It only took two emojis to have Dallas Cowboys fans jumping to conclusions amid the recent free agency rumors. After a visit with the Cowboys, Colts free-agent safety Malik Hooker took to social media to post a cryptic tweet.
Some Cowboys fans took the two smiley-face emojis to mean Hooker is signing with Dallas. The Colts safety added some clarity noting that a deal was not completed but added the “visit went great.”
“Let’s Say Visit Went Great,” Hooker said on Twitter. “Always Grateful For The Opportunities In General! Now Control What I Can Control And Hope What’s Meant To Be Will.”
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Hooker Is 1 of 3 Free-Agent Safeties the Cowboys Hosted
For what it’s worth the last tweet that Malik Hooker liked was about him re-joining his teammates from The Ohio State with the Dallas Cowboys.
Hooker has some competition with other free agents to land a spot in Dallas. The Cowboys also hosted Falcons’ Damontae Kazee and Ravens’ Jayron Kearse at The Star on March 25 as well, per The Dallas Morning News’ Calvin Watkins.
“No guarantees the Cowboys will sign any of these safeties but: Jayron Kearse, Damontae Kazee and Malik Hooker will visit The Star for physicals and meetings tomorrow,” Watkins noted on Twitter. “Kazee and Hooker coming off Achilles tears. Kearse was on the Ravens PS at end of 2020.”
Hooker is a former highly-touted prospect coming out of Ohio State who was selected with a top-15 pick in the 2017 NFL Draft. The safety’s career has not gone exactly as planned as he has battled multiple injuries over his career and played in only two games last season.
The Colts Declined Hooker’s 5th-Year Option Making Him a Free-Agent in 2021
With Hooker and Kazee, the Cowboys have an opportunity to get high-upside players on a bit of a discount given their recent injury history. The hope for both players is that when fully healthy could make an instant impact on the defense, but it is worth watching reports about how the medical evaluations unfold. Hooker became a free agent after the Colts surprisingly declined his fifth-year option last offseason.
“In (2018), Malik was coming off that injury and got better as the year went on,” Colts head coach Frank Reich said in May 2020, per The Athletic’s Stephen Holder. “Last year, I really felt like Malik had a really good year. You could really feel his presence. Physically, I felt Malik’s presence on the field. Malik is not the most outgoing, bubbly personality. He’s got a lot of juice and intensity in him and I think you really saw that come out last year when he was healthy, when he started playing real physical and making plays on the ball. So, really excited and expecting big things from him this year.”
Kazee arguably has more versatility than the other two players with his experience playing both safety and cornerback. New defensive coordinator Dan Quinn also has great familiarity with him from their time together with the Falcons. CBS Sports’ Patrik Walker believes the medical evaluations will likely be the deciding factor in who the Cowboys sign.
“Kazee’s flexibility to corner is something I’ve mentioned several times — adding to his overall value in the eyes of the Cowboys,” Walker tweeted. “But, again, there is no consensus on which the team is leaning toward. Physical will be huge here (along w/ the other obvious factor: $$).”
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Cowboys’ Free-Agent Target’s Cryptic Tweet Has Fans in a Frenzy