April 2012 - Dallas Cowboys Wiretap
The Dallas Cowboys cut Adrian Hamilton on Friday.
Hamilton, who went undrafted out of Prairie View A&M, exhibited good ability in rushing the quarterback. But the Cowboys parted ways with Hamilton due to his inability to contribute on special teams.
Hamilton was impressive enough in getting to the quarterback, however, that he could end up quickly on another team's roster.
The New England Patriots, Green Bay Packers, New York Giants, Pittsburgh Steelers and New Orleans Saints have been the smartest spenders in the NFL over the past five seasons, according to a study by Bloomberg.
Bloomberg calculates how much teams spent per win and added bonuses for playoffs wins and championships.
1. New England Patriots
2. Green Bay Packers
3. New York Giants
4. Pittsburgh Steelers
5. New Orleans Saints
6. Baltimore Ravens
7. Indianapolis Colts
8. San Diego Chargers
9. Atlanta Falcons
10. Philadelphia Eagles
11. Arizona Cardinals
12. Tennessee Titans
13. New York Jets
14. Dallas Cowboys
15. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
16. Chicago Bears
17. Jacksonville Jaguars
18. San Francisco 49ers
19. Houston Texans
20. Minnesota Vikings
21. Denver Broncos
22. Cincinnati Bengals
23. Seattle Seahawks
24. Carolina Panthers
25. Kansas City Chiefs
26. Miami Dolphins
27. Buffalo Bills
28. Cleveland Browns
29. Washington Redskins
30. Oakland Raiders
31. Detroit Lions
32. St. Louis Rams
DeMarcus Ware strongly considered retirement in 2009 when he had a serious neck injury.
Ware is considered one of the NFL's two or three best defensive players, being voted to six Pro Bowls since he was the 11th overall pick by the Dallas Cowboys in the 2005 Draft.
"You never think that you'll be the guy who's on the stretcher," said Ware. "It's usually a special teams guy, because they have those big impact hits. But the guys on offense and defense, we don't have enough speed built up to have that impact. When I went down, everything just stopped. I thought, "Why am I here?" I actually thought that my body was moving. I thought I was moving my arms, I thought I was moving my legs. But I wasn't. I couldn't move. Mentally, I was moving. But physically, I wasn't. I'm sitting there, just thinking. I was thinking, "I'm that guy." Everyone was watching me, just lying there, unable to do anything. I felt embarrassed, actually. They strapped me up, and I wasn't able to move my neck or arms or legs, but I said, "I'm alright. I'm alright." Then it finally hit me when they took my facemask off. When they took that facemask off, they took something out of me."
Ware considered walking away from the game, but not due to the physical pain.
"No, because I was scared. I was so scared. I started thinking about my family. I thought, "I might have to give football up." I really thought I might have to retire, because I just couldn't imagine going through something so traumatic again."
Orlando Scandrick was signed in 2011 by the Dallas Cowboys on a five-year, $27 million contract extension.
But Scandrick has become the forgotten cornerback as the Cowboys signed Brandon Carr to a five-year, $50.1 million deal and the moved up to draft Morris Claiborne sixth overall.
Scandrick was a sixth round pick and therefore on a cheap salary during his initial few years.
"If you don't think that they got their money's worth. I mean, hey," said Scandrick. "It would have been hard to imagine if I would have walked out the door in March who would have been playing right now. Who would have been playing right now?"
Opponents completed 68.5 percent of their passes and averaged 9.3 yards per attempt when targeting Scandrick, according to STATS, Inc.
Mike Jenkins is the wild card at cornerback for the Cowboys as he returns from offseason shoulder surgery. Jenkins was a first round pick by Dallas in 2008.
The Dallas Cowboys have acquired offensive lineman Ryan Cook from the Miami Dolphins, according to a source.
The Dolphins will receive a seventh round pick from Dallas.
The Atlanta Falcons, San Diego Chargers and Baltimore Ravens have the three oldest collections of starters in the NFL.
The Kansas City Chiefs, Seattle Seahawks and Cincinnati Bengals are the youngest.
