Cowboys Camp - Early Observations

By:  Bobby Shores

Safety

As Barry Church showed up to camp with a “re-shaped” body more suited for safety than linebacker and started making plays while Pool ran laps around the field trying to get in good enough shape to be given the password into practice, it didn’t take long for Captain Obvious to show up and let us all know that he would be cut sooner rather than later. When the Cowboys signed him there were a lot of skeptics out there that didn’t think he would make the 53-man roster (myself not included). With the lack of proven guys, and the difficulty of Rob Ryan’s defense, I thought that Pool would be the veteran fallback option during the season at the least. You know, in case somebody gets hurt (like the 20% of the training camp roster currently is), but when a guy comes in that out of shape and gives off a vibe that he just doesn’t care, then let him go, they don’t need that around the team.

Not Signing Montrae Holland

I have been a big Holland fan for a couple of years, I thought he was what held our O-line together last year and when I heard that he actually showed up in good shape and had a very good tryout, I was AMAZED that they didn’t sign him! Instead they went with Derrick Dockery (understandable) and Daniel Loper (what?!?!?!?), I understand Dockery as he was one of the best guards in football a few years ago and can probably still play. Loper on the other hand has bounced around from team-to-team and barely seen any real action. I am afraid they shied away from Holland because they knew he would come in and instantly snatch a starting position away from one of the young guys (Nagy, Kowalski, Costa, Arkin) that they have failed to properly develop, or one of the free agent signings (Livings and Bernadeau), and one thing that NFL people don’t like to do is admit they were wrong or take ANY blow to their ego. Regardless I think that Holland may be brought in at some point soon, because they will not let the interior of the line sink the season before it starts….hopefully.

Cornerback STILL a problem?

All off season we long we raved (or I did) about how the 2011 Cowboys biggest weakness was about to become the 2012 teams biggest strength, cornerback! They went out and signed arguably the best CB on the market in Brandon Carr, drafted not only the best CB in the draft but the best defensive player in the draft Morris Claiborne, coupled with Mike Jenkins and Orlando Scandrick plus a young guy or two and we were gonna be stacked! Well Jenkins is still out with a shoulder injury, Claiborne has missed nearly every practice since the draft with injuries. Now we are looking at possibly starting Carr, Scandrick and “insert name” on September 5 against the Giants! Then they release Isaac Madison from Arkansas who had been making plays according to people that are watching practices, but they keep AOA and some others? I hope that this becomes a non-issue as the CB’s get healthy and do become the strength that I envisioned.

Speaking of Corners, what about Mike Jenkins?

I know that Jenkins had a “complicated” shoulder surgery, and I have had two of those in the past 18 months so I can sympathize with him. What I can’t sympathize with though is that he decided to rehab on his own away from the team because he wanted to get traded. Now his shoulder is STILL not right and it looks like he will be out for the entire preseason! So not only is he of little use to the Cowboys, we can’t even trade him! Looks like he “cut off his nose to spite his face”. I am starting to think that he may end up on the PUP list to start the season which means he will not be able to play until between weeks 7-10. BUT, there is a new wrinkle this year, what is being called the “One Player Exemption”, where if a player is on the roster for week 1, then he can come back and play anytime after week 6 and does not take up a roster spot. Couple that with the extended trade deadline and Jenkins could come back in time to show what he has on the field and then the Cowboys can either keep him for a playoff run, or possibly trade him to a team like the Lions.

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