Dallas Cowboys taking a shot on former top prospect Malik Hooker
The Dallas Cowboys have completely revamped their defense in 2021, and are continuing that trend with the signing of safety Malik Hooker.
It’s been a pretty massive offseason in 2021 for the Dallas Cowboys on both sides of the ball. Although the primary assets on the offensive side of the ball were paid — literally — to quarterback Dak Prescott in his long-term deal, the defense has been revamped and reloaded from the top down.
Dallas brought in Dan Quinn to be their new defensive coordinator after he was fired midseason in 2020 by the Atlanta Falcons. Quinn inherited a unit that seriously struggled in 2020, allowing nearly 30 points per game and ranking 31st against the run.
The Cowboys made a ton of moves on the defensive side of the ball to improve the roster, including spending the majority of their 2021 NFL Draft class defensively.
Among the more substantially revamped units on the Dallas Cowboys roster heading into 2021 is the secondary. The Cowboys brought in a combination of draft picks and free agents to shore up their starting lineup and depth, including second-round cornerback Kelvin Joseph and free agent Damontae Kazee.
After losing starter Xavier Woods who played 990 snaps last season, the Cowboys are taking some chances heading into training camp with talented but risky players who have been productive — when healthy.
Keanu Neal will be transitioning from the safety position to linebacker in Dallas, but he’s yet another example of a fairly high-risk, high-reward type of player on this Dallas defense. If everything can come together, though, this unit has big-time potential and a lot of guys who can create turnovers.
The latest to join the crew is former first-round safety Malik Hooker, a first-round pick of the Indianapolis Colts back in the 2017 NFL Draft.
Hooker came into the NFL with obviously high expectations and some of the best ball skills at the safety position coming out of the college ranks at the time he was drafted.
He picked off seven passes in his final year at Ohio State and he brought those ball skills to the pro level.
In his first 34 NFL games, Hooker had seven interceptions and 11 pass breakups as well as a pair of fumble recoveries. With only two games played in 2020 before a season-ending Achilles injury, it’s understandable that Hooker — who is just 25 years old — is still available as Dallas Cowboys training camp is already underway.
This is the kind of dart throw late in the offseason that can really pay dividends over the course of a long regular season. The Cowboys understand their defense was bad last year, and they also recognize that they are probably going to need a rotation of guys with all of the injuries players like Kazee and Neal have dealt with in their careers.
Nothing is guaranteed, but Hooker’s ball skills and turnover production through just 36 career games to this point are worth betting on at the age of 25. I love this pickup for the Dallas Cowboys and hopefully, this can be a successful jumping-off point for Hooker in his career after struggling with injuries.