Tuna churns

By Os Davis  |   Thursday, June 01, 2006  |  Comments( 13 )

Dallas Cowboys
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The ever-linguistically talented coach Bill Parcells has a term for late-May player moves: He calls it "churning the bottom of the roster." You'd think the Dallas Cowboys had done enough offseason maneuvering already. The count of augmentation to the Dallas roster is up to twenty-eight potential new 'Pokes, comprising of twenty rookie hopefuls and eight veteran free agents.

But no, the Tuna is hungry for change, so the tweaking and shuffling continues in Cowboy land. This week, running back Demetrius Summers is in; linebacker Kalen Thornton and offensive lineman E.J. Whitley are out. Summers is, by all accounts, low on the depth charts at present, but there is optimism about the former South Carolina Gamecock back. After all, a lack of talent is not what has kept him off the gridiron. Summers has a history with marijuana, a habit that cost him a season's worth of playing time with Steve Spurrier's team and kept him out of football last year. However, one columnist at the Dallas Cowboys' official site noted Parcells' lack of comment on longshot Summers, claiming that this is "a sign the head coach is usually fond of a player." Summers was signed to a one-year deal.

Local boy Thornton, meanwhile, has been hit with a barrage of bad news almost since making the team as an undrafted Texas Longhorn (and son of former Cowboy DE Bruce Thornton) in 2004. After seeing limited action in his rookie year, the Dallas-born Thornton was placed on the IR before the 2005 season and is reportedly still recovering from the knee injury. He failed a physical earlier in the week and was waived soon thereafter.

OL E.J. Whitley was also lost by misfortune rather than choice. The seventh rounder quickly injured himself in mini-camp, tearing an ACL in his left knee. Yesterday, Cowboy press representatives reported that Whitley would likely be placed on IR and miss the entire season. The Cowboy brain trust had particularly noted Whitley's work on pass protection and ability to occupy any spot on the offensive line. Now that Whitley is out, there is worry in Cowboy land about the newfound lack of depth on the line after Kyle Kosier and Marco Rivera. Expect further churning.

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About Os Davis

Os Davis has taken a twisted route to get to RealFootball365.com in his nearly 17 years in professional writing, working in any number of capacities in the sportswriting, news reporting and film criticism worlds. In print media, Os has served as editor at a few publications, including Albuquerque's...
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CommentsComments: 13  |  Sign Up  View all comments
No.1
Andy		10:51 AM
06/01/2006
I'm wondering about the comment "there is worry in Cowboy land about the newfound lack of depth". If your last selection in the...
No.2
Allen D.		10:04 PM
06/01/2006
no kidding andy..besides..depth isn't even an issue until the roster starts to trim down..rest assured parcells isn't going to...
No.3
K. Stew		07:01 PM
06/02/2006
Hey I don't know what all the fuss is about.. last time I checked we had 2 explosive WR's,1 1/2 explosive tightends.. 2 xplosive...
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