INTERIOR DEPTH INSURANCE: Why the Dallas Cowboys traded for Miami offensive lineman Ryan Cook
On the day of final cuts in the NFL, the Cowboys continued to address a problem area from last season by bolstering the interior of their offensive line.
The Cowboys acquired veteran offensive lineman Ryan Cook from the Miami Dolphins for a 2013 seventh-round draft pick. Cook (6-6, 325) will be a backup center and guard for the Cowboys.
Cook, 29, has started 40 of the 77 games. A second-round pick out of New Mexico in 2006, has started games at center, right guard and right tackle.
The Cowboys were able to get an up-close look at Cook on Wednesday at Cowboys Stadium when he started at center against Dallas in the preseason finale.
“We knew that there was a possibility here, so we really evaluated him in the ballgame,” Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said Friday on “The Fan” KRLD-FM (105.3). “This really was done for our depth, plus he’s very capable because he’s started several games in the NFL. He’s very capable of getting out there and competing. Hopefully you’ll see a lot of him this year.”
The Cowboys still plan to start Phil Costa at center. Costa started Wednesday and was in for 12 offensive plays. He had been out since Aug. 10 with a back injury but is expected to play in the season opener Wednesday at the Giants.
The Cowboys signed free-agent guards Nate Livings and Mackenzy Bernadeau this off-season with the expectation that they would start. Both battled injuries but are healthy now.
Ankle injuries to reserve interior offensive linemen Bill Nagy and Kevin Kowalski hurt the Cowboys’ depth. Nagy was waived in mid-August, and Kowalski has been placed on the reserve/physically unable to perform list, keeping him out of the team’s first six games.
The Cowboys started working guard David Arkin at center in training camp, but he struggled with his shotgun snaps throughout the preseason. Arkin, a fourth-round draft pick in 2011 out of Missouri State, didn’t appear in any games last season.
“We all know that we’ve been struggling to some degree with Kowalski out the entire spring as well as during training camp,” Jones said. “We have counted on him for depth and don’t want to totally dismiss him, but he’s down the road with where we are and what we’ve seen.”
Brandon George | DMN
UNNAMED SOURCES: Twenty-One notified, 1 trade, 2 to-go as Dallas trims down to 53
The Cowboys will make their final cuts today to reach the 53-man limit, but they have already notified 21 players that they have not made the cut.
According to sources, the Cowboys have informed Shaun Chapas, Adrian Hamilton, Danny Coale, Eddie Whitley, Orie Lemon, Ronald Leary, Pat McQuistan, Jeff Adams, Teddy Williams, Harland Gunn, Daniel Loper, Clifton Geathers, Rudy Carpenter, Lionel Smith, Baraka Atkins, Akwasi Owusu-Ansah, Andrew Szczerba, Ben Bass, Saalim Hakim, Tim Benford and Robert Callaway of their release.
They have two more roster moves to make by 7 p.m. after the trade for offensive lineman Ryan Cook from Miami.
The Cowboys would like to bring some — like Hamilton, Coale and Leary — back on the practice squad if they clear waivers.
Leary was the apple of Jerry Jones’ eye as an undrafted free agent and early in training camp, but he will not be on the 53-man roster.
The Cowboys considered drafting Leary despite a knee condition, but ended up guaranteeing him $214,000 in base salary and signing bonus to sign as an undrafted free agent. When the interior line was hit by injuries early in camp Leary took some first-team snaps but he hit a wall midway through camp.
Todd Archer | ESPN Dallas
Editors Note: This is NOT the official release that will be filed by the Dallas Cowboys. That deadline is at 7:00 pm. Check back here for the ‘official’ release, once it’s submitted to the NFL.
RELATED: Dolphins trade Ryan Cook to Dallas for seventh-round pick
The Miami Dolphins traded backup center Ryan Cook to the Dallas Cowboys late Thursday night, acquiring a 2013 seventh-round pick for a player who wasn’t going to make Miami’s 53-man roster.
The Dolphins acquired Cook, who was the Vikings’ 2006 second-round pick, off the waiver wire last year and he played center and guard for the team in 2011. But Cook was beaten out by rookie Josh Samuda, an undrafted prospect from UMass, for the backup center spot.
Samuda, a Hollywood Hills product, was one of camp’s most pleasant surprises, and is expected to make Miami’s 53-man roster today.
Cook, who has started 40 NFL games, spent most of camp as the third-team center and never manned the guard spot, which happens to be Miami’s weakest area. But he did surprisingly start Wednesday night’s 30-13 loss to Dallas, which was clearly an audition.
Cook was slated to earn $1 million this season, but moving him clears all but $100,000 from Miami’s books.
The Cowboys have been struggling with their depth this camp because of numerous injuries to key reserves, which include center Phil Costa, who has been limited by a back injury.
The Cook trade now means the Dolphins could have multiple picks in the second, third, seven and possibly the sixth-round (it is conditional) of the 2013 NFL draft because of trades involving Brandon Marshall and Vontae Davis.
Courtesy: Omar Kelly | South Florida Sun-Sentinel
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