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Cowboys Notes: Murray, Jones, Michael

September 19th, 2015 at 6:07pm CST by Connor J. Byrne

After rushing for an NFL-best 1,845 yards in 2014, running back DeMarco Murray left the Cowboys in free agency and signed a five-year, $42MM deal with NFC East rival Philadelphia. Sunday will be Murray’s first matchup against Dallas, which chose him in the third round of the 2011 draft and helped him develop into an elite running back. And, if not for the Eagles’ decision to pursue Murray after trading LeSean McCoy and losing to Indianapolis for Frank Gore‘s services, Cowboys COO Stephen Jones believes Murray might have continued his career in Dallas.

“I still think today we could have gotten him if Philly had not jumped in,” Jones said, according to Brandon George of the Dallas Morning News. “I don’t think he would have gone to Oakland or Jacksonville, but they came in at the last second and got [the price] up there.”

More on Murray and his former team:

  • Murray said earlier this week that facing Dallas will be “a normal game,” but Jarrett Bell of USA Today believes otherwise. Bell opines that Murray has a chance to make a statement Sunday against the team that let him go and help give Philly an early edge in the NFC East race.
  • Cowboys owner Jerry Jones effusively praised quarterback Tony Romo on Friday, according to the Morning News’ Jon Machota. 105.3 The Fan. “He is a quarterback that can win Super Bowls. He’s a franchise quarterback,” Jones told 105.3 The Fan. “[W]e’re getting the best of him now, and the best of him is probably, in my mind, the best there is.” Jones added that, if Romo doesn’t win a Super Bowl with Dallas, it’ll be the “biggest disappointment” of the owner’s long tenure.
  • Running back Christine Michael, whom Dallas acquired from Seattle before the season, sat out last week and also won’t play this Sunday. After that, it’ll be “a little bit of a wait-and-see type of deal,” Stephen Jones told 105.3, per Machota. “I feel like I’m ready to go,” said Michael, who averaged a terrific 4.9 yards per carry on just 52 attempts during his first two seasons.

Extra Points: Cowboys, Wilkerson

September 12th, 2015 at 8:07pm CST by Connor J. Byrne

The Cowboys made the wise decision to select ex-Notre Dame offensive guard Zack Martin 16th overall in the 2014 draft, but they did so against owner Jerry Jones’ wishes, chief operating officer Stephen Jones – Jerry’s son – told David Moore of the Dallas Morning News.

“Let’s go over this quarterback thing one more time,” said Jerry Jones, despite hearing endorsements of Martin from Stephen Jones, senior director of college/pro personnel Will McClay, head coach Jason Garrett and offensive coordinator Scott Linehan.

The Cowboys then tried – and failed – to move down in the draft before settling on Martin.

“Son, if you want to do special things in life, you can’t keep picking and doing things down the middle,” Jerry said to Stephen afterward. “What we just did was down the middle.”

Martin did special things as a rookie, earning Pro Bowl and All-Pro honors. Quarterback Johnny Manziel, whom Dallas could have taken instead of Martin, had a poor first year both on and off the field and enters his second season backing up journeyman Josh McCown in Cleveland.

Here’s more from around the NFL:

  • CBS Sports’ Jason La Canfora reported earlier Saturday that the Jets and defensive lineman Muhammad Wilkerson are far apart on contract talks and unlikely to continue negotiating when the season starts Sunday. However, there is not – nor has there ever been – a hard Sunday deadline to get a deal done, according to Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News (Twitter link). That means the two sides could still hammer out a long-term extension during the season.
  • Titans head coach Ken Whisenhunt, speaking to SiriusXM NFL Radio (Twitter link), showered praise on rookie quarterback Marcus Mariota. “It was amazing how quickly our team bonded with Mariota. He has a businesslike professional approach. Doesn’t get rattled.” Mariota, the second overall pick in this year’s draft, will square off against the No. 1 selection, Bucs QB Jameis Winston, on Sunday.
  • The Browns won’t improve on their 7-9 record from 2014 without another big year from their defensive backfield, writes Tom Reed of Cleveland.com. The group includes three Pro Bowlers in Joe Haden, Tashaun Gipson and Donte Whitner. Gipson believes he’s part of the best secondary in the league. “Any time you get together this kind of talent nothing bad can go wrong in our eyes,” he said. “If we execute the game plan and play fast I feel there’s no better secondary out than us.”
  • The five-year, $45MM extension the Cowboys signed Tyrone Crawford to Saturday makes the Eagles’ recent four-year, $29MM pact with Mychal Kendricks look better, opines former Eagles and Browns executive Joe Banner. Kendricks’ deal is the best one any team has given out this year, Banner thinks (Twitter link).

