Cash For Clunkers: Who Will the Dallas Cowboys Consider Parting With?
With all of the talk surrounding the federal government’s “cash for clunkers” program to spur car purchases, I thought I’d come up with a list of Dallas Cowboys who might be clunkers this year and lose their spot on the team. There aren’t a ton, but these guys really need to step up or the Cowboys will have to look elsewhere for the talent.
1. Bobby Carpenter
Dude, you were a 1st round pick in 2006 and all you’ve done is provided some decent special teams help. You came from a college known for its tough defenses, yet you’ve shown very little of that with the silver and blue. You’ve got one more year, Bobby. With the departure of Kevin Burnett, you may see more playing time. Don’t be a clunker. Show you were worth that pick.
2. Marcus Spears
Quite honestly, I am sick of talking about Spears and Carpenter, both who were first rounders. Spears has great size, and although he showed slight improvement last year, he is still not a force. He had a record 65 tackles, but he wasn’t a force on the front line. He might want to gain some more muscle and lose a few pounds and add some speed to those limbs.
3. Anthony Spencer
After an embarrassing incident at a night club, Spencer was rumored to be on the way out, but the Cowboys decided to keep the 2007 first-round pick over aging Greg Ellis. No one can argue this though: Ellis was a better player, despite his mouth, and would have been a better guy to have on the other side of DeMarcus Ware–at least at this juncture. But Anthony Spencer has the stage now, and he has to perform. He needs to get double-digit sacks like Ellis did. If he doesn’t, he might just be another clunker on the team.
4. Sam Hurd
Sam, you’ve been in the league four years now. The Cowboys would love to have a third-down clutch receiver a’la Mr. Alvin Harper, and Hurd might just want to fill that role. Miles Austin has pretty much made Hurd look expendable and if the Cowboys go after Matt Jones, Hurd’s days are done. I will be a little easy on Hurd since he was an undrafted rookie in 2006.
5. Keith Brooking
Keith, I know you’ve been in the league a dozen years, but please give the Cowboys one year of clunker-free football. We desperately need a hard-hitting man in the linebacker corps and you were picked as the guy for the job. Please perform it, or you’ll just be another old guy sent to the junkyard for a new hybrid.
“at this juncture”
Ya sound like ol’ Jerry!
Good article, hate to agree with everything you said since, well, it’s just not my style… But I have to.
July 31st, 2009 at 6:05 pmI’m with you on Sam Hurd. Brooking has apparently looked great in practices, closing up cutback lanes. I haven’t heard a peep about the first three on your list, though. That could be ok, but it could be really bad if they’re just blending in. I think number 6 on this list would be Pat Watkins.
August 1st, 2009 at 12:46 pmHurd is one of those nice guys you pull for.
Stanback HAS to go. Enough of the injury crap alread
August 1st, 2009 at 3:07 pmYeah I agree. But now that they’re implementing the Wildcat it’s a reason to actually keep him, according to most fans. Most fans are freaking out about the wildcat, it has been around forever, and there’s a reason it hasn’t been used before. It was exposed last year and I really don’t see it being successful for long, but hey one season of success may be worth it but oh wait, isn’t patrick crayton a former QB? Yup. Bye-bye Isaiah.
August 2nd, 2009 at 1:02 amYep..Stanback..he seems to be gimped again..hammy..
I have been watching the updates from camp..I haven’t read one line about the Wildcat..Sounds like they just fooled around with it..or they are gonna save it for the regular season…
August 2nd, 2009 at 2:35 amyeah, cut his ass already, it sounds like to me, that injuries like this occur because he’s not giving it all in training. when a guy gives it all on the field and does not to the little things like stretching your muscles till they elongate, you’ll always have flexability problems that result in tears. give me a flexable wr over a buffed one any day of the week. cut his ass and get matt jones on board. when i played we did more stretches than i could stand we equaled wieght training to stretching to build the muscle and then stretch it was the goal. we never had tears as the season went on. my football coach was also a track and crosscountry coach. everyone that went out for football was on the track or crosscountry teams…..it worked.
August 2nd, 2009 at 12:35 pmnfl.com vic carucci; nice article about us in camp.
August 2nd, 2009 at 1:53 pmmort report, espn; mort likes the digs in dallas, does’nt seem to knowledgeable about the practises
August 2nd, 2009 at 1:54 pmI just read an update about the Wildcat..The Boys call it the Razorback..and I read..Tim MacMahon…it is on the way…
August 2nd, 2009 at 10:58 pmGlad we’re not dedicating too much time to this in camp. When defenses figure it out, we’ll be ahead of all of the teams freaking out and dedicating all of their time to it. That being said we’ll probably have a better wildcat than most teams with our three-headed monster of a run game.
August 3rd, 2009 at 10:55 amBrad is saying it right now …….Anthony Spencer will have a huge year. I know I said that last year. This year ten sacks and he will be a force against the run. Dont forget Mel Kiper picked Anthony to be his defensive rookie of the year.That didnt happen so this will be his break out year.
August 5th, 2009 at 2:05 ami have just 1 comment to make about the article; about sam hurd. first off, hurd has looked like he may take austin’s spot at the other starting wr?……lets first look at our offense. we run very few fullback sets anymore. that means we run a 2te set. which would put witten and bennett on the field together most of the time. bennett primarily takes the full backs spot in blocking schemes and is a better recieving option. this would leave a 1 back-2wr set. williams is the #1 wr, which wold give crayton-austin-hurd the fight for the #2 wr. as i see it now, crayton is it, but is more suited for the slot when bennett catches air and we are in heavy passing situations. so that puts austin and hurd head to head. dallascowboys.com did a story on hurd stating that he has worked on off season conditioning and speed acceleration. he is rehabbed completely and sounds like he is over taking austin in the fight. as i see it now bennett and crayton will fill the slot position and hurd and austin will be the equal #2 giving us ample talent replacing owens. we will be a run first team, so the idea is providing distribution of targets, not a consistant overall target?
August 6th, 2009 at 12:31 pmpersonally i think we ought to sign matt jones and make him our 5th wr. we put johnson, olglevee, or holley or all on practice squad. we cut stanback and bring in jones. he’s 6′6″ over 220 lbs. maybe closer to 230? he would be a great outside target, or would work great in the slot with bennett. allowing crayton-austin-hurd to go outside? it’s more options, more experience. he’s only 26, big, strong, and fast. he’s a former razorback, which means he knows some of the offensive philosophy we are implementing this year. he’s had off field issues, but this last one sounds like a joke? violating his probation for having a couple of beers while golfing? comeon…….how many times havent we all violated our wives’ probation on that one????? plus the maain thing is : we get him cheep, maybe a vetern minimum? it’s a high and inside fastball, but it’s worth the swing.
August 6th, 2009 at 12:44 pmI know this really wasn’t the topic of this post but since it was brought up a few times I’m going to chime in on it too….I Google every day hoping to see that Dallas has signed Matt Jones. I’m not a long time MJ fan, an Arkansas fan, or a Jags fan but I am a Cowboys fan that can see the huge potential that signing MJ to the Cowboys could be. The kid doesn’t have a drug problem he seems to have just made a stupid mistake while hanging out in the hometown. For the love of God….nobody’s perfect and we all make stupid mistakes in our life. The whole beer thing is silly and not even worth mentioning. Let’s look at the bigger picture…he claims to be in the best shape of his career…we can get him cheap…and he would be an instant contributor the the team. C’mon peopel we need to show Jerry Jones that we will support this acquisition! WE NEED MATT JONES!
August 8th, 2009 at 8:13 pm