Skip to playerSkip to main content
  • 16 hours ago
Shan, RJ, and Bobby went Inside The Star to break down Matt Bowen’s list of the best remaining free agents and which ones are the best fit for the Cowboys. They discussed the potential of adding veterans like Nick Chubb to the backfield, Bobby Wagner to anchor the defense, and more.

Category

🥇
Sports
Transcript
00:00Let's try to add just a little bit more to the Dallas Cowboys offseason.
00:06Good morning, Metroplex.
00:07Shout out to the 6 a.m. club here on your official home of America's team.
00:12Sean Trafe, RJ Choppy, and Cowboys insider Bobby Bell
00:15with the best remaining fits for free agents that are still out there.
00:20Matt Bowen coming up with this from ESPN.
00:23Which I love Matt Bowen.
00:25Matt's done, this is kind of his forte.
00:28He's a big film guy.
00:30He used to play in the NFL.
00:31And he will take these lists or he'll take draft fits or free agents or whatever else.
00:37And he goes in there and he'll study and he'll really try to do what Will McClay talked about.
00:41Which is like true scheme fit.
00:43And he tries to find who's going to match up the best with needs
00:46and what they want to do within their scheme.
00:47So he's got a list here of the 14 players that are left on the board.
00:52And he only pairs one of them with the Dallas Cowboys.
00:55So I'll start there.
00:56And then I'm going to go to the ones that I think probably should be on the list for the
01:00Cowboys.
01:01The player that he lists as one of the 14 best that would pair best with the Dallas Cowboys
01:06is not a defensive player.
01:08It is running back Nick Chubb.
01:11It says a veteran grinder at this point of his career.
01:13Chubb could provide value as the Cowboys number two or number three option behind starter Javante Williams.
01:19Chubb can still secure catches on swings and checkdowns in the passing game.
01:23But he should be viewed as an early down option who can use his power and vision in short yardage
01:27situations.
01:28He rushed for 520 yards in Houston last season.
01:32Nick Chubb is fine.
01:35I mean, it's again, he's what he's 30, 30 or 31, I think at this point.
01:40But no, thanks.
01:41I'm Des was all in.
01:43Des was like, oh, that sounds great.
01:45Nobody loves old football players more than old football players.
01:50They, they, they, like NFL guy will like, I got to get him on my team because he can play.
01:55Because I saw him do this against me back in 2016.
01:59Last year, he was 4.1 a carry.
02:01He did play.
02:02Wow.
02:0315 games.
02:04Very surprising.
02:05He was 4.1.
02:06Only played 10 games before that in his previous two Cleveland seasons.
02:11But last year, 506 yards with three touchdowns.
02:15Whenever I look at a player like Nick Chubb, I think of it the same way that Bill Simmons,
02:21who wrongly once tweeted about the Dallas Mavericks after they had brought in Sean Marion
02:26and everybody else for like the 2010, 2009 season, somewhere around there.
02:31Bill Simmons had said watching the Mavericks this year is going to be like having tickets
02:35to like, like up front row tickets to a 50 cent concert.
02:39And you're just going to think to yourself, this would have been really cool about six
02:42years ago.
02:43And that's what I think of with guys like Nick Chubb.
02:45Yeah, that would have been cool six years ago.
02:46I really have no use for Nick Chubb anymore.
02:49But some of the other guys on this list, I think absolutely would be of interest to the
02:53Cowboys or would be a fit for the Cowboys.
02:55I don't know that the Cowboys would necessarily prioritize them.
02:58You've got Trayvon Diggs on this list.
03:00I don't think that he would be here.
03:01Jadavion Clowney's on this list.
03:03Let me go down the Diggs write-up.
03:05Best team fit commanders, Washington could view Diggs as a reclamation project.
03:09Yeah, they'd have to.
03:11Helping him get back to being a true playmaker in the secondary.
03:14Under new coordinator Durante Jones, Diggs can use his man coverage traits and backfield
03:20vision to get a jump on the ball in the commander's pressure heavy scheme.
03:24However, he has plenty of availability concerns after spending at least a portion of the past
03:28three seasons on injured reserve.
03:30I know he didn't want to play in zone anymore, but he didn't like it, even though the numbers
03:35did say he was better in zone for his career.
03:38I don't see how there's any justification at all anymore to put him in man coverage.
03:43The dude physically cannot break on the ball the same way.
03:47There's massive limitations there that I would think...
03:49We're just playing the safety.
