Chidobe Awuzie. Jourdan Lewis. Xavier Woods. Marquez White. These men were drafted to restock a defensive backfield cupboard left bare. In the offseason, the Cowboys lost Brandon Carr, Barry Church, Morris Claiborne and J.J. Wilcox to free agency. This exodus, according to K.D. Drummond totaled the loss of some 2,600 defensive snaps.
That’s a lot of production to recover. The Cowboys were content to let that much experience walk out the door because the production, such as it was, was lacking in big play ability. This was a defense that won thirteen games last year. But the secondary proved to be the Achilles heel in a heartbreaking division round loss in the playoffs.