Fun with SF ‘08 IV: How Ken Hamlin Got His Groove Back and Saved the Secondary
Posted: August 30, 2008 @ 2:21 am
Longtime BSR readers know I’ve been using Scientific Football to bash the Cowboys’ inept free safety play under Bill Parcells. For whatever reason, the Tuna neglected the spot, trying to force a strong safety, Keith Davis, into the spot, and later trying to force feed rookie Pat Watkins into the position.
Both projects failed. Here’s a chart showing the free safety direct coverage play in ‘05 under Davis, ‘06 under Watkins, and last season under Ken Hamlin. (SF also tracks deep assists, where the safeties roll up in coverage to help corners.)
| Player | Att. | Stops | Succ. % | Yards | YPA | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Keith Davis ‘05 |
31 | 14 | 45.2 | 485 | 15.6 | 36th |
| Pat Watkins ‘06 |
11 | 4 | 36.4 | 227 | 20.6 | 36th |
| Ken Hamlin ‘07 |
22 | 13 | 59.1 | 107 | 4.9 | * |
After ‘05 and ‘06 it didn’t seem possible that the Cowboys’ free safety play could get any worse. Davis and Watkins ranked 36th among 36 safeties in their respective years. In other words, the Cowboys had the worst free safety play in the NFL during that time. Add in Roy Williams’ suspect coverage skills and Dallas had a gaping hole in its deep middle.
That’s not a good way to build a Super Bowl push. When Hamlin was signed in April ‘07 I wrote that regardless of whether the Cowboys got the mid-pack ‘06 Hamlin or the top-5 rated ‘05 Hamlin, they were due to improve.
Look at how much they improved. Joyner didn’t list the direct coverage stats for free safeties in this year’s book but only the late Sean Taylor produced a direct coverage YPA better than Hamlin’s. With Hamlin in the deep middle the one-play 70 yard TD pass drives Cowboys’ fans witnessed in ‘05 and ‘06 disappeared.
Hamlin’s yards allowed total is less than one quarter of what Davis allowed in ‘05. It’s less than half of Watkins’ ‘06 total. (And remember that Watkins was benched in mid-season, so his totals are only a fragment of the team total.)
If Dallas can keep its cornerbacks healthy, it can be a real force with Hamlin in the middle, no matter what type of year Roy Williams has at strong safety. Hamlin missed OTAs bargaining for a better contract but when you look at these numbers it’s hard to begrudge him one penny of his new deal.
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Hamlin was a great get. As was Bigg and TO. I hope Zach Thomas follows the same path. And Pacman as well.
The Giants are apparently very deep at WR and Sinorice Moss might find himself on the outer. He’s small but very fast. He has some playing experience and could perhaps stretch the field a bit…
Burmafrd nailed it, Hamlin was a great signing. Our free agent pickups the last few years have been great. Three Pro Bowlers, as Burmafrd listed, Hamlin, Davis and TO. If Zach and Pac play like we know they can it could be five Pro Bowlers.
Luke, yea and he knows the giants play book too. I’d be for it, why is New York cutting him?
I think the Giants are cutting him because he stays hurt and can’t outplay anyone else. Maybe take a look at him.. but he’s so small.
Anyone else see that Chad Johnson has legaly changed his name to Chad Ocho Cinco?
http://sports.aol.com/nfl/story/_a/bbdp/bengals-star-receiver-ditches-old-name/154017?icid=100214839×1208218423x1200488438
Yeah, thats lame.
If I were Chad I’d have changed my name to “Roger Goodell”. That would have got him the attention he craves.
Final cuts are due in about a half an hour.
Waiting on those cuts!
Meanwhile, Josh Ellis over at True Blue posted some of the interesting cuts already coming in from around the league:
Cincinnati - RB Rudi Johnson
WOW! Guess I should have drafted Chris Perry in my fantasy league afterall.