Former Vikings head coach Bud Grant had a popular saying that "for every young guy you start, you lose a game."
Pete Carroll worked for Grant early in his coaching career, but has had one of the youngest teams in the NFL during his tenure with the Seahawks.
"I was of that mindset in classic fashion until I had to be in charge of calling all the shots and then it just flipped in me that we don't know where we're going unless we find these guys out," Carroll said. "One of the really exciting things about playing guys early is ... by the middle and to the end of the season, you’ve developed players that fit into your rotations now that add to your depth and also add to the opportunity to not over-play your older guys."
Below is a full list with the rank in offense/defense in parenthesis.
1. Atlanta Falcons (2/5)
2. San Diego Chargers (7/3)
3. Baltimore Ravens (1/15)
4. Chicago Bears (11/4)
5. Pittsburgh Steelers (25/1)
6. New York Jets (23/2)
7. New York Giants (9/2)
8. Detroit Lions (3/20)
9. New Orleans Saints (6/13)
10. San Francisco 49ers (8/8)
11. Denver Broncos (14/7)
12. Houston Texans (4/23)
13. Oakland Raiders (13/11)
14. Buffalo Bills (12/17)
15. Arizona Cardinals (16/14)
16. Washington Redskins (21/9)
17. Dallas Cowboys (18/16)
18. New England Patriots (5/28)
19. Green Bay Packers (17/21)
20. Jacksonville Jaguars (24/19)
21. Miami Dolphins (26/18)
22. Carolina Panthers (15/26)
23. Indianapolis Colts (28/10)
24. Philadelphia Eagles (19/25)
25. Tennessee Titans (10/31)
26. Minnesota Vikings (30/12)
27. St. Louis Rams (22/27)
28. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (20/30)
29. Cleveland Browns (31/24)
30. Cincinnati Bengals (32/22)
31. Seattle Seahawks (29/29)
32. Kansas City Chiefs (27/32)
Jerry Jones is denying that the Cowboys have created a set of rules for Dez Bryant to follow off the field.
"I'm not so sure where the media has come up with detail of this nature," Jones said on KRLD-FM, 105.3 The Fan. "Fundamentally, Dez does -- and I'm convinced -- want to do many things that give him the opportunity to get on track the way he needs to, both on and off the field.
"I think any of this talk or any of these references to what he's going to be doing or what he is not going to be doing, in general, it's one that would say just let's conform to good behavior, the kind of behavior that the commissioner expects, that society expects and that anybody expects if you're going to get the opportunities you are. He does believe he has a great opportunity."
It has been reported that Bryant is not allowed to drink, has a midnight curfew, can't visit strip clubs, must attend counseling, must be driven to and from practice and must have a security escort.
The Cowboys have given Dez Bryant a set of rules off the field in order to establish some accountability.
Bryant agreed to a set of strict guidelines that have nothing to do with football. Bryant has a midnight curfew, he cannot drink alcohol or visit strip clubs and must have a security team with him when he travels.
"Like we've talked before, we want to support Dez Bryant and we want to support Dez Bryant's family and do anything that we can as an organization using our players assistance, players development program to help him, just like we would with any player," coach Jason Garrett said.
"The balance with all is you want to support them and you want to help them but you also want to hold them accountable. We feel like we do that throughout our organization, with all our guys. We believe in player development and we believe in helping them as football players on the field and as people off the field. What we've tried to do is come up with a plan for Dez, like we would for any player who we feel like needs our support and help him be his best as a player and as a person. And the accountability factor is an important part of that with him and with anybody on our football team."
Dez Bryant will be paying for the 24-hour security crew that will impose rules from the Cowboys upon him, according to a source.
The Cowboys are enforcing upon Bryant a midnight curfew, no consumption of alcohol, no attending strip clubs and counseling twice a week.
The rules took effect on August 23rd.
The Cowboys have issued strict guidelines for Dez Bryant regarding his conduct away from the field.
The guidelines Bryant agreed to took effect Aug. 23 when the team returned to Dallas after three weeks of training camp in California.
Here are some of the rules Bryant must follow:
