Dallas Cowboys acquire Cincinnati Bengals cornerback Bene Benwikere to complete the defensive puzzle!
The Cowboys are facing problems with squad depth due to injuries. Some of the team stars will miss out the beginning of the season, and the franchise was left with no choice but to sign new players.
During the offseason, the Cowboys got rid of three former starters. All three of them became free agents. Some may wonder why they did that. Well, the players were either too young and inexperienced or just injured. They released Barry Church and two veteran cornerbacks Brandon Carr and Morris Claiborne.
As a part of this rebuilding process, the Cowboys decided to use seven of their nine selections in the 2017 NFL Draft on the defensive side of the ball. Cornerbacks Chidobe Awuzie, Marquez White, Jourdan Lewis and safety Xavier Woods were added to the roster.
On top of that, they signed Nolan Carroll, another cornerback who was also a free agent, so we believe that they have covered that part of the squad perfectly. When you remember that the Cowboys have corners Orlando Scandrick and Anthony Brown as future starters on the depth chart and safeties Byron Jones and Jeff Heath we believe that their team is almost prepared for the upcoming season.
On the other hand, the team will surely have to deal with some injury problems. In the last couple of months, few of their potential key players got injured. Awuzie only played once in the preseason due to his ankle and hamstring injuries whereas Lewis missed out completely on the training camp and the whole preparation period since he too has some issues with a hamstring. Dallas’ rookie defensive backs are all dealing with some kind of injury, and they had many problems during the training camp. That’s what’s worrying every Cowboys fan right now, do they really have enough fit players to save the season.
Therefore there is no surprise that the Cowboys decided to strengthen their defensive backfield by acquiring the Cincinnati Bengals’ Bene Benwikere who will join the squad after getting traded as a conditional 2019 late round selection for a cornerback.
Bene, 25, was a fifth round selection out of San Jose State in 2014 and he played three seasons with Carolina Panthers where he started in 14 of his 32 games. Benwikere recorded 102 tackles, 20 pass defends, 2 interceptions and one sack during his run with the Panthers.
Following his two seasons with Panthers, he hit a career low when he allowed Atlanta Falcons Julio Jones to catch 12 passes for 300 yards and a touchdown last October. That was surely a massive blow for this cornerback. Immediately the Panthers waived the youngster. After that, he had short runs with Miami Dolphins, the Green Bay Packers and the Bengals.
Benwikere made it to the Dallas Cowboys’ final 53-man roster, and he is most likely going to start for them in Week One against the New York Giants. This guy now has the chance to save his career and regain his form from the first season when Sports Illustrated selected him for their All-Rookie Team. There is no doubt that Bene has quite a task in front of him and he’ll want to make sure not to disappoint fans of the Dallas Cowboys.
