have 3 though in 2020 in just 173 pass-rush snaps lining up almost exclusively as a LEO/REO edge threat.
Linebacker Edmond Robinson
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2020 PFF Grade: 40.8 Robinson is a special team's depth guy, playing just 4 percent of defensive snaps.
Safety Keanu Neal
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2020 PFF Grade: 68.2 Neal, 25, played over 84% of defensive snaps in 2020. With five years experience, he's an intriguing prospect who missed 28 of 32 games over 2018 and 2019. He's intriguing because although a free safety by trade, he played a coverage linebacker more often than not in 2020, playing 314 downs in that role.
Edge Steven Means
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2020 PFF Grade: 58.4 Means was with the Falcons this season and notched 3 sacks and two forced fumbles. Has also spent time with multiple organizations. He missed 2019 with an achilles injury in OTAs, which means he'll be healthier in 2020 so his performance could tick up. Means plays up and down the line, all positions. Think Tyrone Crawford type.
Cornerback Blidi Wreh-Wilson
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2020 PFF Grade: 62.3 The 31-year old appeared in 15 games, but that's a little misleading. He notched three interceptions and two pass defenses in just 245 defensive snaps. Wreh-Wilson has been with Quinn almost the entire time the coach was in Atlanta, joining the squad in 2016.
Safety Sharrod Neasman
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2020 PFF Grade: 63.4 Neasman is a rotational safety who has been with Quinn his entire career, since 2016. He's a spot starter, depth kind of player.
Linebacker LaRoy Reynolds
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2020 PFF Grade: 58.6 Special Teams linebacker.
Cornerback Darqueze Dennard
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2020 PFF Grade: 66.0 The former Bengals player joined the Falcons in 2020 after six years in Cincinnati. He has four career interceptions and is good depth as he's able to play both in the slot and out wide.
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