The Cowboys signed linebacker Gary Guyton off the street on Wednesday to try and help with some of the depth issues they are now facing with Orie Lemon being put on injured reserve. I went back and looked at Guyton's work from the pre-season with the Miami Dolphins and this is was I was able to observe.
*Games I studied were Tampa Bay, Carolina and Dallas. *
- The first thing you notice about Guyton is his size which is totally different from what I saw when I did a report on Ernie Sims.
- Guyton has nice height but he doesn't have the movement or the quickness of Sims.
- There were times where he did a nice job of physically taking on blocks, using his hands and working to the ball. Then there were times where he gave himself up one-on-one in the hole or allowed the blocker to get to his body and cut him off from the play.
- Is not a smooth or fluid moving athlete, some herky-jerky movements.
- Against Tampa was able to carry the back out of the backfield but against Carolina got fooled inside and was late getting to the flat to handle DeAngelo Williams that resulted in a touchdown. When he did have to drop in coverage much better coming forward than dropping back.
- Was able to carry the tight end as well in the Carolina game. There were times where he was blocked by the fullback in space and the ball went past him. Had a chance for a wrap up tackle in the hole and was not able to secure it. Was blocked on goal line as well.
- I know he is a veteran player but was a little concerned about how he was reading blocks and how quickly he was doing it. Sims played like a much more aware player on tape.
- Has size, experience so we will see how Rob Ryan and this staff uses him inside.
