Predicting Dallas Cowboys 2020 depth chart: Safeties

Predicting the Dallas Cowboys safety depth chart in 2020

For years, the Dallas Cowboys have been struggling to find adequate safeties for the back end of their defense. In 2018 and 2019, they started Xavier Woods and Jeff Heath who were capable but neither one stood out as game-changers.

Woods, a former sixth-round pick in 2017, has developed into a good player but there’s been a lot of on the job training. As for Heath, he was undrafted out of Saginaw Valley State in 2013 wasn’t expected to become a starter but once thrust into that role, he did an admirable job — but they needed to look at making an improvement.

They had a shot to do that in 2019 and it seemed as though they would leading up to the draft. Dallas visited with just about every safety prospect and when they were on the clock with their first pick at No. 58 (they had no first-round pick due to their Amari Cooper trade) they had their choice of just about every safety in the class.

But for some reason, they decided rather than address their biggest need by taking Juan Thornhill or Taylor Rapp, that it would be best to ask the defensive coordinator on the final year of his contract what he would do. And good ‘ol Rod Marinelli told them to get one of his ‘pet cats’ in Trysten Hill — a project defensive tackle who wore out his welcome with the staff at UCF and was a reserve in his final season.

This frustrated fans who understood how bad the move was and we once again watched the defense struggle to get the job done in pass defense.

Thankfully they made some moves this offseason and now enter 2020 with a new starter as Ha Ha Clinton-Dix replaces Jeff Heath.

Now we examine the depth chart with the change and see how the Cowboys look for the coming season on the back end of their defense.