FRISCO, Texas – Voluntary offseason workouts won't begin until April. Organized team activities won't begin until May. Roles and playing time for much of the roster won't be decided until late summer.
But the Cowboys have an idea in mind for their new free agent signings. Here's what team brass had to say about each of them this week from the Annual League Meeting in Phoenix:
Head coach Jason Garrett about wide receiver Randall Cobb:
"We got an up-close and personal view of him every time we played Green Bay. You go into these games and you look at a guy like this and you say, 'Damn, look at him again. They're handing it to him. They're throwing it to him. He's in the slot. He's outside. He makes these plays at critical moments.' We've been trying to guard him for a long time.
"If you watch him throughout his career, both in college and with Green Bay, he's been able to do so many different things. You see him line up inside and outside. You see them throw him a variety of routes. He's very capable of running any route that you have in your route tree. And then you just see them getting the ball to him in a lot of different ways. He's just one of those kinds of players."
Chief operating officer Stephen Jones about defensive linemen Christian Covington and Kerry Hyder:
"I think they play the game the way we like our defensive linemen to play. (Defensive coordinator) Rod (Marinelli) has a high standard in terms of how they play, their energy level. You see that on tape from both these guys. I think they've got some versatility to them in terms of playing the nose (tackle), the under (tackle), even outside some. I think they're pretty versatile. But I think they bring us depth and I think it'll be interesting to see how they do in this system with Rod."
Jones about safety George Iloka:
"I just think he's a guy in there that (passing game coordinator/defensive backs coach) Kris (Richard) and G-Jack (safeties coach Greg Jackson) looked at and really felt like that he can go I there and compete with (Jeff) Heath and Kavon (Frazier) for that strong safety position. I know he played a lot of free (safety) at Cincinnati, but the way we viewed him and looking at his tape in terms of what we think he can do for us, he's probably more suited for strong than he is for free."
