Morris Claiborne, Jets Agree to 1-Year Contract After 5 Seasons with Cowboys

After five seasons with the Dallas Cowboys, cornerback Morris Claiborne has signed with the New York Jets, the team announced Saturday.

NFL Network's Ian Rapoport initially reported the move on Friday (h/t Connor Hughes of NJ.com).

The deal is for one year and worth $5 million, according to Rapoport.

The Cowboys selected Claiborne with the No. 6 overall pick in the 2012 NFL draft out of LSU, but he struggled to develop into the type of player Dallas thought it was getting at that juncture of the draft.

After starting 15 games as a rookie, injuries derailed Claiborne's progress, as he missed 23 games over the course of three years from 2013 through 2015.

He also labored through inconsistent play during that time, but he appeared to be coming into his own during the early portion of the 2016 campaign.

Claiborne registered 26 tackles, five passes defended and one interception in seven games, but a groin injury knocked him out for the remainder of the regular season.

He did manage to return for the playoffs, however, and is set to enter 2017 healthy.

Claiborne figures to be firmly in his prime at 27 years of age, but he comes with some major risks.

The Louisiana native has never completed a full, 16-game regular season, and he has missed at least five contests in four of his five NFL campaigns thus far.

In addition to that, he has yet to prove that he can be a quality, starting corner over the course of an entire season. His seven-game stretch in 2016 was the best of his career, but it remains a small sample size.

Defense is the Cowboys' biggest weakness, particularly in the secondary, and the fact that they allowed a promising corner like Claiborne to leave may speak to their lack of confidence in his development.

The Jets were willing to take a chance, though, and Claiborne could prove to be a bargain signing if what he showed in the first seven games of 2016 wasn't an aberration.

Cornerback was among New York's biggest needs entering free agency, and signing Claiborne should provide a significant boost to what was a pedestrian secondary in 2016.

New York tied for 25th in the league with 30 passing touchdowns allowed, and the struggles of Darrelle Revis contributed heavily to that.

Revis is no longer in the fold, and a starting combination of Claiborne and Buster Skrine should make the Jets more competitive against potent passing offenses in 2017, such as the one boasted by the rival New England Patriots.