The Cowboys have been in the market for a safety. They were apparently chasing after Earl Thomas for the better part of a year, though nothing happened with that one. They had Eric Berry in for a visit. And yesterday they signed former Viking George Iloka.
It's a step in the right direction. Iloka had a pair of 3-interception seasons for the Bengals before joining Minnesota last year. If he can bring some of that ability to the Cowboys, it will have been a worthwhile signing.
Dallas has to do something with their secondary, whose lack of opportunism has been a drag on their fantasy appeal for years. They haven't had a season with more than 10 interceptions in any of the last four seasons. They're one of two teams that can say that, and not surprisingly, those are the two teams who rank at the bottom of the league in total interceptions over that span.
TEAM INTERCEPTIONS, 2015-2018 | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Team | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | Tot |
Kansas City | 22 | 18 | 16 | 15 | 71 |
Carolina | 24 | 17 | 10 | 13 | 64 |
Buffalo | 17 | 12 | 18 | 16 | 63 |
Cincinnati | 21 | 17 | 11 | 12 | 61 |
NY Giants | 15 | 17 | 13 | 16 | 61 |
LA Chargers | 11 | 18 | 18 | 13 | 60 |
Philadelphia | 15 | 16 | 19 | 10 | 60 |
LA Rams | 13 | 10 | 18 | 18 | 59 |
Miami | 13 | 16 | 9 | 21 | 59 |
Baltimore | 6 | 18 | 22 | 12 | 58 |
Denver | 14 | 14 | 10 | 17 | 55 |
New England | 12 | 13 | 12 | 18 | 55 |
Washington | 11 | 13 | 16 | 15 | 55 |
Arizona | 19 | 14 | 15 | 7 | 55 |
Pittsburgh | 17 | 13 | 16 | 8 | 54 |
Minnesota | 13 | 14 | 14 | 12 | 53 |
Indianapolis | 17 | 8 | 13 | 15 | 53 |
Chicago | 8 | 8 | 8 | 27 | 51 |
Houston | 14 | 11 | 11 | 15 | 51 |
Seattle | 14 | 11 | 14 | 12 | 51 |
Green Bay | 16 | 17 | 11 | 7 | 51 |
NY Jets | 18 | 8 | 11 | 13 | 50 |
New Orleans | 9 | 9 | 20 | 12 | 50 |
Atlanta | 15 | 12 | 8 | 15 | 50 |
Tampa Bay | 11 | 17 | 13 | 9 | 50 |
Oakland | 14 | 16 | 5 | 14 | 49 |
Jacksonville | 9 | 7 | 21 | 11 | 48 |
Tennessee | 11 | 12 | 12 | 11 | 46 |
Cleveland | 11 | 10 | 7 | 17 | 45 |
Detroit | 9 | 10 | 19 | 7 | 45 |
Dallas | 8 | 9 | 10 | 9 | 36 |
San Francisco | 9 | 10 | 10 | 2 | 31 |
With those low interception totals, Dallas hasn't ranked higher than 17th in fantasy defense in any of those four seasons (1 point for sacks, 2 for takeaways, 6 for touchdowns). That's despite generally having an above-average pass rush.
Will Iloka help? Well, he couldn't hurt, although Thomas (28 career interceptions in 125 games) would have been a bigger help in that area. Won't be surprising if the Cowboys look to their secondary early in the NFL Draft.
--Andy Richardson