Cowboys Corner

Free, Kosier make it to camp. So they can watch practice.

Doug Free and Kyle Kosier are in camp. That means experience for an offensive line that was practicing with second-year player Sam Young, a sixth-round pick, at right tackle and a rookie, David Arkin, a fourth-round pick, at left guard.

But the Cowboys can't use that experience yet.

Neither Free nor Kosier can practice until Thursday, per the new labor rules. So it means the Cowboys will continue to mix and match with the first-team line. When Free returns, first-round pick Tyron Smith, who has been working at left tackle, will move over to right tackle. Kosier will plug in at left guard.

-- Carlos Mendez

 

Cowboys make roster moves official

The Dallas Cowboys made the following roster moves today:

Signed the following unrestricted free agents:

T Doug Free

G Kyle Kosier

Signed the following restricted free agent:

S Alan Ball

Signed the following exclusive rights players:

WR Jesse Holley

CB Bryan McCann

Signed the following undrafted rookie free agents:

DE Lawon Scott

RB Frank Warren

The rookies already have started practicing with the team. The others can start on-field work Aug. 4, the first day of the league year. 

 

   

DE Kenyon Coleman to reunite with Cowboys and Rob Ryan with two-year deal; the search for a cheap safety or two is now on

Now the silliness with cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha is over the Cowboys are back to business filling their pressing needs.

They took another step in that direction Friday night by coming to terms with defensive end Kenyon Coleman on a two-year deal.

Coleman's deal came just hours after the Cowboys re-signed Marcus Spears, allowing them to shore up what had been a depleted defensive end position.

It's a reunion of sorts for Coleman who played with the Cowboys from 2003-2006. He then signed with the Browns, where he played for new Cowboys defensive coordinator Rob Ryan the past two years.

Coleman is a good fit in Dallas because he is familiar with the defense and gives the Cowboys a stable group of ends to go with right end Igor Olshansky. The Cowboys will also use nose tackle Jay Ratliff at the position at times.

This also means the Cowboys will no longer pursue Packers end Cullen Jenkins nor former Cowboys end Jason Hatcher.

They will now turn their attention to the safety position where they could sign one or two players depending on the price. The Cowboys will be patient at safety and are looking for economic options.

In others words, safeties looking for a big pay day like Michael Huff and Gerald Sensabaugh will not be signing with the Cowboys. Former Browns safety Abram Elam is high on their list because of familiarity with Ryan but he must come down on his contract demands.

-- Clarence Hill 

 

Jones admits Cowboys made a serious run at Asomugha

During practice, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones handed his cell phone to defensive coordinator Rob Ryan, who coached Nnamdi Asomugha in Oakland. Jones later exchanged a fist bump with son Stephen Jones, the team's executive vice president. It is obvious the Cowboys thought they had a shot at the biggest free agent prize.

“That all of a sudden fit, and you’ve got to be ready for that,” Cowboys owner Jerry Jones told 105.3 The Fan, the team’s flagship station, after learning that Asomugha had spurned the Cowboys. “It’s like being the option quarterback.

“…We had an opportunity. We acted on it, and believe me, we firmly acted on it until my eyes watered.”

Asomugha agreed to a five-year, $60 million deal with the Eagles that includes $20 million guaranteed.

-- Charean Williams

Better communication will mean better secondary, Cowboys safety says

Second-year safety Barry Church says the Cowboys can have a better secondary this year if they know what they’re trying to say to each other. Which is always important, but even moreso as the defense works with new coordinator Rob Ryan.

“As long as we communicate, I think the sky’s the limit for our defense,” Church said. “We as young players need to learn the scheme, and once we get it down pat, we should be pretty good.”

Church, an undrafted free agent out of Toledo, and Akwasi Owusu-Ansah, a fourth-round pick in 2010, have been working with the first team through the first two days of practice.

That could change as the Cowboys look to add a veteran. But for now, the young safeties are trying to absorb as much as they can in a shorter-than-usual camp.

 “The thing is just having to learn a lot very quickly,” Church said. “We had no OTAs, no offseason, to get it under our belts. So it’s definitely a lot tougher.”

-- Carlos Mendez

Cowboys not in the sweepstakes for Nnamdi Asomugha, his agent Ben Dogra said in a text

Pump your brakes on all the reports of Nnamdi Asomugha to the Cowboys.

"The Cowboys are not in the Nnamdi sweepstakes."  Those were words in a text message from his agent Ben Dogra to me on Friday afternoon.

It never made financial sense for the Cowboys, especially considering their cap situation and his salary expectations.

Vice-president Stephen Jones has said all along that he was happy with Terence Newman and Mike Jenkins at cornerback. Coach Jason Garrett said the same thing.

