At times in 2018 for Dallas, Heath would get confused

DALLAS (4-3) at NY GIANTS (2-6)Monday Amari Cooper Cowboys Jersey , 8:15 p.m. ET, ESPNOPENING LINE — Cowboys by 7RECORD VS. SPREAD — Cowboys 4-3; Giants 3-5SERIES RECORD — Cowboys lead 67-46-2LAST MEETING — Cowboys beat Giants 35-17, Sept. 8LAST WEEK — Cowboys bye, beat Eagles 37-10 on Oct. 20; Giants lost to Lions 31-26AP PRO32 RANKING — Cowboys No. 12 (tie), Giants No. 27COWBOYS OFFENSE — OVERALL (1), RUSH (4), PASS (3).COWBOYS DEFENSE — OVERALL (8), RUSH (13), PASS (9).GIANTS OFFENSE — OVERALL (24), RUSH (17), PASS (17).GIANTS DEFENSE — OVERALL (28), RUSH (22) https://www.thecowboyslockerroom.com/authentic-leighton-vander-esch-jersey , PASS (25).STREAKS, STATS AND NOTES — Cowboys won past five in series, including season opener. ... QB Dak Prescott has a passing and rushing touchdown in 15 games since 2016, most in NFL. ... RB Ezekiel Elliott has rushed for 100-plus yards 23 times since 2016, most in league. ... WR Amari Cooper had 106 yards receiving and TD in Week 1. ...TE Jason Witten returns to Monday night as a player after a year in booth. Aims for fourth in row with TD catch against Giants. ... TE Blake Jarwin has caught four TDs in past two against Giants. ... DE Robert Quinn has at least two-plus sacks in each of past two road games. ...DE Demarcus Lawrence has 2½ sacks, two forced fumbles and a recovery in past three against Giants. ... S Xavier Woods had a pick and career-high 11 tackles in season opener. ... Giants have lost four straight. Been outscored 38-0 in first quarter in skid. ...QB Daniel Jones had career-best four TD passes against Lions, and a fumble returned for TD. RB Saquon Barkley has at least 100-plus yards from scrimmage yards in all three games versus Dallas. Sixteen overall since 2018, most in NFL. ... WR Golden Tate has at least 80 yards receiving in past three overall. ... Rookie WR Darius Slayton had two TD catches against Lions. ... LB Markus Golden has 2½ sacks, three tackles for losses and fumble recovery and TD return in past four. ... CB Janoris Jenkins has four interceptions in past five games. ... Fantasy Tip: Prescott has 1,552 yards passing, 13 touchdowns and no interceptions in past five against New York. Threw for 405 pass and four TDs in season opener. Name: Juan ThornhillSchool: VirginiaHeight: 6’1”Weight: 210 lbs2018 stat line: 13 games, 98 tackles Womens Amari Cooper Jersey , 4.5 tackles for loss, 6 interceptions, 7 passes defensedThe Dallas defense took a huge step forward in 2018 and became one of the league’s best, and a lot of that had to do with the work of defensive backs coach and passing game coordinator Kris Richard, who brought with him the scheme that he had helped create in Seattle that became known as the Legion of Boom. There, the Seahawks’ defensive success thrived in large part because of their safeties. Earl Thomas was a rangy center-field safety and Kam Chancellor was more of a box safety who would punish any underneath throws or runs. In 2018, the Cowboys (hopefully) learned that they don’t yet have their dynamic safety tandem. They are halfway there, though. Xavier Woods had a breakout year at the free safety role, and he allowed the sixth-lowest passer rating among all safeties and forced incompletions on 80% of his redzone targets, more than any other safety. He still has room to grow but the Cowboys hope they have found their approximation of ET. Now they just need their Bam Bam Kam. Jeff Heath is an undervalued special teams player and is a key voice in the locker room, but he just isn’t getting it done as a safety. If the Cowboys do indeed look to the draft for a Heath replacement, Virginia’s Juan Thornhill is a great prospect. Thornhill first saw significant playing time in his sophomore year with the Cavaliers Taco Charlton Jersey White , where he split time between cornerback and safety. But entering his senior season, Thornhill moved to free safety full time. With that, we’ll segue into the most concerning part about Thornhill, and that’s his fit as a free safety. He has his moments, but Thornhill didn’t show the kind of range in deep coverage the Cowboys look for out of their free safeties. Virginia probably chose Thornhill for that role because of his cornerback experience, but it didn’t produce the kind of stud results they may have been hoping for. Nevertheless, Thornhill had six interceptions in 2018 and 13 total picks in his three years playing there, so he has ball-hawking abilities. But the good news is that Thornhill flashes the kind of traits that would make him ideal for the strong safety, in-the-box role in Dallas. Thornhill exhibits some terrific football IQ and his fundamentals make up for any deficiencies. When defending the run, Thornhill takes great angles and generally makes sure to square up the ballcarrier, making good form tackles more often than not. Unlike Woods and backup safety Kavon Frazier, Thornhill won’t lay out players with big hits very often Amari Cooper Jersey White , but he does make fundamentally sound tackles. His coaches must have noticed this because Thornhill saw more work in the box as the season went on, and those were generally where he made his best plays. As a result, Thornhill often went up against tight ends and sometimes slot receivers in man coverage, and his experience as a cornerback kicked in. It’s not his strongest point, but he can hold his own in those situations. In this clip from Senior Bowl practice, Thornhill displayed the kind of tight coverage Dallas likes, even though the deflection was ultimately caught by the tight end:Throughout his time at Virginia, Thornhill was lauded for his leadership and for being a student of the game. He regularly studied game tape and worked hard on improving the mental side of the game, and as a result he’s displayed good anticipation of routes when in pass coverage. At times in 2018 for Dallas, Heath would get confused by various route patterns or miss tackles due to the poor angles he took. While Thornhill would certainly come with a learning curve as he adjusts to the speed of the NFL, his academic approach to football in college would help ease that adjustment. Despite his obvious strengths, Thornhill’s lack of elite athleticism may bring him down some team’s draft boards Womens Michael Gallup Jersey , which would allow him to fall to Dallas with their second round pick. However, if Thornhill tests well at the combine, he could shoot up draft boards and be taken earlier, putting him out of the Cowboys’ range. Still, if he is available at pick 58, Dallas would be lucky to get the Cavalier. Plus, there’s the obvious puns about being “Out of the Woods and into the Thornhill” that this hypothetical safety duo could spawn.