Cowboys Corner

Newly acquired guard Mackenzy Bernadeau undergoes hip surgery, out until at least training camp

Guard MacKenzy Bernadeau suffered a set back in his return from a hip flexor injury, forcing him to undergo hip surgery on Saturday to repair a torn labrum, multiple sources said.

He will be sidelined up to 12 weeks, including the rest of the off season program, organized team activities and the June minicamp. The Cowboys are hopeful he will be able to return for the start of training camp, tentatively set for the last week of July.

Bernadeau signed a four-year, $11 million free agent contract to join the Cowboys in March after spending the last four years in Carolina. He was expected to compete for a starting spot at guard or center.

According to the Cowboys, he initially suffered the hip flexor injury working out in the offseason program. The Cowboys had given him some time away to rehab and were hopeful he could return for the June minicamp. 

But that was before he was forced to undergo surgery on Saturday.

Clarence Hill 

Garrett says Ogletree has made big catches, Holmes an inviting target, Radway running better

As the rookie minicamp two weeks ago wound up, Cowboys coach Jason Garrett was asked about the third receiver spot. In his answer to reporters, Garrett talked about two players – Kevin Ogletree and Andre Holmes.

Ogletree is a veteran entering his fourth year, all with the Cowboys, with 25 career catches. He made the team in 2009 as an undrafted free agent.

Holmes is a 6-foot-5 first-year player from Hillsdale who the Cowboys signed in preseason last year when he was cut by the Minnesota Vikings, who had signed him as an undrafted free agent.

Of Ogletree, Garrett said he made some big third-down catches, and that’s to his benefit. But he will still face competition.

“We’re going to make that role, and really every role on our team, as competitive as possible, so he is not entrenched as our third receiver by any means,” Garrett said. “He’s been the guy who’s been around our program the longest. He’s the guy who has the most production and experience in NFL games. So you would say that he has an advantage going in.

“But it will be competitive. We feel like he has the capability of doing it, but we feel like the other guys might have the capability as well,” Garrett said.

Garrett said Holmes is an inviting target for the quarterbacks.

“He’s a big, raw guy who the quarterbacks really like throwing the football to,” Garrett said. “He’s a big target. He’s quarterback-friendly. He’s got some speed and some explosiveness as well. He just needs to play more and learn how to play.”

Then Garrett was asked about Raymond Radway, the ACU receiver who was on his way to making the team before he was hurt in the final preseason game.

“I wouldn’t say he’s 100 percent,” Garrett said. “He’s been involved in the teaching sessions ... and he really seems to have responded well to the treatment. He’s running better. And he did a nice job. He was really full go in those workouts.”

Garrett said he’d prefer to have someone emerge to take the job, rather than split it up.

“You probably always prefer to have a guy emerge, because that means he’s playing really well enough to say, ‘Hey, I am the guy.’ But I think if you look at our receivers over the last few years, we’ve played a number of guys and we use a number of different personnel groups, so sometimes we get that third receiver accomplished in different ways, whether we’re playing with two tight ends or true three receivers. So we’ve had other guys mixed in there. Like I said, Kevin has played for us in the past. He has some experience. He has some production in some games. If you’re on our roster, you better be ready to play.”

-- Carlos Mendez

Twitter @calexmendez

Teddy Williams says Cowboys veterans helped him learn to be a pro last year despite a lost season to injury

Teddy Williams didn't play a down last year, and he was hurt a lot of the time.

But it was not a wasted year.

He said it made him a better pro. Being around Cowboys veterans like Bradie James, Keith Brooking and Terence Newman taught him much about staying focused in the NFL, where he is trying to make it after being a sprinter in college.

"I might have dealt with so much physically, but it didn't hurt me a lot mentally," he said last weekend at the Cowboys' rookie minicamp. "It taught me a lot. It helped me grow up. I got a lot of advice from the older guys who have been through the fire and been through those injury-prone years."

Now Williams hopes it pays off as he tries to make another transition -- from receiver to cornerback.

The Cowboys are going to give the former UTSA track standout another look at corner, hoping he can take advantage of his long frame and speed.

It's a long shot. The 23-year-old from Tyler is far behind in experience, and the Cowboys are stocked at the position -- first-round pick Morris Claiborne, veterans Brandon Carr, Mike Jenkins, Orlando Scandrick and first-year player Mario Butler are all ahead of him, not to mention three other undrafted free agents in the mix -- Justin Taplin-Ross, Isaac Madison and Lionel Smith.

