The Cowboys took care of one of their biggest free agency priorities Tuesday morning, agreeing to terms with safety Donovan Wilson.
The deal is for three years, worth up to $24 million and includes $13.5 million guaranteed, a league source and a team source confirmed to The Athletic.
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How he fits: Wilson was the Cowboys’ leading tackler last season with a career-high 101 total tackles in 17 starts. He also added a career-high five sacks, nine quarterback hits, a forced fumble and an interception. Wilson has been one of the Cowboys’ biggest hitters, coming downhill to make plays, which has been an excellent complement to the team’s other two starting safeties, Jayron Kearse and Malik Hooker. Wilson played 960 defensive snaps last season, second-most on the team behind only cornerback Trevon Diggs. Wilson, 28, allows defensive coordinator Dan Quinn to continue to be multiple on the back end, providing a variety of coverages to keep opposing offenses off balance. Former Cowboys safety and Ring of Honor member Darren Woodson recently compared Wilson to former nine-time Pro Bowler Brian Dawkins for his ability to come up and make plays at the line of scrimmage.
2023 impact: The Cowboys’ defense has become one of the league’s best with quality play at all three levels. Keeping Wilson means most of that group should be back to build off their recent success. LB Leighton Vander Esch is also an important piece Dallas is working to retain. The linebacker group would be thin without a Vander Esch re-signing. It’ll also be interesting to see what this means for Israel Mukuamu. The Cowboys really like the young safety, a 2021 sixth-round pick, but getting him on the field might mean more work at cornerback. Either way, Dallas is in excellent shape at the safety position, which hasn’t always been the case over the previous decade. There was a time not long ago when the Cowboys had the least amount of significant resources in the position of any team in the league.
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History: Wilson has steadily improved over his previous four seasons in Dallas. The 2019 sixth-round pick was mostly a special teams contributor his rookie season, playing only 16 defensive snaps. But that number climbed to 674 defensive snaps in 2020 as he had a breakout season, proving that he could be a playmaking starter at the NFL level. Injuries limited him in 2021, causing him to miss eight games. “His mentality is second to none,” Kearse said of Wilson in January. “He’s a guy that can run through a brick wall. When he gets going, it’s hard to stop him. Whatever that’s in his tracks, it’s getting ran through. He’s just been the same player since the day I met him. Health was his main issue. He has shown that he can play a physical game and still remain healthy. You just see it on the field when he hits somebody. We sit there like, ‘Damn, I know they felt that.’ The physicality he comes with is ridiculous.”
Cap update: The Cowboys aren’t expected to make much noise early in free agency. They have around $20 million in cap space after recently restructuring the contracts of QB Dak Prescott, RG Zack Martin and WR Michael Gallup. The expectation is that they will try to re-sign several of their own unrestricted free agents and then fill holes with some affordable additions outside of the building.
(Photo: Tom Pennington / Getty Images)
