Cowboys Make Crucial Free Agent Signing: Report

Getty The Cowboys are re-signing DT Johnathan Hankins.

The Dallas Cowboys are making a key free agent signing.

According to Michael Gehlken of The Dallas Morning News, the Cowboys are re-signing defensive tackle Johnathan Hankins to a one-year deal.

“Cowboys are re-signing NT Johnathan Hankins to a one-year contract, person familiar with agreement said,” said Gehlken. “Deal is worth about $1.5M.”

Why Cowboys Stressed Importance of Re-Signing Johnathan Hankins

Hankins appeared in five games with the Cowboys — three starts — last season after he was acquired in a midseason trade with the Las Vegas Raiders. He made 10 tackles while appearing in 34% of the defensive snaps in the games he appeared in. After being placed on injured reserve in December, Hankins was activated for the playoffs, appearing in both of the team’s postseason games, recording a sack and four tackles.

The 10-year veteran was considered a crucial signing due to the Cowboys’ lack of depth along the defensive line. As noted by Charean Williams of NBC Sports, the Cowboys are also hoping to re-sign Carlos Watkins, who has spent the past two seasons with Dallas.

“The team still has hopes of re-signing Carlos Watkins to join Hankins, Osa Odighizuwa, Quinton Bohanna and Neville Gallimore at the position,” says Williams.

As Clarence E. Hill Jr. of The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports, the Cowboys accomplished one of their final free agent goals by re-signing Hankins.

“The only notable thing left to do was address nose tackle by bringing back Hankins, who the team acquired before the trade deadline in 2022 and keyed an immediate improvement in the run defense,” said Hill.

Team owner Jerry Jones stressed the importance of re-signing Hankins while speaking to reporters on Monday, March 28.

“We’re working to get something done there with Hankins,” Jones said. “That’s in progress. And certainly (if we could draft) a potential player that could help us, a big boy that could help us on the interior, we’ll always keep that in mind, too. … We’re going to be in good shape with what we’ll be having relative without the draft, we’ll be in good shape there.”

The 30-year-old Hankins originally entered the NFL as a second-round draft choice of the New York Giants back in 2013. Over the course of his career, Hankins has played in 138 games with 120 starts during stints with the New York Giants, Indianapolis Colts, Raiders and the Cowboys.

Hankins has 376 tackles, 47 quarterback hits, 37 tackles for loss and 14.5 sacks over his 10-year career.

Cowboys Analyzed Every INT From Dak Prescott in 2022

It’s no secret that Dak Prescott needs to cut down on his interceptions.

Despite appearing in just 12 games during the 2022 season, Prescott led the league with a career-high 15 interceptions. To illustrate how much of an issue Prescott’s interceptions were, his interception rate of 3.8% outpaced the next-closest quarterback, the Chicago Bears’ Justin Fields, who had a 3.5% interception rate. The next-ranked quarterbacks were Carson Wentz, Davis Mills and Marcus Mariota.

Head coach Mike McCarthy told reporters that Prescott, quarterbacks coach Scott Tolzien and McCarthy himself have spent time analyzing every one of Prescott’s interceptions from last season.

“Definitely, we spent some time,” said McCarthy, via the Cowboys’ official website. “He was in for the captains workout [earlier this month]. So, he came up and spent about four hours with [quarterbacks coach] Scott [Tolzien] and I. And we went back and looked at his decision-making opportunities and the interceptions and potential interceptions and just talking through it.”

If the Cowboys are to finally break through and truly contend for a Super Bowl, they’ll need their franchise quarterback to drastically cut down on his number of turnovers.