Dallas Cowboys release Gerald Sensabaugh

Considered a release candidate, Dallas Cowboys starting safety Gerald Sensabaugh was given his walking papers, per a tweet from the NFL Network’s ultra-reliable NFL Insider Ian Rappoport. Now ranked as the tenth-best free agent safety by Walter Football, Sensabaugh also tweeted the news himself.

Tim Heitman-USA TODAY Sports

The Cowboys find themselves in cap trouble despite restructuring several contracts this offseason, but the biggest contract the Cowboys were unable to restructure was the $16.8 million cap hit of Tony Romo. The cutting of the 29-year-old UNC product will save the team $1.4 million in cap space, but it creates a huge hole in the secondary at the safety position that Sensabaugh reliably filled over the past few years.

This past season, Sensabaugh was docked with ten missed tackles from the Pro Football Focus and didn’t have one of his best years, but he is significantly better than the other safeties on the roster and leaves a gaping hole in a secondary that can’t afford to have another hole- on a defense that will be filled with question marks.

Despite his rather lackluster run defense in 2012, Sensabaugh was about average in coverage, even if he didn’t play as well as he did in 2011. Sensabaugh is a solid, unspectacular player who was a key cog in the secondary at the safety position, so it will be interesting to see how the Dallas Cowboys replace him. He was axed due to cap issues and not talent issues, so we’ll see what the Cowboys can do with that $3 million and if Sensabaugh was worth releasing.

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