Reactions to Greg Hardy Ruling

July 11th, 2015 at 9:50am CST by Ben Levine

Cowboys defensive end Greg Hardy has his suspension reduced from 10 games to four yesterday, prompting owner Jerry Jones to release a very brief statement:

“We are looking forward to the start of the season and having Greg be a part of the team.”

The story may not be over, however. ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter reports (via Twitter) that the 26-year-old is still considering appealing the ruling, with a decision expected early next week.

As Schefter notes in a second tweet, the next move for Hardy would be filing suit against the league in federal court. Adrian Peterson took this route and had his suspension completely erased.

Let’s check out some more notes and reactions stemming from yesterday’s decision:

  • Hardy was present for the entire appeal hearing, but he did not testify, according to documents obtained by ProFootballTalk.com’s Mike Florio. The writer believes the decision to keep Hardy quiet was a “concession that a violation occurred.”
  • The reduced suspension “was a win for the Cowboys but a loss for humanity,” opines Clarence E. Hill Jr. of the Dallas Star-Telegram. Yes, Dallas will now get the former Pro Bowler for twice as many games. On the flip side, as Hill notes, the NFL continues to look clueless as they hand out punishments for domestic abuse.
  • Hill adds that it would be best for all parties if Hardy took his suspension and moved on. What Hardy did was wrong, says the writer, and there’s no reason for the player to “be defiant now.”
  • ESPN.com’s Kevin Seifert hopes Friday will the final time “we’re confused, distrustful or otherwise outraged” by the discipline in domestic abuse cases. As Seifert notes, the NFL can now refer to their revamped domestic violence policy, which calls for at least a six-game suspension for a first-time offense.

Cowboys Notes: Collins, Leary, Jones

May 8th, 2015 at 8:50pm CST by Sam Robinson

La’el Collins decided to choose the Cowboys because of what he hopes will be a more lucrative second contract, reports Jason Cole of Bleacher Report (video link).

Cole describes Collins’ mindset of attempting to catch on with the league’s best offensive line in hopes of inflating his value in the process. Collins, who Cole expects to start at left guard in place of Ronald Leary this season, can renegotiate his deal after two years, something the LSU product hopes to do after the circumstances that conspired to keep him out of the draft depreciated his value considerably.

Here is some more news coming out of Dallas on Friday night …

  • Collins’ arrival doesn’t necessarily mean potential competitors up front are trade bait, Jerry Jones tells Drew Davison of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Leary is perceived to be the weak link on a formidable front, but the 26-year-old guard improved his play considerably last season, finishing as the 19th-best guard in football on Pro Football Focus’ advanced metrics (subscription required). Davison does list Collins among his locks to start up front — either at left guard or right tackle — along with Tyron Smith at left tackle, Zack Martin at right guard and Travis Frederick at center. Right tackle Doug Free signed a three-year extension in March.
  • Jones has been busy not just adding three players with first-round talent but discussing it. Calling into a Dallas radio station KRLD, the Cowboys owner said he’d be open to trading the team’s 2016 first-round pick for help now, writes David Helman of Fox Sports Southwest. The question posed to Jones centered on running back or defensive help, to which the owner replied: “I’d be reluctant to, but certainly if the right situation came along that could improve us now, with where we are with (Tony) Romo, his career and where we are with what we’ve put together, it’s a good time to go for it,” Jones said. So the Adrian Peterson-to-Dallas rumors may still be clinging to life. Jones has traded first-rounders for talent in the past with sketchy results, sending the Lions three picks for Roy Williams in 2008 and exchanging two first-rounders with the Seahawks for Joey Galloway in 2000.
  • Appearing on KESN in Dallas, TheMMQB.com’s Peter King likened the Cowboys’ acquisition of Collins to a “stealth bombing,” allowing Dallas to procure three top-20 players on its draft board. “I bet the average salary of those two guys this year is going to be a million dollars,” King told the radio station. “If that. And so to me, the Cowboys caught a tremendous break in some ways.” They’ll likely total more than $1MM together next year, but a tremendous bargain nonetheless, should these gambles result in consistent on-field availability.
  • The Cowboys owner offered extensive praise for Collins in an interview with KRLD. Summarized by the Dallas Morning News, the conversation featured Jones preferring Collins’ versatility and desiring a young line that could stay together for as many as 10 years.

