So The Reeves’ Deal Fell Through

Now that I’ve taken more than five minutes to form an opinion of this whole “Dan Reeves won’t join the Cowboys staff” ordeal, I’m going to try to lay this out as best I can.

There are a couple of possibilities, obviously, for what happened or not with this deal, while none of them leave us with the outcome that we mostly wanted, a good outcome is still possible in some cases.

The most shared opinion among fans, myself included, so far is that Jerry Jones wouldn’t give Reeves the kind of authority and control that he either was seeking, or felt he needed to do other parts of the proposed job effectively. Either way boils down to more of the same … and the beat goes on.

Dan Reeves could have merely been a consultant for a brief time while certain things were discussed. He already shared his own opinion of the team with the media, so it makes sense that he would be brought in to consult for a limited time during the regrouping sessions this off-season. Furthermore, it’s possible that the initial report out of San Francisco was either false, mistaken, or the result of the 49ers management turning down a delayed hire for Reeves while he consulted with the Cowboys first. Far fetched, I know.

If this is the case, then the Cowboys, in some way, should have let on to the fact that he wasn’t going to around long, especially after a report to the contrary surfaced in California.

Still another possible reason is that the Cowboys and Dan Reeves didn’t see eye to eye on things. It basically boils back down to Jones not being willing to give in and give Reeves what he thought was necessary. It kind of seems pointless for that to be the case since you bring in a revered former coach to be a consultant so you can change your current direction with his new strategies and ideas. But alas, Jerry will be Jerry.

Regardless of why it didn’t work out with Reeves, though, this team must move on. It’s a free for all to figure out what comes next, but I suspect there are still some major concerns to deal with before free agency and the draft come around.

The Cowboys have yet to name a replacement for Brian Stewart. As I blogged earlier, it’s been reported that Todd Grantham has moved into the defensive coordinators office, and that could have just been done to allow Reeves an office while he was here. What doesn’t make sense with that is going through the trouble to move Grantham to another office when Reeves could have simply taken the open office. It makes more sense that Grantham was moved into that office because they have plans for him to use it long-term.

Terrell Owens may or may not be an issue that the Cowboys are considering possible solutions for, but the media and many fans certainly are. We’re about down to the fundamental responsibility of the team officials to make an announcement on him one way or another for the sake of the millions that pay their salaries. Yeah, I know. But what else can I say about it? Either they are thinking about releasing him, or they’re not. Either way, make a statement to shut everyone up. It’s not like Jerry Jones is apposed to telling us all that someone isn’t leaving while still considering the opposite. See “Brian Stewart Won’t Be Back Next Season” on the True Blue Fan Club blog.

Several free agents have yet to be decided upon with regard to the Cowboys possible efforts to resign them, like Chris Canty, Keith Davis, Kevin Burnett, Zach Thomas, and a couple of others.

A decision still needs to be made on SS Roy Williams this off-season. His performance has been miserable despite missing most of the 2008 season with two breaks in his forearm. The Cowboys actually stand to gain a little over $2 million towards the 2009 cap by cutting him, and could possibly work out even more benefits by trading him to another team soon. It stands to reason that some teams running a 4-3 defense would be happy to have him since he’s never a distraction and has great stats while playing in a 4-3.

If Owens or Williams are released, in one way or another then comes to work of finding a suitable replacement for both, though an argument exists to find certain types of players both positions even if they both stay. The safety position has been weak since Williams’ production dropped off while Parcels was here, and we need a speed receiver to spread the field more than Owens, Roy E. Williams, and Crayton can do. Miles Austin has some great speed and other nice abilities that make him a solid option for that burst of much needed speed, but his inability to stay healthy has hampered his success.

That doesn’t even get into all the smaller things that need to be worked out like how training camp will be handled this year after direct mention of changes from Wade Phillips in his final press conference of the season.

So we’ll stay tuned for that.