Philadelphia - RB Ryan Moats (waived/injured)
Chicago - FB Lousaka Polite (former Cowboy), DE Dan Bazuin (2007 second-round pick)
Houston - OT Torrin Tucker (former Cowboy), DE Roosevelt Colvin, RB Marcel Shipp
Cleveland - WR Travis Wilson (2006 third-round pick)
Minnesota - QB Brooks Bollinger
San Francisco - WR Ashley Lelie
New York Giants - QB Anthony Wright (former Cowboy), QB Andre Woodson (rookie, Kentucky), WR Marcus Monk (rookie, Arkansas)
Surprised to see Woodson get cut. Having let the hefty heaver go, I thought they would have kept Woodson for development.
Nobody excites me for Dallas. Ashley Lelie has really flamed out.
I mean no ill will on anyone, but it’s nice to see that other teams miss on reasonably high draft picks as well.
Hey everyone.. long time reader, first time poster (Could never get the registration to work on the old site)
Just saw that Jamaica Rector was cut by Arizona. My memory is a little fuzzy here. Did he spend anytime in Big D in our current offensive system? If so, would he be a potential veteran upgrade that already has knowledge of our system over Mike Jefferson or Danny Amendola?
Not in Dallas’s current system BigD.
Of the WR’s that have been cut, i’d be more apt to go after Monk then anyone else.
where are our cuts? hmmm weren’t they due like over an hour ago?
I was thinking the same thing royce.
Big Din:
I read somewhere, that the Cowboys did not want to sign any WR who had not had experience with Tony Romo. The article (sorry I can recall the source) said that the most likely candidates were Jerhome Urban and Jamaica Rector of AZ. We will see. But it seems to me that when Rector was cut, it was a very close deal at the last cut. And of course, AZ thought him enough of a prospect to pick him up.
Rector certainly wouldn’t be the future, but he might IMO do pretty well filling in until some of our WRs get well.
dozer is right . i’d rather have Rector than either Dannyboy or jefferson at least he was a burner and was one of Romos main partners in crime when he was running the second team.
Does Rector have enough games/years under his belt to qualify as a veteran?? If so, then it’d suck to bring him in for a few games and then have to pay him for the whole year.
I liked Monk coming out of college myself. I just don’t know if he’d be an upgrade over Amendola or Jefferson. I don’t really think much of the Gints depth at WR so you wonder why’d they would cut him. Must have really sucked.
true true…plus I would also look and see what WR offers the best special teams addition.
dallascowboys.com has the cuts - including both wrs!
kam,
The giants have a clear three in front of him….steve smith, toomer, burress, then they would have to keep manningham and moss just due to draft status. Both were top 3 round picks. Oh and I’m sure they would be hard pressed to cut David Tyree… the superbowl darling.
WR Danny Amendola
TE Drew Atchison
NT Remi Ayodele
WR Mark Bradford
RB Alonzo Coleman
FB Julius Crosslin
SS Dowayne Davis
DE Marcus Dixon
LB Tearrius George
OL Ryan Gibbons
TE Rodney Hannah
WR Mike Jefferson
RB Keon Lattimore
WR Todd Lowber
LB Darrell Robertson
NT Junior Siavii
DE Marcus Smith
LB Tyson Smith
LB Erik Walden
Wow… thats a big shocking. Wonder if they can sneak Amendola to the practice squad.
I think that shows that they will think going after a vet.
Unless they pick someone up looks like they will go into sept 7th with two WR’s.. unless I am missing anyone
There is no way Dallas goes in with just two WR’s.
Well I say no way.. maybe they roll alot of two tightend sets…
Or Felix will be their WR in 4 WR sets and witten the other… seems crazy.
AFBat2
I would not be surprised to see Witten spread out as a 3rd WR in 3rd and longs.
wow thats 11 OLinemen and 7 corners
stoproyce,
See my new post. I’ll bet they’re shopping those last two OL (probably Marten or Berger, though they might see what McQuistan could bring on the market) plus Oglesby and Ball.
Teams are short at those positions.
IOW, this isn’t the final roster. It’s a placeholder.