It turns out I was wrong… We haven’t seen the last of our free agents moves. Today the Cowboys signed former San Diego Chargers Defensive End Igor Olshansky to a 4 year 18 millions dollar contract according to Mickey Spagnola of DallasCowboys.com. Olshansky played under coach Wade Phillips while he was a defensive coordinator in San Diego. This guy is no joke, he is 6-6 and 309 lbs. Perfect to line up against some of the bigger linemen in the NFC east. In 5 years he’s totaled 179 tackles, 11.0 sacks, and 1 interception.
The signing of Olshansky fills a deep void at right end, and takes some pressure off of Hatcher and Bowen. This move wont replace canty, but it will add some serious help to a healthy rotation that has to potential to disturb some quarterbacks and fill those running gaps. All and all I find this to be a great decision by the Cowboys front office.
This is a great signing. We got the equivalent to Canty for 1/3 as much. Plus, he is 6 months younger. You can’t beat that. It’s been a good offseason for us so far. Maybe Jerry is listening to those around him finally. If so, it’s a good step in the right direction
http://www.CowboysFanRebellion.com
Good points. I haven’t paid much attention to him, but you got to figure that Wade has a good feel for him after playing him already on a very good defense, or at least it was under Phillips.
I disagree that the pressure has been eased for Hatcher and Bowen though, since now they have a capable guy to compete with for playing time. All the defensive linemen here get playing time because of a wise practice of rotating players to keep them fresh, but now you have a guy that showed up after they did, and he didn’t get a huge contract.
You’ve got to think it encourages them to see that, because they know they have a chance worth fighting for. But even if they don’t win out during the summer, Olshanksy appears to be a very capable end that should keep us from missing Canty at all.
I like the signing. I’m hope they get a true NT, who is capable of spelling Ratliff. A free safety/or strong safety would be nice too.
When i said it takes the pressure off of Hatcher and Bowen, I didn’t mean on the field. I meant more mentally. The cowboys fans lately have been killer, and tearing apart everything about these two, they must feel the need to have a great impact which could become overwhelming. This takes off that mental pressure which could cause everyone to play a little more relaxed…
At least this all makes sense in my head 😛
Wiz, you hit on a key point. We need a NT, but I don’t want one to spell Rat. I want one to replace him. ~waits for people to start throwing shit~
Okay, now that I’ve ducked all of the chairs, let expound. I want Rat to move back outside to his true position at DE. I highly doubt he do, though. I feel like with the signing of Olshansky, we will stand pat and leave Rat in the middle. They may just do as you say, get a NT in the mid rounds somewhere to spell him. I can’t see them jumping for Ron Brace to be in a rotation.
We’ll see.
http://www.CowboysFanRebellion.com