Cowboys safety Barry Church prefers win-now draft, free agency approach

Barry Church is going into his final year of his rookie contract with the Dallas Cowboys, and wants to win.

That’s why it would be an easy call for Church if he were running the Cowboys’ draft, and debating between selecting a possible franchise quarterback or impact piece with the fourth overall pick in the upcoming draft.

“Personally, I would like to have a win-now piece,” said Church, appearing on behalf of the Cowboys at a community event at Bebensee Elementary on Friday afternoon.

“I’m a veteran now and I need to win, I want to win, so I don’t want to look a couple years down the road. I want to win now. But whoever they draft, I feel like they’ll make a great decision. Hopefully, whoever [they draft] can help our team get to that next level.”

Church, like most football fans, has been focused on the NFL Scouting Combine this week. He is interested in seeing how the prospects fare, particularly different players linked to the Cowboys.

As Church said, “I like to see what type of athletes we might get. It’s very interesting. The guys they say we’re going to grab, I want to definitely check those guys out and see what they can bring to our table. I’m looking forward to seeing the defense especially.”

The Cowboys’ are certainly in the market to upgrade the defense. Executive vice president Stephen Jones has said improving the pass rush is the top priority for a team that had only three more sacks than in 2014.

That could come through free agency or the draft. The Cowboys could also look to upgrade their linebacker corps, as well as the secondary with cornerbacks Morris Claiborne set for free agency and Brandon Carr possibly being a cap casualty.

For Church, a six-year veteran, he is already embracing the changes the Cowboys are making to its secondary. Signs point to Byron Jones taking on a more full-time role at safety next season after he took snaps away from J.J. Wilcox midway through last season.

“It worked great,” Church said of playing safety with Jones. “I feel like he’s a great athlete and has all the potential to be a great safety in this league.

“He’s getting his tackling skills a lot better and his change of direction is a lot better as well. We’ll see and hopefully he can be back there and we can do big things.”

Additionally, the Cowboys have new coaching voices in the secondary room after Jerome Henderson left for a job with the Atlanta Falcons. Joe Baker will return and the Cowboys are adding veteran coach Greg Jackson to assist with the defensive backs.

“Losing Jerome was definitely hard,” Church said. “That was our guy for the last couple of years. It’s definitely hard losing a guy like that – he brought a lot energy to our room, he was our leader of our secondary, it’s going to be hard losing him.

“But we have Joe Baker in there now and he’s been there with us from the start as well. It’s not going to be much change, but we’re definitely going to miss Jerome.”

Church, a six-year veteran, ranked second on the team in tackles in 2015 with 136, per the coaches’ breakdown. He missed the final game of the year with a broken arm, and also battled an ankle sprain throughout the season.

Church, 28, said he has fully recovered and is looking forward to getting himself ready for next season. He has lost five pounds already this off-season, and his goal is to drop about three more pounds before the season starts.

Church, listed at 218 last season, feels shedding those pounds will allow him to be faster on the field, and put together a successful season in the ever-important contract year.

“This is a huge year for me,” Church said. “I definitely have to produce well if I want to get to that next year and get another contract. … Definitely going to be a big year for me and I’m looking forward to it.”

This story was originally published February 26, 2016 at 12:50 PM with the headline "Cowboys safety Barry Church prefers win-now draft, free agency approach."