{"id":106548,"date":"2021-03-20T19:49:36","date_gmt":"2021-03-20T23:49:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/?p=106548"},"modified":"2021-03-20T19:49:36","modified_gmt":"2021-03-20T23:49:36","slug":"keanu-neal-signs-with-dallas-cowboys","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2021\/03\/20\/keanu-neal-signs-with-dallas-cowboys\/","title":{"rendered":"Keanu Neal Signs With Dallas Cowboys"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Veteran safety Keanu Neal signed a one-year contract with the Dallas Cowboys. Neal spent his first five seasons in the NFL with the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/nfl-teams2\/falcons\/\" target=\"_self\">Atlanta Falcons<\/a> after being selected 17th overall in the 2016 NFL draft out of Florida. In his five-year tenure, Neal played in just 49 games. He missed 15 games in 2018 after tearing his ACL in a non-contact injury against the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/nfl-teams2\/eagles\/\" target=\"_self\">Philadelphia Eagles<\/a> and 13 games in 2019 after suffering a torn Achilles. Neal returned to the field this past season and played in 15 games.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Cowboys?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#Cowboys<\/a> have agreed to terms with former <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Falcons?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#Falcons<\/a> safety Keanu Neal on a one-year, $5 million deal, per source.<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TomPelissero\/status\/1373353306471419908?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">March 20, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h2>Keanu Neal, Dallas Cowboys, Agree to Contract<\/h2>\n<p>The 25-year old safety out of Webster, Florida had an excellent three-year career with the Gators. After playing in just four games as a Freshman, Neal earned a starting safety spot in his Sophomore season. In 2014, Neal intercepted three passes, returned a fumble for a touchdown, and had 45 tackles. Neal earned a reputation as a hard-hitting safety, who could fly around the field. Despite being pegged as a strong safety, primarily playing in the box, Neal also played the &#8220;centerfield&#8221; role in his sophomore season at the free safety position. Finally, Neal culminated his three-year college career with his best season to date. He had 84 tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss, and two sacks in his junior season. In a surprise move, Neal declared for the draft as a junior, ultimately selected by the Falcons.<\/p>\n<p>As a rookie, <a href=\"https:\/\/thefalconswire.usatoday.com\/2017\/07\/10\/keanu-neal-allowed-nfls-second-lowest-passer-rating-from-the-slot\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Neal shined in a &#8220;positionless&#8221; role<\/a>. He received playing time in the slot, at linebacker, and both safety positions. Neal forced five fumbles as a rookie, defended eight passes, and posted 106 tackles. In coverage, Neal allowed the second-lowest passer rating from the slot in the NFL, 72.9. A premier safety also took notice of Neal&#8217;s play: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/players\/C\/ChanKa99.htm?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kam Chancellor<\/a>. Chancellor was a popular NFL-comparison for Neal and<a href=\"https:\/\/www.seattletimes.com\/sports\/seahawks\/seahawk-kam-chancellor-sees-a-lot-of-himself-in-atlanta-protege-keanu-neal\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> spoke highly of the Falcons rookie<\/a>.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Washington CB Bashaud Breeland locked down WRs in the slot last season. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/vibTStC3uj\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/vibTStC3uj<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; PFF (@PFF) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/PFF\/status\/884151936307613697?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">July 9, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Following a promising rookie season, Neal put the tools together in 2017. Starting all 16 games, Neal was named a pro-bowler after combining for 116 tackles, including four for a loss, and intercepting one pass. However, the next two seasons were disappointing and frustrating for Neal. He tore his ACL and achilles (six months after the Falcons picked up his fifth-year option) in consecutive seasons, playing in just four games.<\/p>\n<p>In his return to the field in 2020, Neal played well. He had 100 tackles, including a career-high nine tackles for loss, and one interception. Heading into 2021, Neal could be a difference-maker for a defense, with his physicality in the box and versatility in coverage.<\/p>\n<p>Main photo:<br \/>\n<a id=\"L7t8lSeqSThCoobsIL52pg\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/1282169920\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'L7t8lSeqSThCoobsIL52pg',sig:'X_IoR4GcoYySIfmkOy5E_Pcod5w0qGZhlsr-RBO7dxQ=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'1282169920',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Veteran safety Keanu Neal is no longer a free agent after signing his new contract. Neal spent the 2020 season with the Atlanta Falcons<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3369,"featured_media":106830,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[36,27],"tags":[7462,1245,1608,246],"class_list":["post-106548","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl-news","category-falcons","tag-atlanta-falcons-roster","tag-keanu-neal","tag-nfl-free-agency","tag-nfl-news"],"modified_by":"David Latham, Managing Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106548","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3369"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=106548"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106548\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/106830"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=106548"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=106548"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=106548"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}