Dallas Cowboys must stop investing in the wrong players

A look at the Dallas Cowboys current situation with Rolando McClain and how it could potentially affect the team going forward.

Stop me if you’ve heard this before; the Dallas Cowboys, namely Jerry Jones, takes a risk on a high-reward type player with some baggage off the field, even though the head coach may not be too keen on letting players other than “the right kind of guys” in the locker room. This high-risk player performs on the field but still carries his baggage from off the field with him to Dallas.

Head coach Jason Garrett is constantly harassed by the media about said player and never gives a straight answer, good or bad, on how he actually feels about him. The media mostly agrees said player should be released and as the days go by this player still remains a Dallas Cowboys.

The media then goes on to talk about the power struggle in Dallas between head coach and general manager all the while no one really knows how anyone in the organization truly feels about the troubled player.

Are you thinking of defensive end Greg Hardy? You very well could be.

And there in lies the problem because the above text chronicles the time of linebacker Rolando McClain as a Dallas Cowboy.

This is a problem because someone within the organization didn’t just recently learn that a single player or a single distraction can affect the entire team. We heard Jeremy Mincey talk about how “tension grew” in the locker room after Hardy missed meetings and nearly missing practice. Yet, Hardy was never released even though coach Garrett stresses the importance of building the team with the right kind of guys.

The same Greg Hardy who was causing problems within the locker room and whom Jason Garrett didn’t seem too shaken up about losing to free agency was months earlier referred to as a team leader by Jerry Jones. Somewhere on the team there is a disconnect.

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Just last week Mr. Jones used the term “such a waste” when talking about the teams suspended middle linebacker. And yet, McClain remains on the Cowboys roster. Even though he is scheduled to miss the first ten games due to suspension, his second league mandated punishment in as many years, he still remains a Cowboy.

If jerry is ready to classify McClain as such a waste, of talent, of trust, of time, of money, of anything… then isn’t it time to move on?

If McClain is allowed to miss 14 games over two seasons because of NFL suspensions and still be afforded a roster spot what message does that send to guys like Randy Gregory or DeMarcus Lawrence? Both of those player will be serving their first suspension this coming season so do you think they are worried about being cut if they cross the line again? Why should they?

A precedent has been set. If not with Greg Hardy, and his never-ending shenanigans, than certainly with the presence of Rolando on the roster.

The fact is, this article could’ve been written before McClain and the Cowboys were informed of the suspension. It could have been written when the former Alabama star was skipping OTA’s earlier this offseason.

There has to come a point where you practice what you preach if you want players to buy into your message. Players have to feel as though there are boundaries set up by disciplinary actions. Dallas has shown that the disciplinary actions don’t always match the crime.

The sad thing is Garrett seems sincere when he talks about the way that he wants to build his football team the right way and with the right kind of guys. For whatever reason some of those other kind of guys seem to find their way on the roster and for whatever reason they seem to over stay their welcome.

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Garrett seems sincere. The hope is that a precedent hasn’t been set in which those right kind of guys; see too much of the other kind of guys crossing the line one too many times, with no repercussion waiting for them.

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