03:51Let's just play you comfortably in your zone as best we can, if at all.
03:56His career may be over.
03:57I think Trayvon Diggs' career is over.
03:59I think he's probably done.
04:0027.
04:01Yeah, and it's nuts because you wouldn't have...
04:03That's how quickly what's a seemingly...
04:06I mean, when that story broke, it was, what, after week two of the 23rd?
04:10Which one, the TV poll?
04:10No, his knee, when he first hurt his knee.
04:13Where it was like, a clean tear of the ACL, he's just fine, but he tore his ACL in practice
04:18and rats, he's going to be out for...
04:20It feels like we're regressing with ACLs a little bit around the league.
04:24Like, they had reached a point where with ACLs, you didn't think anything of it.
04:28It was, all right, they're gone for the year, but they're going to come back.
04:29They're going to be the same player.
04:31And it's not been the case for a number of these guys.
04:34And the Cowboys have seen it happen in a big way with a couple of different players.
04:38They would, I think, say that Sam Williams was a guy who didn't come back the same way.
04:43They definitely would say Diggs and Gallup didn't come back the same way.
04:46Remains to be seen on Overshawn, and Overshawn's knee injury was not just a simple ACL.
04:50There was a lot of really...
04:52There's been a couple of them.
04:53That was a, yeah, that's a violent tear that he's had on a couple different occasions.
04:58So, some of the other names that are still on here.
05:01Stefan Diggs.
05:02And you tell me where to stop if you want the write-up or if you're interested in talking about
05:05them as a cowboy.
05:06No Stefan Diggs?
05:07Not interested in the write-up.
05:09I was interested in him and Cardi screaming outside a coffee shop in Maryland.
05:15What is wrong with this woman?
05:17Like, her picker...
05:18They're trying to fit in in Maryland.
05:19She terrifies...
05:20Baltimore, I don't know exactly where they were.
05:22She terrifies me for my daughter of choosing the wrong dude every single time.
05:27She's just...
05:27She's addicted to it.
05:29And she goes on Twitter and she's like,
05:30What?
05:31Y'all never yelled?
05:32I was hangry.
05:33Y'all never yelled at your baby daddy?
05:36She's also got a pretty toxic history.
05:38So, I think that it makes sense that she's probably gravitated toward some bad people.
05:43And there's a pretty long history of celebrity relationships not exactly being the most stable.
05:48The most grounded.
05:49Yeah.
05:50We can't all be Neil Patrick Harris and whoever his guy is or whatever.
05:55So, Kevin Zeitler, the guard.
05:58He's, I assume, out for everybody.
06:00Cowboys don't really have any issues at guard right now.
06:02So, this is the one that I think is the most...
06:06The strongest fit that I'd be the most in favor of.
06:09And that's Joey Bosa.
06:10Hmm.
06:11Bosa, I don't know how he's still out there.
06:14I understand there are people who have reservations about injury history and different things like that.
06:17I don't know why he wouldn't have just gotten some sort of a...
06:21Like, you know, a veteran deal on one year somewhere.
06:24Because he's played really well the last couple years and he's been available the last couple years.
06:28His injury history is really, really long.
06:30He's not a guy who's going to be double-digit sacks anymore.
06:33But he was a really strong player for Buffalo last year.
06:36One of the...
06:37I think if you're just talking about complete game and everything that you're asked to do.
06:41Whether it be dropping coverage occasionally, play the run, rush the passer.
06:44He was one of the, to me, probably top 20% of edge rushers in the NFL last year.
06:52He had an 80 PFF.
06:54Wow.
06:54He was really, really good last year.
06:56Yeah, I'm in on that.
06:57And I think the only reason I can think he's out off the market still is people had reservations about
07:03him.
07:04Only wanted to give him one-year type of deals.
07:06And so he just said, all right, if it's going to be one-year deals, I'm going to...
07:09Yeah, he's doing the clown.
07:10I'm just going to wait and I'm going to sit back and find the deal that I want.
07:14This is what Bowen wrote about him.
07:16He said,
07:16Bosa has answered some availability questions over the past two seasons, playing in at least 14 games in each.
07:21And he fits as a pass rusher in Raheem Morris' defense because he projected the 49ers as the best fit.
07:26He said,
07:26Bosa played 36 snaps per game last season in Buffalo.
07:29He finished with five sacks, five forced fumbles, and 42 pressures.
07:33We still see Bosa's speed to power ability on tape.
07:35And he still keeps high energy to make stops later in the down.
