So there's obviously not much going on with the Dallas Cowboys and free agency. For what it's worth, here are the slim pieces of news floating around.
According to sources, the Cowboys have some interest in Chicago defensive end Amobi Okoye, New York Giants linebacker Chase Blackburn and New York Jets guard Matt Slauson.
Okoye played in nine games last year with 11 tackles, two quarterback pressures and a sack for the Bears. If he joined the Cowboys he would reunite with his former defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli, the Cowboys’ defensive line coach. The Cowboys were close to a training camp trade for Slauson last summer when they suffered a number of injuries but the sides never pulled the trigger. Like Okoye, he would reunite with a former coach in Bill Callahan, who was his line coach in New York. The Cowboys had interest in Blackburn last year, but signed Dan Connor, who was cut on Monday, instead. In 15 starts for the Giants, Blackburn was credited with 97 tackles, eight tackles for loss and three sacks.
Okoye is someone that has been discussed before given his status with the Bears and his connection to Rod Marinelli.
While we're talking Dallas, have heard it might sign DT Amobi Okoye as a backup. Marinelli likes him. Rod wanted Melton, but Chi franchised
— Jason Cole (@JasonColeYahoo) March 4, 2013
Apparently the Giants are only willing to go the minimum with Chase Blackburn; the New York Post states: Chase Blackburn, the starting middle linebacker, will return only if he cannot find another team willing to make a commitment to him for more than one year.
And the Brian Urlacher rumor is still out there.
At least one other team is known to have at least mild interest in signing the eight-time Pro Bowl selection: the Dallas Cowboys. With the hiring of Monte Kiffin as the team's new defensive coordinator, Urlacher could remain in the ‘Tampa 2" scheme in which he's had so much success during his career. However, the Cowboys are cash-strapped (thanks partly to the $10 million salary-cap penalty they received for overloading contracts during the uncapped 2010 season) and have a young, standout middle linebacker in Sean Lee.
"We haven't ruled it out," a Cowboys source said of making a run at Urlacher.
I'm not buying into this unless Urlacher still doesn't have a contract deep into summer. Then I could see something happening, at that point Urlacher would be getting desperate for a contract and could come very cheap. Not sure how much he has left in the tank, but he certainly would be a veteran presence to help with the transition to the 4-3 that Kiffin/Marinelli want to run.
Yesterday I posted an article where I included a bit about the Cowboys maybe trying to sign John Phillips back on the cheap. I should have checked around before I actually scheduled the article to run. By the time it went up, news was breaking that Phillips had agreed to a deal with the Chargers.
Unable to do any real shopping in free agency Tuesday, the Cowboys lost their first player to the open market when tight end John Phillips agreed to a three-year deal with San Diego, according to a source.
So far, not finding much else on the Cowboys current free agents. Calvin Watkins tweeted:
No visits planned yet for Felix Jones.
— Calvin Watkins (@calvinwatkins) March 12, 2013