Ronald Leary has requested a trade from the Cowboys, but Dallas isn’t in a hurry to send him elsewhere. On Thursday, Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones explained that he’d only trade the offensive lineman if he can get a decent return. 
“We told Ron that he could certainly look around, but we’re not in the business of letting go of good football players for little or nothing,” Jones said (link via Kate Hairopoulos of the Dallas Morning News). “We got calls during the draft asking to trade for some of our running backs. We just don’t have that interest. Ron’s a big part of this football team. We know it’s disappointing when you’ve been starting and you’re not. We’d hoped that he would look at it as ‘let’s come in here and compete.'”
Jones went on to say that the Cowboys expect Leary “to come in here at some point.” Leary, of course, is abstaining from voluntary OTAs but Jones hopes he’s “getting in shape wherever he is right now.”
Leary started at left guard for the Cowboys in 2013 and 2014. In 2015, he started the season in the same role but undrafted rookie La’el Collins – who was graded as a first-round talent before his infamous draft day slide – eventually took the job from him. The Cowboys are planning to start Collins at left guard once again in 2016, but they want all of the help they can get on the offensive line with Tony Romo returning from injury and rookie running back Ezekiel Elliott leading the team’s running back committee.
Leary was on the field for only 137 pass snaps and 84 run snaps in 2015, according to the stats compiled by Pro Football Focus (subscription required). Although he did not qualify to be ranked based on that limited sample size, Leary was given an overall grade of 72.2, which would have placed him among the top 30 guards in the NFL last season.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Jags
Wishful thinking, but maybe the 49ers can swing a suprising trade for him. Maybe Ahmad Brooks and a 5th or 6th would get the job done, or they could possibly trade Corey Lemonier and a 5th and 6th round pick..??
Either way, I certainly wouldn’t mind having Leary as the 49ers starting left or right guard. Actually can Leary even play RG?? If not, then I’m sure he could still probably beat out Beadles for the LG spot. If he can play RG, then that would allow the 49ers the luxury of sitting one of their 1st rounders, Garnett, this season. This would allow Garnett the opportunity to really learn the ins and outs of Kelly’s ZBS, and I believe it would truly only benefit his development moving forward.
Ultimately, I would really like a OL consisting of Staley, Leary, Kilgore, Garnett, and Brown. That group could very well end up being leaps and bounds above the pourous disaster the 49ers fielded last year!! Even Staley, Beadles, Kilgore, Leary, and Brown would be a very solid improvement from last year’s atrocity!!
As long as I do NOT have to see Devey or Pears play matador for another season I’m perfectly content and happy!!
Yeah we wouldn’t take on Brooks contract for sure and Lemonier basically has no production in his career and doesn’t fit our 4-3 scheme. Probably not gonna happen.