NFC East Notes: McFadden, Gregory, Eagles

May 3rd, 2015 at 7:49pm CST by Sam Robinson

To the surprise of many, the Cowboys did not address their DeMarco Murray-less running back corps this weekend, but they may be in the market for veteran help.

“Just because this is our current group of running backs doesn’t mean it will stay that way,” Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones said to Jon Machota of the Dallas Morning News. “We are always looking to improve our football team.”

But going into the season with Darren McFadden, Lance Dunbar and Joseph Randle doesn’t quite resemble an understaffed corps, considering the Dallas offensive front that lifted Murray to what could amount to an outlier campaign last year remains elite. Although Jerry Jones did note the team wanted to draft a tailback, indicating the corps could well see a notable addition before the season.

“We would have liked to have drafted a running back,” the Cowboys owner and general manager told Machota. “But at the same token, we didn’t think at any given time that we should pass at the player that was there, even with the running backs [available].”

ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr. noted to Machota the spot for the Cowboys to add to their backfield came in the third round in ex-Michigan State runner Jeremy Langford, when the team instead selected former Florida tackle Chaz Green, who the ESPN prospects guru viewed as a reach.

Here are some additional news items from the NFC East.

  • The Cowboys landing Randy Gregory at No. 60 is “worth the risk,” according to ESPN’s Todd McShay, via Machota. With Greg Hardy out for 10 games, Dallas had a need for a pass-rusher despite its depleted backfield.
  • With Dwayne Harris gone, the Cowboys have a need at returner. Jason Garrett mentioned to Rainer Sabin of the Dallas Morning News that McFadden could be an unlikely candidate to do so. The former No. 4 overall pick has three career kick returns.
  • For the first time in the draft’s 80-year history, the Eagles went two years without selecting an offensive lineman. After letting veteran Todd Herremans go and openly putting All-Pro Evan Mathis on the trade market, the Eagles face questions on their front, reports CSNPhilly.com’s Reuben Frank. “We hadn’t drafted DBs in recent years, so it’s just kind of you can’t take them all,” Chip Kelly told Frank. “You only have a certain amount of picks.” The Eagles invested significantly at cornerback this offseason, signing Byron Maxwell and Walter Thurmond and now drafting Eric Rowe in Round 2, and they have a solid line that saw four players — Mathis, Jason Peters, Jason Kelce and Lane Johnson — receive top-13 grades at their positions last season, according to Pro Football Focus.
  • Philadelphia did add four undrafted offensive linemen, and Kelly’s blueprint for adding to an aging offensive front isn’t that different from how the league’s four championship-qualifying teams have done so, reports Mike Sielski of the Philadelphia Enquirer. The Eagles now house 16 offensive fronters, with 50% of them undrafted. That similar to the Patriots, Colts, Seahawks and Packers, whose rosters collectively have 49% of their blockers coming into the league undrafted, according to Sielski.

NFC Quotes: Payton, Thompson, Kelly, Jones

May 2nd, 2015 at 9:42am CST by Ben Levine

It’s been a busy past few days in NFL front offices, and some of the draft selections by the league’s front offices have left pundits befuddled. The league’s reporters made sure to follow through with those curious selections, and we have some of the more notable responses below…

Saints coach Sean Payton, who opined yesterday that La’el Collins would be drafted in the second or third round, on why his team passed on the embattled lineman (via ESPN.com’s Mike Triplett):

“I don’t know that we would consider that right now until we had more clarity. And it seems like there’s a rush for everyone. And one of the things I said this morning was, ‘Man, we’re right down the road. Are we able to get some information the other teams don’t have yet?’ And so I haven’t had that or gotten that information yet to answer that as a yes.”