07:39He would provide quality depth for a 49ers pass rusher that ranked last in pressure rate and total sacks in
07:442025.
07:44And Bosa, I believe, is only just now 30, maybe 31.
07:49Yeah, he's 30.
07:50He's going to turn 31 in July, which it...
07:53I mean, he's been in the league for 10 years now.
07:55I was about to say, it feels like he's been in the league for 15 years.
07:56Well, we're getting close.
07:58But he was so young when he got into the NFL.
08:00He and Zeke were like same age, and they were both two of the younger players in football.
08:04But I'd be all over looking at this if he were open.
08:07It just seems like he's at a mercenary stage right now.
08:10I'd be in on it.
08:11Good, you know, good enough player.
08:13And we need...
08:14Look, I need somebody else in here with a nose bigger than mine to even things out.
08:20All right.
08:20Next name on the list, Deebo Samuel, wide receiver, who he says best team fit is the Colts.
08:27AJ Epinesa, edge rusher.
08:30Epinesa is not your classic, like, Bosa build and go get the quarterback.
08:35He is a bigger...
08:35I would imagine if he were here, they might say, hey, go hit the weight room, put on 10
08:40pounds, and we'll put you in the ground, like, rotating with LT Overton and guys like that.
08:45So not necessarily somebody who's going to come in here and contribute a ton in the pass rush.
08:50Taylor Decker, the offensive tackle who the Lions moved on from.
08:53Jonu Smith, tight end.
08:55They put the best fit there as the Carolina Panthers.
08:58Cameron Jordan.
08:59And Njoku just got signed recently.
09:01Yeah.
09:02It was a late one for Njoku, too.
09:04Yeah.
09:04And he's...
09:04David Njoku's another one who...
09:06I think a lot of these veterans, you're starting to see them say, if I'm not going to get a
09:09multi-year deal right out of the gate, I'm just going to sit back and I'm going to wait
09:13for whatever deal comes across that fits more what I'm looking for.
09:17Cameron Jordan's still being available.
09:19He's somebody who's talked about he still wants to play.
09:21It was funny.
09:22Somebody had thrown out a suggestion on Twitter the other day.
09:24They're like, what if the Buccaneers scooped him up?
09:26He could play.
09:27And he, like, quote tweeted it with somebody vomiting.
09:30And so Cameron Jordan's still being a super competitive Saints guy.
09:34This is the name that I know I've talked about with a couple other people in the media,
09:38and this is the top name for them.
09:39Whereas Bosa's mine, it's Bobby Wagner, who they list as the best fit being the Jaguars.
09:43But he says Wagner's nine and a half tackles per game, ranked sixth overall in 2025,
09:49showing he can still key quickly and rack up run stops.
09:51He does have limitations in coverage at this stage of his career,
09:54which Jaguars defensive coordinator Anthony Campanile would have to manage.
09:58However, as an early down defender, Wagner could potentially take on the role next to Devin Lloyd,
10:03who is a mainstay on Jacksonville's second level.
10:06I love how you didn't say the first name of that.
10:08I wasn't even going to try.
10:09Did you know that?
10:09For your side of a look?
10:11Yeah, you go ahead.
10:11You say that.
10:12But if you, Wagner is one who, I think if he is, like,
10:18one-year deals are all he's going to get at this stage of his career.
10:20He's in his mid-30s.
10:22He's somebody who's still playing at a high level,
10:24but there's just risk associated with that that people don't want to tie to an older player.
10:27He's one that I think absolutely you would at least kick the tires on.
10:32For some reason, they've had some hesitation on recently.
10:35This is going to be an interesting case study about where the players think the Cowboys are.
10:41Let's say the Jags and the Cowboys both go after him,
10:45and he chooses Jacksonville, and the money's similar.
10:50There's no tax advantage for going to Florida over here, right?
10:54They're the same.
10:55It might indicate that, oh, okay, the league thinks that we're further away than the Jags,
11:00or just maybe he likes to fit in the defensive coordinator.
11:03Play in time.
11:03Play in time, whatever.
11:04But it could be an interesting little case study.
11:06Yeah, because it is something where I would imagine in Jacksonville he would probably have a more prominent role.
11:12Christian Parker's philosophy is so particular, I think he'd be in here as just like a part-time player.
11:17Clowney's on here.
11:18Vaughn is on here.
11:20Cam Jordan is on here as well.
11:22The best remaining fits for some of the free agents out there in the NFL offseason.
Comments

Recommended