NFL: Free agency fits for the top 10 teams in terms of cap space

#10. Dallas Cowboys – Earl Thomas

This is the most logical and apparent fit. Thomas already didn’t want to play under the franchise tag last season and flipped the bird towards the Seahawks sideline when he was carted off the field after fracturing his leg in week four. He was also caught on camera running after Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett in the tunnel, telling him to “come get him”, and there were already trade offers on the table according to multiple reports before Dallas squared off against the Seahawks early in the year.

Outside of the obvious interest from both sides, Thomas being a Texas kid and former Longhorn, and the available cap space, this also makes a lot of football sense. The Cowboys have talked about how much they like their young safety Xavier Woods, and he did a pretty good job, starting the final 14 games and their two playoff matchups last season. So while he has been solid for them, he is nowhere close to a perennial All-Pro and at times even Defensive Player of the Year candidate like Earl Thomas.

The eight-year veteran was off to a blazing hot start last season, breaking up five passes and intercepting another three, with two of those coming directly against Dallas. Even though injuries had cost him seven combined games in 2016 and ’17 before he missed the final 12 of this recent campaign, and he talked about retirement at some point, a healthy Thomas might still be the premiere single-high safety in the NFL today.

The Cowboys under Rod Marinelli and former Seahawks defensive back coach/coordinator Kris Richard run a lot of one-high safety based coverage schemes with similar personnel in terms of long, physical corners on the outside, rangy linebackers and a deep rotation of defensive linemen that is built on rushing the passer. Their defense already was sixth in points and seventh in yards allowed in 2018. Adding a guy on the back-end who allows everybody else to be even more aggressive because of the range and play-making ability he possesses, could take them to a new level.