"He's got a track background, but different than some track guys, he has a physical mentality playing football," Garrett said. "He just needs to understand how to play football."

Williams knows how he will approach the season. Not only will he put in the physical work, he said, but he will be better prepared mentally because of the lessons from his former teammates.

"If you stay negative, your body will never heal itself," Williams said, thinking about his conversations with Brooking, James, Newman and others. "And I learned that the hard way. I was so hard on myself, I wanted to stay on the field so much, my body wasn't healing the way it should have, and injuries were taking longer to come back from than they should have.

"It's just a learning process. Everything's a learning process around here."

-- Carlos Mendez

Twitter @calexmendez

Backup safety Barry Church has a healthy shoulder, ready to shoot for a spot in Cowboys secondary

Backup strong safety Barry Church said he has the full range of motion back in his right shoulder, too late to do much in the voluntary offseason workouts but just in time for OTAs.

“I thought I was always going to have limited range of motion, so I was frustrated watching everybody else out there,” he said last week at the Cowboys’ sponsor appreciation golf tournament. “I got back in the weight room, the training staff got me right. Now I’m ready to go. Having that full range of motion is key, especially at the safety position.”

Church missed the last three games last year after hurting his shoulder in the December home game against the New York Giants. He had hurt the shoulder earlier in the year also.

Church, at 6-2 and 220 pounds, is a physical player, and he says that can help him in defensive coordinator Rob Ryan’s scheme.

“The safeties are going to have a big role in the run game this year,” he said. “I don’t have a specific hole to fill, but if anything leaks out, if anything bounces, we’re supposed to be those guys to be there, downhill.”

The shoulder injury interrupted a year in which the third-year safety, undrafted out of Toledo in 2010, was starting to earn the trust of the coaches. Now he has to start over and make a new impression on a new secondary coach, Jerome Henderson.

But he’s shooting big.

“Hopefully a starting role, that’s what my goal is going into this year,” he said. “If not that, then as close as I can be to the starter. Be in the rotation a lot and try to improve our defense as a whole.”

One thing that will help him and the other safeties is the play of the cornerbacks. The drafting of Morris Claiborne has Church optimistic.

“Claiborne is a great athlete,” he said. “He’s going to be able to lock down a lot of the main receivers out there. And we also have Brandon Carr out there, who’s an outstanding veteran. He’s going to be able to lock down everything. We’re going to have a great secondary this year. Definitely going to be an improvement from last year.”

-- Carlos Mendez

Twitter @calexmendez

Jerry Jones says he lost no confidence in Rob Ryan last year, believes offseason moves will help him 'match up'

After one season watching new defensive coordinator Rob Ryan, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones says he has not lost confidence in him. In fact, the reshaping of the defense in the offseason was made with Ryan's scheme in mind.

“Rob’s skills, the things that he brings to the table, are easily bought into,” Jones said last week at the Cowboys sponsor appreciation golf tournament in Grapevine. “And we did, we have, and we continue to buy into those.”

Jones said another thing he likes about Ryan is that he adjusts well during games, and that this year, the Cowboys made an effort to give him options for those adjustments. 

“To be really fair about it, and fair on judgment, we have to look specifically where we had our biggest breakdowns, and we’ve got to make sure that we’ve matched up good with the teams that gave us our biggest problems,” Jones said. “As it turns out, it was the New Yorks, the Philadelphias, and if you will, Washington played a good game against us, too.

“So it’s in our division. So what you saw from us during the offseason, personnel-wise, is matching up,” Jones said.

The Cowboys traded up for the top cornerback (and top defender) in the draft, LSU’s Morris Claiborne. Their No. 1 free agent target was cornerback Brandon Carr. The team also signed a free agent safety, Brodney Pool, and drafted a safety, Matt Johnson, in the fourth round, to go with veteran strong safety Gerald Sensabaugh and backups Barry Church and Danny McCray.

The Cowboys also signed four undrafted cornerbacks (and have since released one), have another from the practice squad last year (Mario Butler) and moved a receiver (Teddy Williams) to corner.

That is a lot of new DB blood to work with for Ryan and new secondary coach Jerome Henderson.

