New Dallas Cowboys LB Kenneth Murray promises defense will stop the run – Clarence Hill, DLLS
The Cowboys desperately need to fix their run defense woes.
Murray has been working at Overshown’s weak side linebacker spot and has proven to be a fast study in new defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus’ scheme.
Murray said the defense is a good fit for him and has even been targeted as the green dot to make the calls over middle linebacker Jack Sanborn, who was played in the scheme under Eberflus in Chicago last year before signing with the in free agency.
“I’m extremely comfortable with it, ” Murray said of being the green dot. “I’ve done it the majority of my career, getting us in and out of checks, being able to decipher different things, different formation, stuff like that.”
Murray said stopping the run has been an [sic] major point of emphasis since he showed up.
The first thing you need to start by building a great defense and stopping the run,” Murray said. “And so I think that was really the first thing that Ebeflus [sic] kind of talked about was stopping the run as a piller [sic] of our defense. It’s definitely an emphasis for us.”
Dallas Cowboys legend Michael Irvin coaches up George Pickens at OTAs – Tyler Reed, Sports Illustrated
Hall of Famer Michael Irvin gave George Pickens some pointers.
All eyes have been on new wide receiver George Pickens throughout OTAs, and the team snapped an iconic photo with Pickens and the greatest receiver in the franchise’s history, Michael Irvin.
The team invited franchise legends out to watch the team during OTAs, and the photo of Pickens and Irvin is now going viral.
Joe Milton ‘surprised’ but ‘blessed’ for fresh start with Cowboys – Patrik Walker, DallasCowboys.com
The backup quarterback in Dallas is ready to contribute.
Milton has already begun drawing high praise from head coach and offensive play caller Brian Schottenheimer as OTAs roll along, and with mandatory minicamp next on the agenda, and Milton says the feeling is mutual toward Schottenheimer and the coaching staff.
“The offense can be explosive,” said Milton of an offense that now also features George Pickens playing in tandem with All-Pro wideout CeeDee Lamb. “I feel like we’re taking the right step in the right direction every day. I like the way we approach the days and the way that we go about the days, we just put our best foot forward, and we’re paying attention. We’re paying attention to small details and understanding what he’s asking us to do.”
Having spent his one and only NFL season with the New England Patriots serving as mostly a backup, Milton didn’t exactly expect to be traded only one year after being selected in the sixth round of the 2024 NFL Draft, however.
“Was I surprised? Yes,” he explained. “I kind of woke up around, like, 7 o’clock, to a call and I knew I was getting traded.”
He couldn’t be more pleased with his landing spot, though.
“The only thing I could have done, well, the only thing I did at that moment was to thank God,” Milton said while wearing a trademark smile. “Coming here was a blessing. I didn’t know it was going to be here. … I didn’t know where I was going to end up.
“I was just thankful to go to work. [But now I’m] back in the heat, for one. He allowed me to play in the dome, for two. And, three, it’s America’s team. Also, it’s just great to learn from someone like Dak.”
Can Cowboys afford to keep All-Pro free agent and $97 million teammate together? – Reid D Hanson, Cowboys Wire
At some point, a decision between Trevon Diggs and DaRon Bland will have to be made.
Who’s it going to be: The ball-hawking All-Pro cornerback who lit the world on fire with his league-leading season of interceptions or the ball-hawking All-Pro cornerback who lit the world on fire with his league-leading season of interceptions? It’s an embarrassment of riches for the Dallas Cowboys, to be sure, but it’s a problem the Cowboys must solve in 2025, nonetheless. With 11 interceptions in Diggs’ 2021 All-Pro campaign and nine interceptions in Bland’s 2023 All-Pro season, the Cowboys have their work cut out for them picking between the two.
On one hand, Diggs is already under contract on a fairly reasonable five-year, $97 million deal. On the other hand, he’s coming off back-to-back injury-shortened seasons and comes with a contract escape hatch following the 2025 season.
Bland, owner of the single-season, interceptions-returned-for-touchdown record (5), is a free agent after the coming season. He’s a year younger and comes with a more well-rounded tool kit. Sadly, he’s also coming off his own forgettable season in 2024 and his next deal will probably be considerably more than what Diggs is on the books for.
Are #Cowboys Trevon Diggs and DaRon Bland the best duo of young cornerbacks in the NFL?
Diggs:
• Tied team record for INTs in a single-season
• First-team All-Pro his 2nd season
• 18 career interceptions
Bland:
• Set league record for pick-sixes in a season
• First-team… pic.twitter.com/oXNJvewSho
— Brandon Loree (@Brandoniswrite) January 12, 2024
Financially the Cowboys can’t really afford to keep both. No NFL team currently has two corners in the Top 20 of average salaries. Diggs currently ranks ninth with his average of $19.4 million per season. Bland’s valuation from Spotrac pencils him in around $23.7 million a year. A combined $43.1 million between the two would slightly outpace the Texans’ investment in Derek Stingley and Jalen Pitre at an even $43 million.
The front office has been resistant to backload money for future dates so retaining them both beyond the 2025 season would likely come at the cost of another expensive player elsewhere on the roster.
Osa Odighizuwa on fitting in Eberflus’ system, leadership & more – Tommy Yarrish, DallasCowboys.com
Osa Odighizuwa is coming off a career year and he could be heading towards an even better one in 2025.
Heading into his fifth NFL season with the Cowboys, and with a new four-year, $80 million deal in tow, Osa Odighizuwa is now one of the elder statesmen in the defensive line room as he prepares to work under his third defensive coordinator since becoming a Cowboy.
“I feel like things are going well, especially it being spring,” Odighizuwa said. “I feel like things are coming along well, everyone’s being smart about how we’re practicing, getting the right things that we want which is our technique and our conditioning.”
In the past, new Cowboys defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus has called Odighizuwa’s three-technique defensive tackle position the “engine” of his defensive scheme. In their early time together, Odighizuwa has already seen why that’s been the case, and sees the chance to capitalize on more opportunities with Eberflus’ system.
“Based on some of the things that we’re being asked to do right now, I was going back and just watching some of the tape from last year, I’m like ‘If I was doing the stuff that we’re being coached to do now, I’m making this play, I’m making that play.’” Odighizuwa said.
“So just seeing that there’s going to be a lot more opportunities based on the stuff that he’s having us do.”
While Odighizuwa’s taken the retrospective look at his own film to see where he can improve, he’s not trying to forget last season’s disappointing 7-10 finish to the season from his memory.
“I wouldn’t say it’s anything to erase,” Odighizuwa said. “You address it, you look at it, obviously it wasn’t the year that we wanted, but like I say all the time when you ask me about past things in this game of football, you don’t have time to go in the past.”