Packers general manager Ted Thompson on his team not selecting an inside linebacker (via Jason Wilde of ESPNWisconsin.com):

“It’s a simple plan, but we wanted to make sure we got football players. And we think we got a couple more tonight…We’re going to address [inside linebacker] just like we address all other positions and try to make it as strong as we can.”

Eagles coach Chip Kelly on the team’s decision to select linebacker Jordan Hicks despite having greater needs (via Les Bowen of Philly.com):

“He was our highest-rated guy by far. We had him rated in the second round. We had great exposure to Jordan; he was the individual we saw the most this offseason.”

Kelly on how the Hicks selection could impact Mychal Kendricks‘ role on the Eagles (via Sheil Kapadia of PhillyMag.com):

“We’re excited to get him back here. I know he spent the draft with his brother, which we understand. He said he should be back here next week, but I think you’re always gonna draft players, and when you bring ‘em in here, the one thing you want is you want competition at positions. We knew going in at the end of last year that with just Mychal and DeMeco that we really had to shore up the inside linebacker spot. “

Jerry Jones on the Cowboys selecting Randy Gregory with the No. 60 pick (via NFL.com’s Marc Sessler):

“I think it gives us enough confidence that we can work through some of the issues that have basically caused him to drop and maybe improve on that. That’s certainly the plan and have us a heck of a contribution to winning.”

NFC Updates: Beckham, Romo, Moore

February 22nd, 2015 at 1:04pm CST by Sam Robinson

After the Pro Bowl, offensive rookie of the year Odell Beckham attempted to elevate his already-astounding rookie season in NFL lore by saying he played with two torn hamstrings. But Giants GM Jerry Reese debates the validity of Beckham’s diagnosis, Newsday’s Tom Rock reports.

“I don’t know about that,” Reese told Newsday. “I think he’s trying to be a hero. I don’t think you can play with two [tears in your] hamstring and run fast like that. … I think our doctors would’ve caught that.”

Reese said Beckham would not have been permitted to play in the Pro Bowl with two torn hamstrings.

Despite playing on the outside at 5-foot-11, 198 pounds, Beckham managed to catch 12 touchdowns in 12 games while averaging more than 100 yards per contest. The LSU product did miss the first four games of the season due to hamstring issues, re-injuring himself multiple times before making his debut in Week 5. Obviously, everyone heals at their own rate, but Beckham being able to accomplish anything resembling what he did in his debut season doesn’t depict a torn hamstring. Seahawks defensive tackle Brandon Mebane tore his hamstring in November and missed the rest of last season. Then-Buccaneers wideout Mike Williams tore his in October 2013 and missed the rest of that campaign.

If Reese’s judgment is closer to correct than Beckham’s, the slight hit to the young receiver’s credibility will be offset by a healthier superstar in a corps dealing with a rehabilitating Victor Cruz (knee).

  • Cowboys owner Jerry Jones provided an expanded indication to how long Tony Romo‘s time leading the franchise will be, according to the DallasCowboys.com. Despite Romo entering his age-35 season, Jones is planning moves around the thought his quarterback will play until the end of the decade. “I feel very comfortable … with a five-year time frame,” Jones said via the team website. “When I say comfortable: I’m ready to make decisions based on him being our quarterback that far into the future.” Last year’s leader in QBR, Romo is now the league’s fifth-oldest starting quarterback, behind Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, Drew Brees and Carson Palmer.
  • Jones also told the Cowboys site Romo he’s open to restructuring Romo’s contract, which has a $27MM cap hit this season. It more than doubles the Cowboys’ second-highest figure of left tackle Tyron Smith. “We haven’t ruled it out,” Jones told DallasCowboys.com about the possibility of restructuring. “When we did his contract, we thought at some point and time that we would be going to it.”
  • A much younger quarterback won’t be offered a restricted free agent tender, putting his future in question. But Kellen Moore may have a chance to return to the Lions and be their backup quarterback, GM Martin Mayhew told the Detroit Free Press’ Dave Birkett. Veteran Dan Orlovsky is a free agent, and Moore, a 25-year-old undrafted free agent out of Boise State in 2012, completed 68.6% of his preseason passes in 2014.

