Why Kris Richard voted for DT Trysten Hill over a safety: ‘It’s a big man’s game’
It’s no secret that the Dallas Cowboys spent much of the off-season looking to make a significant upgrade at safety.
They never officially pursued Pro Bowler Earl Thomas because his price was too rich for them. But they brought in free agents Eric Berry and Clayton Geathers before eventually signing George Iloka to a cheap one-year deal.
They also hosted six safeties during pre-draft visits, including one of their final two choices when it came time to pick in the second round.
Given the power and influence of secondary coach/passing coordinator Kris Richard since joining the Cowboys last year — he is the de facto defensive coordinator who calls all the plays — if he wanted to go with a safety, it stands to reason the front office would have obliged.
So why did Richard, who has made his career coaching defensive backs, cast his vote for Central Florida defensive tackle Trysten Hill over Virginia safety Juan Thornhill with the 58th overall pick?
The answer is two-fold.
First, Hill’s size, position, and potential could not be ignored.
“This game is won up front,” Richard said. “It’s a big man’s game. When you’re able to get a player like the one that we got with Trysten, he’s got like generational-type athleticism, freakish ability in regards to his athleticism. It’s hard to pass on a guy of that nature.”
And then there is the simple matter of the Cowboys liking their safeties a little more than their off-season pursuits indicated, especially when it concerns free safety Xavier Woods.
It might have been different if Thornhill was a strong safety, but he is essentially a free safety, who had 13 interceptions the last three years at Virginia, including six last season.
But that is also the position that Woods plays. If the Cowboys had drafted Thornhill, they would have used them as left and right safeties and not had a strong-safety, free-safety format.
Ultimately, that is not how Richard wants to play defense. He prefers a sure-tackling thumper at strong safety to play alongside a play-making free safety, similarly to Kam Chancellor and Thomas when he directed the “Legion of Boom” defense in Seattle.
And more importantly, Richards believes the Cowboys already have a developing special talent at free safety in Woods, the 2017 sixth-round pick who finished third on the team in pass deflections in 2019 with nine and tied for the team lead in interceptions with two.
“He’s on the come-up,” Richard said. “He’s going to be in the second year of our system. He’s really grasped a firm hold of assignment responsibility, of physicality. He was a bell cow for us back there in regards to getting on course and laying heavy on wide receivers and tight ends. And that’s what we’re looking for. Obviously, the next phase is going to be getting the ball. We think that’s just going to come. It’s going to come with time.”
It’s not just Woods. Richards insists the Cowboys like their other players at the position as well, including holdover starter Jeff Heath, Iloka, career backup Kavon Frazier and rookie sixth-round pick Donovan Wilson who will all compete at strong safety opposite Woods.
They all helped influence his decision to pick Hill over Thornhill.
“We got guys that can play,” Richard said. “That is first and foremost. We got guys that can play everywhere. But to pass big for little, it’s very difficult. You would much rather have the bigger man than the smaller man. It’s a big man’s game.
“Big men force the offense to throw the football,” Richard explained. “If they’re just going to come out and run the ball consistently down your throat, you’ll never see a pass. They’re just going to hand it off one more time. So what would you rather do? Do you want to get to a third-and-1 or do you want to have them in a third-and-8? We want third-and-8s.”
“Big guys up front make it easier for the guys on the back end. Needless to say, we got guys in the secondary that can play.”
This story was originally published May 29, 2019 at 9:31 AM.