“Where I’m coming from there is, it just isn’t about personnel at all, but it is also about education, how well those players understand the schemes and then also a real good coaching job of how much to give those players so they can go out there and perform instinctively,” Jones said. “That’s all a mouthful, but I’ve got a lot of confidence in Rob Ryan and the defense and the defense we’ll have. You want to get all of Rob you can possibly get and his philosophy.”

Jones acknowledged that Ryan’s defense has risks. But he brought up his quarterback’s name in comparing that idea that high risk brings high reward.

“It’s a little like Romo – you want to basically be able to get it in a way that is sound and wins ballgames,” Jones said. “And some of the things that he wants to do – bring it – we want to do. That’s why we went to the defense. We’ve got some guys back here in the secondary now that can go up and get it when it’s not thrown exactly perfect. I think that’s going to help us out, help us execute the defense, along with the adjustments he and Jason are making.”

-- Carlos Mendez

Twitter @calexmendez

Kevin Ogletree says offseason events have put football into more focus for him as he goes for Cowboys' No. 3 receiver spot

Kevin Ogletree said something will be different about him this year than in years past when he has tried to take a firm hold of the No. 3 receiver position.

Football has become his focus.

“I haven’t, for a while, had football as my life, my focus,” he said this week at the Cowboys golf tournament in Grapevine. “Some things happened in the offseason that really forced me to look in the mirror and dig deep and find out what I want to be.

“It’s a good opportunity for me. I’ve got to go out and grab it. Like I said, some bad things have turned me into a better person.”

Ogletree was talking about the shooting of his brother, Calvin Ogletree, in New York City in January. His older brother was shot in the head outside his luxury rental car business in Queens and is recovering.

“That specifically has changed my attitude and work ethic,” Ogletree said.

Ogletree, entering his fourth year with the Cowboys since making the team as an undrafted free agent in 2009, had his most productive year last season. He caught 15 passes for 164 yards, 11 for first downs, and returned two punts.

But he fell behind Laurent Robinson in the pecking order for the No. 3 receiver spot. He became a restricted free agent after the season, and although the Cowboys didn’t tender him an offer – making him available to any other team – he and the club agreed to a one-year deal in March.

In March, coach Jason Garrett brought up Ogletree’s name when he was asked about the No. 3 receiver spot.

“We feel like we have some young receivers that we like," Garrett said. “Kevin Ogletree has been with us for three years now and has really done a good job with the opportunities given him. Has not had a lot of playing time, been behind some veteran players. But we like what he's doing with the limited chances he's gotten, so he's certainly in the mix.”

At last week’s rookie minicamp, receivers coach Jimmy Robinson said of Ogletree’s prospects to emerge as the third receiver, “I’m hopeful that he can. Again, that’s an unknown at this point, but he’s had a good off-season. All I can say is so far he’s worked extremely hard. He’s gotten stronger. He’s gotten bigger. So again, time will tell.”

Ogletree was asked by reporters if he sees signs of the Cowboys’ faith in him.

“It’s my job to instill that faith, and you can only do that by working hard, coming to work every day with your lunch pail and just giving it your all,” he said.

He said he didn’t dwell on not being offered a contract initially.

“It’s a business. I know they had some priorities they had to take care of and some free agency deals that they were trying to work out,” he said. “I just had to be ready for whatever and continue to work like I was going to be somewhere.”

Ogletree said all of the receivers are trying to take advantage of their chance to replace Robinson.

“If we could get another Laurent anywhere on the team, that would be good, just because of how productive he was and how much he helped our team last year,” he said. “We’re all working to be the best player we can be. We know as long as we get better, we’ll be a better team. As far as myself goes, those are some pretty big shoes to fill, but I’ll be working my hardest.”

Ogletree said he can already sense the benefits of a formal offseason.

 “It’s such a relief being in there and being able to listen to Coach Robinson and be around Coach Garrett,” he said. “I really never felt the effect of the lockout until this year, when you realize what you’re missing. It’s just good to hear them talk to you, to get coaching, not to be so far way from work. It’s really a great deal to have a traditional offseason.”

-- Carlos Mendez

Twitter @calexmendez

Witten spells out what it will take to become the No. 3 receiver for the Cowboys

Tight end Jason Witten said the Cowboys have players who can fill Laurent Robinson’s role from last year as the No. 3 receiver. But it won’t be easy to do what he did.