Cowboys’ Jones Talks Murray, Bryant

February 8th, 2015 at 6:17pm CST by Sam Robinson

Entering his 27th offseason in charge of the Cowboys, Jerry Jones faces one of his career’s biggest challenges in the coming weeks: finding a way to keep Tony Romo‘s two biggest weapons, DeMarco Murray and Dez Bryant.

The Cowboys’ owner, president and general manager addressed this glaring issue Sunday with the Dallas Morning News’ Jon Machota. Dallas operates with a scant $7.4MM of cap room as of Sunday, per OverTheCap.com, and Bryant’s likely franchise tag will hover around the $13MM-per-year figure. As Pro Football Rumors mentioned in January, Murray already balked at Dallas’ four-year offer worth around $16MM — a pay increase from the $1.4MM Murray earned in his dominant fourth season in 2014 but one not on par with the highest-paid running backs in the league.

So as of now, the math is stacked against the Cowboys retaining two of the NFL’s top unrestricted free agents, and Jones knows it after seeing his team go through salary cap turmoil in recent years.

“You remember when that cap makes you poor and you wake up and have those days when you don’t have the money and don’t have the flexibility,” Jones said to Machota. “… If you can revisit how you felt, that will make you a little more prudent about this cap when you have had a lot of years when you really paid the piper.”

Although the mercurial Bryant’s future with the team appears secure after a no-nonsense 16-touchdown campaign in his contract year, a future without Murray, the NFL’s rushing leader with 1,845 yards and new holder of the all-time-touches-in-a-season standard with 499 in 18 games, appears likely for the Cowboys — even with the latest trouble surrounding primary backup Joseph Randle — barring some cap wizardry in the coming weeks.

Cowboys Plan To Exercise Claiborne’s Option

January 20th, 2015 at 6:25pm CST by Zachary Links

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said that cornerback Morris Claiborne has done enough to justify the team picking up his fifth-year option, according to Brandon George of The Dallas Morning News (on Twitter). The option, of course, would be for the 2016 campaign.

Jones’ endorsement comes as something of a surprise since Claiborne hasn’t lived up to expectations since being selected with the No. 6 pick in the 2012 draft. As a top ten pick, the option for 2016 would be equal to the transition tag for cornerbacks in their fourth year, which should be somewhere around $11MM.

The Cowboys have some time before they have to decide on Claiborne’s fifth-year option and the option is guaranteed against injury only until the start of the 2016 league year, so they could pull the plug in the event of a lackluster 2015. By the same token, it’d be a gamble to trigger his option year given his injury history. Claiborne missed the bulk of the 2014 season with a torn patellar tendon.

All in all, it was a rough year for the once-heralded rookie. Claiborne was torched in Week 3 victory and was subsequently bumped down on the depth chart in favor of veteran Orlando Scandrick. On the following Tuesday, Claiborne lashed back at the Cowboys by skipping practice and leaving the team facility. The following week, Claiborne suffered his season-ending injury.

NFC Notes: Mangini, McCloughan, 49ers

January 9th, 2015 at 3:29pm CST by Ben Levine

Washington has solidified their front office over the past couple of days, and now the organization is focusing on it’s coaching staff. Dianna Marie Russini of NBC4 D. C. tweets that Washington will interview current 49ers assistant coach Eric Mangini for their defensive coordinator opening.

The 43-year-old has spent the past two seasons as San Francisco’s tight ends coach, which followed his tenure as head coach of the Jets and Browns. Mangini’s last coordinator job was with the Patriots, where he served as the defensive coordinator in 2005.

Let’s take a look at some more whispers from around the NFC…

  • Scot McCloughan was introduced as Washington’s general manager today, and the former 49ers GM stated that his current roster is better than the roster he inherited in San Francisco. “Coming in here, this roster, from what I know about right now, is much more improved than the 49ers,” McCloughan said (via Cam Inman of the Bay Area News Group).
  • Mike Shanahan interviewed to become the next 49ers head coach, and Eric Branch of SFGate.com wonders if the 62-year-old would be comfortable having significantly less power than he has in the past.
  • According to Charean Williams of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram (via Twitter), Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has accepted that some of his coaches will likely be receiving offers for better gigs this offseason.
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