Last offseason, when former-Falcons’ safety Keanu Neal followed his head coach to Dallas, the Cowboys announced they would move the former-Pro Bowler to linebacker. Well, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network, one year later, the now free agent is making the switch back to the secondary.
Neal spent five seasons in Atlanta as a safety, with three of those years being healthy. In all three of those healthy seasons, Neal topped 100 tackles, collecting 15.0 tackles for loss combined in those seasons, as well. So the position move initiated by Dallas made sense based on his tackling prowess.
In his lone year as a linebacker, Neal was third on the team in playing time and tackles among the linebackers behind Defensive Rookie of the Year Micah Parsons and former-Pro Bowler Leighton Vander Esch. Parsons and Vander Esch functioned as the teams two starters with Neal playing a significant role as the first linebacker off the bench.
Now hitting the free agent market, and likely seeing the lack of movement for linebackers in free agency, Neal is prepared to make the move back to safety. Neal never quite got to his goal linebacker weight of 222 lb., so he should have no issue getting into safety-shape. Whatever position he signs as, his role on any new team will likely remain similar as a tackling machine with coverage ability.
More must-reads: