Jets free agent defensive end Kony Ealy will meet with the Cowboys On Tuesday, sources tell Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (on Twitter). Meanwhile, he has “remained in discussions” with Gang Green over the past few weeks, Rapoport adds. 
Ealy, 26, was shipped from the Panthers to the Patriots last offseason, but was cut by New England in August. The Jets claimed him off of waivers – beating out the Cowboys with a higher waiver priority – and he put together a solid season in New York.
Ealy’s one sack and 14 total tackles don’t exactly jump off of the page, but he saw time on 451 snaps as a part of the defensive line rotation and started in four of his 15 games. For his work, Pro Football Focus rated him as the No. 61 edge defender in the NFL last year, which actually slotted him ahead of former teammate Julius Peppers, despite Peppers’ eleven sacks.
The Cowboys are set with Demarcus Lawrence and Tyrone Crawford as their starting bookends, but Ealy could find work off of the bench in Dallas as a replacement for Benson Mayowa.
Slowly having a great off season avoiding big names in trouble or past his prime
Totally agree. They have signed a bunch of solid guys at great values. This would have to be another low cost deal. Let him go back to his natural position (4-3 DE) and he’s probably right back to being a solid rotational player. Then next offseason he can sign the crazy deal with the Redskins or whoever and get a nice compensation pick in return.
Ealy would be a must sign if I were Dallas. They need pass rush like Homer Simpson needs beer and TV.
The Cowboys have been slowly-but-steadily improving their pieces along the DL for several years at this point. They were solidly middle-of-the-pack last year in all of the stats relevant to pass rush, while hoping to see gains from last year’s first-round pick at SDE who mostly took a redshirt year as a rookie.
They’re not world-beaters by any stretch of the imagination and they could certainly use more talent, but they’re not the line of 2014 that desperately needs someone with a career-high of 5 sacks just to field an NFL squad. He’s more than welcome, of course, because he’s a good scheme fit and perfect depth piece.
Pass! Waiting for the Draft April 26.