Star on Helmet – Sinners on Roster
It’s the way they do business in ‘Big D’…Dallas…the Cowboys way I guess.
Owner Jerry Jones, with a stealth strike, swoops in and signs LSU offensive tackle La’El Collins, the one bypassed by everyone in the NFL draft, while he was caught in the middle of the tragic death of his 29-year old girlfriend, and her unborn baby last Friday.
The other 31-NFL teams, while possibly interested in the former lst round draft pick, wanted more information before drafting him, or even committing money to sign him as a street free agent.
Not Jerry Jones. He must have done his due diligence on the matter in the 1-hour phone call with the player on Wednesday night, for he signed him Thursday. Granted Collis, who would have likely gotten a 20M package as a first rounder, signed a 3-year minimum free agent deal, his agent got all the money guaranteed, approximately (1.7M), and the likelihood of an extension before the current deal runs out.
No one yet knows who shot Brittany Mills as she stood in the doorway of her Baton Rouge apartment. Hard to understand how anyone could kill a woman in her 9th month of pregnancy. Amazing the lack of remorse nor sadness coming from Collins or his agent about what happened, while the player was with all the other draft picks in Chicago.
Police say the baby was not his (DNA tests), and say at this point he is not a suspect, just a person of interested in the unsolved murder.
Collins joins a team, loaded with talent, but also staffed by problem people.
Dez Bryant, the superstar wide receiver, is certainly an explosive, over-the-line personality, as well as player.
They just drafted Nebraska linebacker Randy Gregory, an admitted heavy duty marijuana user, who seems to be in denial about his history, that “it’s not a weed thing, but a decision making thing.” That accompanied by an ESPN report he has a ‘mental illness’.
Of course the early off season signing of woman-beater Greg Hardy from Carolina drew scorn, followed shortly thereafter by a 10-game Roger Goodell imposed suspension. The police report was gruesome using words like choking, punching, slapping, and this being a 4th incident.
Already on the roster was paroled defensive tackle Josh Brent, jailed for the drunk driving death of a linebacker teammate a couple of years ago. The stat that really stood out was hit (.21) blood alcohol count at the time he flipped his Mercedes in a rollover.
Running back Joe Randle is still there too, he of shoplifting and marijuana fame.
Ah the history of the Cowboys,not just Staubach and Bob Lilly, Dandy Don or Tony Dorsett, but the more recent Cowboys, Michael Irvin, Eric Williams, the ‘White House’ era of parties and drugs and more.
I know someone will scream, this isn’t supposed to be the ‘Boy Scouts’, it’s the NFL. And I know there is quite a history of bad citizens who play on good football teams other places.. If you can run fast, throw, catch, tackle, it’s okay to be a renegade, or the case of the Dallas Cowboys, be a real outlaw. Remembering the late Chuck Noll’s comment about the Raiders organization, the ‘criminal element’, that set off such a firestorm in the league..
Maybe it’s a Texas thing. Or a Cowboy way of doing business. Part of me says it’s not very credible not to have standards for the employees who work for you. But I forgot, it’s Jerry Jones, it’s the Cowboys, and it is the NFL, not the Boy Scouts.
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