“What Laurent did doesn’t happen every year,” Witten said this week in Grapevine at the Cowboys annual golf tournament. “They don’t have to be Laurent. They need to be a good receiver for us, and that’s all we need. We’ve got a lot of weapons. They don’t need have to be more than that.”

Veterans Kevin Ogletree, Andre Holmes, Raymond Radway and Dwayne Harris and drafted rookie Danny Coale will get their chances at the No. 3 spot behind Miles Austin and Dez Bryant.

Additionally, the Cowboys signed undrafted rookies Donavan Kemp, Saalim Hakim, Cole Beasley and Tim Benford.

Witten said the winner of the job will have big responsibilities.

“They have to understand what the position entails, and it’s not just coming in on a third down and making a catch,” Witten said. “It’s a huge role, and if Miles or Dez goes down, you have to step in and fill that. I think we’ve got the right guys, and collectively, we’ll get it done.”

Overall, Witten likes the look of the offense – actually, the whole team – following the additions from the draft and free agency.

“Obviously, our roster definitely got better if you just look at it from top to bottom,” he said.

Wittensaid he likes the speed of drafted tight end James Hanna, and he likes the work ethic the Cowboys are showing in the offseason.

“I’m excited about the additions we made, but more importantly, I’m just excited about the way guys are approaching it and putting that work in and not only talking it, but working,” he said. “Right type of guys. High character. Old, young, everything in between. It feels good to go into battle with those types of guys.

“We’re going to have adversity. We know that. But hopefully, we’ll come out and do something special.”

-- Carlos Mendez

Twitter @calexmendez

Doug Free, moving to right tackle, says this is the best time to make OL changes

Doug Free said the move back to right tackle is going well for him, and that this is the time to do it.

“It’s nice doing it in the offseason. Everybody’s got a chance to figure it out, go through training camp, compared to doing it during the season,” he said Wednesday at the Cowboys’ annual golf tournament. “This last year, we had a lot of rotation with guys and stuff, so getting the lines set early, getting the training camp under our belt with everybody together, definitely should help.”

Free and second-year tackle Tyron Smith are switching places. Smith, who started all 16 games at right tackle as a rookie, is going to the left side.

But that is not the only change. Free agent signees Mackenzie Bernardeau and Nate Livings are expected to be plugged in at the guard spots. Last year, the Cowboys used four players – Bill Nagy, Kevin Kowalski, Montrae Holland and Derrick Dockery – at guard.

Free said he has enjoyed meeting the new additions, Bernardeau and Livings.

“I hadn’t met them before they came here, but both of them seem to have great personalities, be great guys in general, hard workers, quiet guys,” Free said. “I think they’ll fit right in our group. They’ll be a great fit.”

So it sounds like Free is the veteran statesman of the offensive line now, with Kyle Kosier having been released. In  the space of a a calendar year, the Cowboys also parted ways with veteran tackle Marc Colombo, veteran guard Leonard Davis and veteran center Andre Gurode.

“I’m up there in age now, I guess,” Free said, smiling at a question about whether he’d be the one giving the orders now. “But Livings has got a lot of years under his belt, too. He’s also a veteran player.”

Free, a fourth-round pick in 2007, hasn’t forgotten the education he got from Kosier, Colombo, Gurorde and Adams.

“You learned a lot from those guys, getting a chance to come in here, just learning some of their techniques, how they handle situations, how they work. A lot of great workers I got to work under.”

Free played right tackle late in 2009 when he filled in for an injured Colombo, so the transition for him isn’t abrupt.

“It’s mainly just thinking everything different, opposite, just kind of getting settled over there, used to how everything is called,” he said. “Instead of being on one side, you’re on the other. But getting this time to get used to it is definitely a positive.”

-- Carlos Mendez

Twitter @calexmendez

Costa watching tape of Mangold, a former Bill Callahan player, to get ready for bigger responsibilties at center

Cowboys center Phil Costa said he is watching a lot of tape of New York Jets center Nick Mangold.

That is the model for Costa as he works under new Cowboys offensive line coach Bill Callahan, who helped develop Mangold into a Pro Bowl player.

“I’ve watched tons of tape of Mangold,” Costa said Wednesday at Cowboys Golf Club, where he was set to play in the Cowboys’ annual sponsor appreciation golf tournament. “It’s fun to watch him. He does all the calls that we are using now. Watching him on the field and how he applies them and his technique. He’s a great player, so it’s fun to watch him on tape.”

