The Cowboys defense has been hands-off in fantasy leagues in recent years, but things had been looking up. It was better than expected for most of last season, and the offseason brought some new players. But the preseason just took one of them away.
Orlando Scandrick blew out his knee yesterday and is gone for the season. He's their best cornerback, and their secondary will now be a liability. Good news for passing games from Philadelphia, the Giants, and everyone else on the schedule.
Dallas had seen its pass rush slip since DeMarcus Ware left town, but it signed Greg Hardy (whose suspension was then shortened from 10 games to only 4), and drafted pass rusher Randy Gregory in the second round. A contract issue with Jeremy Mincey was resolved, as well.
Up front, then, this defense will be better, and we'd gradually been increasing their sack numbers to the point where Dallas was starting to look like a serviceable fantasy defense, ranked in the mid-teens in sack- and turnover-based scoring systems.
But if they can't cover anyone in the secondary, it will be a lot tougher for the pass rushers to get to the quarterback. The sack numbers, and Dallas' defense, will slip in tomorrow's update.
Nobody should have been building a draft plan around the Cowboys defense regardless, but they had some last-round appeal as a usable group. The Scandrick injury makes that less likely.
--Andy Richardson