Getty Kavon Frazier
Kavon Frazier is no longer languishing on the open market. He’s also no longer playing in the NFC.
Frazier’s agent, David Canter, announced on Twitter Sunday that the now-former Cowboys safety signed a free-agent deal with the Miami Dolphins, where he reunites with ex-Dallas cornerback Byron Jones.
Frazier confirmed the news on his Twitter account, posting a thank-you message to the Jones family for his four years of service.
Chosen by Dallas in the sixth round of the 2016 NFL draft, Frazier was a dependable backup and pinch starter for the club. He compiled 67 tackles, one sack, a pass deflection and forced fumble across 44 career games, making his bones primarily on special teams.
After appearing in all 16 games in 2018, Frazier suffered through an injury-ruined 2019 campaign in which he saw four weeks of action before a torn pectoral sent him to injured reserve. He operated as the reserve safety behind starter Xavier Woods, who, too, missed time due to injury.
The Cowboys opted not to re-sign Frazier, an unrestricted free agent, this offseason. Instead, the team remodeled its defensive backfield, replacing Jeff Heath with Ha Ha Clinton-Dix and Jones with free agent Maurice Canady, second-round rookie Trevon Diggs and fourth-rounder Reggie Robinson.
Woods and Clinton-Dix are the projected 2020 starters at safety, while Diggs, Canady, Robinson, Chidobe Awuzie, Jourdan Lewis and Anthony Brown comprise the CB corps.
Sophomore Donovan Wilson and veteran Darian Thompson, whom the team brought back, are the current S backups. C.J. Goodwin and Robinson are the main backups at corner, pending the results of an inevitable training camp competition.
Frazier, meanwhile, joins a crowded secondary in Miami that features Jones and Xavien Howard manning the CB spots, and Eric Rowe and Adrian Colbert tentatively penciled in as the starting safeties. The 25-year-old likely will continue his standout work on specials while perhaps functioning in a sub-package defensive role for head coach Brian Flores.
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McCarthy Discusses Absence of S in Draft
The Cowboys addressed every major defensive need — in the back end, along the line, and on the edge — during the 2020 draft. Every major need, that is, except for safety. They didn’t take one in seven rounds. None. Zero. Zip. Zilch.
This was by design, according to new head coach Mike McCarthy, who feels “very comfortable” at the position, though McCarthy did leave open the possibility that coordinator Mike Nolan could force a CB to pull double duty.
“I’m very comfortable with the flexibility we have throughout our secondary players,” McCarthy said in his post-draft conference call, per The Athletic. “I’m not as caught up in traditional free safety or strong safety as some may be. What I like about our numbers in the back end is that we have great competition and excellent flexibility. We may have some players that can not only play corner but can also slide over and play some safety.”
Among the Cowboys’ candidates, Awuzie is the most probable to don another hat. The Colorado product flipped between the secondary slots in college and boasts the physical talent to succeed at safety, at least on a part-time basis.
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