Costa started every game at center for the Cowboys last year, but he is expected to have competition for the spot this year. Free agent signee Mackenzie Bernadeau and second-year guards Bill Nagy and Kevin Kowalski have played center.

“He certainly faces competition,” coach Jason Garrett said. “We have a lot of guys, some young guys who we like there, but Phil did a good job for us last year. He’s another one of those guys who came into last season and earned that position – undrafted free agent two years ago, undersized, too this, too that, too much the other, but just said, ‘Hey, I’m a good football player,’ and tried to show us that everyday. He’s a serious-minded kid. He works hard. He’s tough. I think he’s an underappreciated athlete. We’re seeing that more and more now.

“I just think the experience of playing will help him. Having said all that, he’s got to compete every day to earn that job.”

Last year, Costa benefited from the experience of right guard Kyle Kosier. They shared the line-calling duties. But with Kosier’s release, that part of the game falls to Costa now.

“The center definitely takes a lot of responsibility with making all the calls and reading the safeties,” he said. “It’s important you know. We’re watching tons of film right now, just trying to learn everything that we’re putting in. In the long run, it’s going to be pretty good.”

With Callahan, Costa said he is learning more about the center position than he ever imagined.

“You can be in there for days and weeks and months, you can always learn something new,” he said. “That’s what’s fun about it.”

-- Carlos Mendez

Twitter @calexmendez

 

Garrett ready to see a healthy Mike Jenkins compete when he comes back from Florida

Head coach Jason Garrett said the Cowboys are in touch with cornerback Mike Jenkins, who has been working out in Florida instead of at Valley Ranch during the voluntary offseason program.

“We’d like to have all our players here, involved in our offseason program, but we’ve been in communication with Jenks all throughout the offseason,” Garrett said Wednesday during the Cowboys golf tournament at Cowboys Golf Club. “It is voluntary. We can’t make anybody be here. And really, we’re fortunate as a team that we have so many guys who live in Dallas and really embrace what we’re doing in the offseason program.

“We’ve been in communication with Jenks. We’re excited to get him back here and get back to work.”

Three OTA sessions are scheduled beginning May 22. Jenkins doesn’t have to return to Irving until a three-day mandatory minicamp June 12-14.

When he comes back, he’ll face competition at the cornerback spot. The Cowboys signed free agent Brandon Carr to a $50.1 million deal, and they moved up eight spots to take the top corner available in the draft, Morris Claiborne of LSU.

“I think the most important thing for Jenks is to get healthy,” Garrett said. “He had the offseason surgery. He’s down in Florida trying to get his rehab right and get his shoulder right. So that’s Line 1 for him, to get himself healthy and then come back and compete.”

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said he is not interested in trading Jenkins, who is entering the last year of his four-year rookie contract, calling him a vital part of the short- and long-term plan.

“We certainly have some options, and we have the numbers there to plan on playing a lot of corners out there,” Jones said. “Because of that kind of depth, with where the league is right now, it’s good.”

Keeping Jenkins beyond this year will likely require a heavy investment. If the Cowboys gave Carr a $50.1 million contract and he has not made a Pro Bowl, Jenkins could ask for something similar or greater, considering he does have a Pro Bowl on his resume.

Besides Claiborne and Carr, the Cowboys are also invested in another corner. Last August, the Cowboys gave nickel corner Orlando Scandrick a five-year extension worth $27 million.

“We’ve got the resources to have three top corners, and Scandrick, which would be, in my mind, a fourth corner,” Jones said. “But we can do it there. That area of your money allocation just happens to be an area where, if you plan right – to get strong at corner and strong at pass rusher – you’re going to spend some money out there. And so we really went through that process real good when we drafted Claiborne, to really think that through and look ahead. But Jenkins is not only this year, but a long-term player here as far as I’m concerned.”

But Garrett made clear Jenkins, like everyone else, has work ahead of him to earn his keep on the roster.

“What our job is as coaches and as an organization is to always try to make our team better,” Garrett said. “One of the ways we do that is we bring people in, personnel, players to create competition to try to make our team better. And guys who play at this level, who play in the NFL, understand. They’ve been competing their whole life. Guys compete to make football teams. Guys compete to be starters. Guys compete for roles on the team, and Jenks is part of that, just like everybody else is.”

-- Carlos Mendez

Twitter @calexmendez