Owner Jerry Jones is the wildcard. He could be looking at Asomugha as he did Deion Sanders in 1995 when he made the move to get him from the 49ers. But then the Cowboys felt they were one player away from a Super Bowl title.

And while Asomugha is the best cornerback in the game not named Darrelle Revis and would make a huge difference in the Rob Ryan's defense, the Cowboys have a lot of needs on defense.

Certainly if they made a play for Asomugha, the Cowboys have to part ways with Newman and his $9 million salary. The problem with that that Newman will still count $4 million against this year's cap and $8 million against the next year's cap, bringing the total of dead money on the 2012 cap to $28 million for players no longer on the team.

The Cowboys would definitely be mortgaging the future for the present.

Of course with Jerry Jones anything is possible.

Clarence E. Hill

 

With no Roy Williams, it may be Kevin Ogletree's time

Cowboys coach Jason Garrett loves to talk about opportunities. It’s sinking in for third-year receiver Kevin Ogletree, who is playing with the first team as the No. 3 receiver in the wake of the release of Roy Williams.

“Yes, it’s a big opportunity for myself, to present myself to my coaches and my teammates as someone valuable,” he said.

Ogletree played in only six games last year, catching only three passes, in part because of a dislocated right toe. It was a step back from his rookie year, in which he played in 11 games.

“Kevin, for the most part, has taken advantage of his opportunities,” Garrett said. “A couple of years ago, he got a few opportunities and really showed it off in games. Last year, when we drafted Dez, those opportunities early in the year were fewer and farther in between for him. When he did get an opportunity later, before he got hurt, he did some nice things.”

Ogletree said his own mistakes have held him back.

“Just being young, making mistakes, not fully understanding everything,” he said. “It’s a process. Coach Garrett always talks about that, and I think this is a big part of the process right here.”

So is it his time?

“It’s our time, I think,” he said. “This team is very excited to bounce back after last year, and I know I want to be a big part of it. So I’m going to work my butt off to do that.”

-- Carlos Mendez

 

Cowboys fill one hole at DE by re-signing Marcus Spears for $19.2m over 5 years

 

A year ago, the Cowboys thought so little of Marcus Spears that they paid him less than backups Jason Hatcher and Stephen Bowen.

They then let him become an unrestricted free agent without so much as a decent offer to keep him.

It was a mighty fall for Spears who came to the Cowboys as a first round pick in 2005. 

Time, however, heals all wounds. And perhaps so does a diminished free agent defensive end market.

It's also safe to say the Cowboys missed Spears' play as a run stuffer when he was out last season at had to rely on just Hatcher and Bowen.

Now with Bowen gone to the Redskins for a $27.5 million deal and Hatcher flirting with the Broncos, the Cowboys came back to Spears to shore up their thin defensive end position, signing him a five-year deal worth $19.2 million.

Spears said ecstatic to return to the Cowboys because its where he wanted to be all along.

"I'm home," Spears said. "I'm so happy man. Jerry and Stephen Jones came through."

Spears can't practice with the Cowboys until August 4, per league rules.

 

Clarence Hill

 

 

 

 

 

Ratliff annoyed about talk of a weight loss

The Cowboys have posted their official weights for players after they underwent physicals Wednesday. Nose tackle Jay Ratlif was listed at 285 pounds, which was 18 pounds lighter than a year ago. But when asked about it Friday, Ratliff was obviously agitated about the subject. He said he weighed in at 290, which was 5 pounds heavier than the Cowboys' official release.

"Where is that coming from? Everyone is saying the weight loss," Ratliff said. "I weighed in at 290. I played at 285-290 last year. Is it a weight loss? I don't see anything different."

Center Andre Gurode, who is on the physically unable to perform list while he rehabs from knee surgery, was 16 pounds over last year's weight. He weighed 334 pounds. Felix Jones was 1 pound lighter than last year, stepping on the scale at 219.

-- Charean Williams

 

Source: Ty Warren is interested in joining Cowboys

The Patriots released defensive end Ty Warren on Friday. A source said Warren, a Bryan High and Texas A&M product, is interested in returning home to play for either the Cowboys or the Texans. He grew up a Cowboys fan and Cowboys defensive coordinator Rob Ryan was the linebackers coach with Warren in New England in 2003, ao they have a relationship.

Warren failed his physical, failing his conditioning test. But it had nothing to do with his hip. He already had been cleared from the hip injury that forced him to miss all of last season. undergoing surgery last Aug. 16 to repair a torn labrum.

Warren has played in 105 games since the Patriost picked in him in the first round of the 2003 draft. He has 496 tackles, 20.5 sacks and four forced fumbles in his career.

-- Charean Williams