Cowboys Are Exploring Signing Free Agent CB Dre Kirkpatrick

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The Dallas Cowboys have been very busy since free agency kicked off, especially on the defensive side of the ball. They added both Gerald McCoy and Dontari Poe to bolster the interior of the defensive line. Also, they signed veteran safety Ha Ha Clinton-Dix. However, with Byron Jones now in Miami, cornerback is a huge area of need for the Cowboys in the draft.

There is one way the Cowboys could wait until day two of the draft to address the cornerback position and that’s adding another in free agency. According to Mike Fisher of Sports Illustrated, the Cowboys are kicking the tires on possibly signing free-agent cornerback Dre Kirkpatrick.

Kirkpatrick is a former first-round pick of the Cincinnati Bengals in 2012 out of Alabama. He’s been a pretty productive player during his eight seasons with 302 tackles, 10 interceptions, 65 passes defended, three sacks, a forced fumble, and two defensive touchdowns. His best stretch of football was from 2015 to 2017 when he amassed 40 passes defended and his three highest single-season tackle totals. In 2019, his season was cut short after six games with a hyper-extended knee and was placed on injured reserve. With 33 tackles in those six games, Kirkpatrick was on pace for his highest total in that category since he entered the league.

He may not be Jalen Ramsey or Patrick Peterson, but he’s a very solid starting-level NFL cornerback that would give the Cowboys very good depth along with Chidobe Awuzie, Jourdan Lewis, and Anthony Brown. CJ Henderson and Trevon Diggs are possible options for the Cowboys at corner in the first round of the draft, but even if they do add one of these players, acquiring Kirkpatrick gives you that much more insurance in case of an injury.

You can never have too many good corners on your roster in today’s NFL with teams putting up video game stats in the passing game. The interest is there from the Cowboys on Kirkpatrick, now the only thing left to see is will they pull the trigger on a deal.