People, stop with all the teeth-gnashing over the release of Rob Petitti. Think about it with cold detachment and it makes perfect sense. We've gotten attached to him because he was a draft pick of ours, he started last season and worked hard this offseason on getting physically fit. Forget all that. What you should be thinking is he was a low-round draft pick that was forced to start last year, and frankly, wasn't very good. Admit it, we spent the whole first part of the offseason wailing about the help we needed at RT, we couldn't go into the season with just Petitti as an option. Sign or draft somebody was our mantra. Well, just because Parcells said a few nice words about how much better Petitti looked physically, a lot of people got sucked in to thinking this means he got better on the field. He didn't. I observed the first two weeks of camp and the guy was average at best. Even in the preseason games he didn't do anything to make you think he had gotten that much better. Why is everyone so upset over this?
Jason Fabini, on the other hand, is someone who improved rapidly over the course of training camp and the preseason games. It wasn't like he was an unknown; he just needed time to shake off the rust from injury and inactivity. By the final game, he was clearly playing better than Petitti. I don't understand why anyone would trust Petitti to be the swing tackle when we didn't even like him at RT. Imagine if we installed him at LT for any extended period of time due to injury. Fabini is not the same player he was years ago, but he can still play, while Petitti hasn't shown that he can play in this league yet. His preseason surely didn't change that view. But he might be desirable to another team who thinks they can "coach him up", so I was surprised they couldn't get a 7th for him.
Besides, it wasn't like I didn't warn you.
Rocky Boiman got done in by his broken thumb. At the start of camp he was looking pretty good, but the missed time and the emergence of someone like Oliver Hoyte cost him. I guess they figured Hoyte was good enough to replace Boiman on special teams, and had bigger upside in terms of being a regular linebacker. I also should have followed my own advice on Terrance Copper when I said that Pat Watkins and Abram Elam would take over his duties on special teams. But once Skyler Green sealed his own fate with the fumble, I figured Copper would grab the sixth spot at WR. I can tell you one thing though, Miles Austin shouldn't get too comfortable, there may be some trading left to do, and at the latest when Marcus Coleman comes back, he could be vulnerable.
Holding on to Kenyon Coleman was a little surprising, although I have a feeling they may still be shopping him, and something could happen this week. Even though they kept Thomas Johnson, they are probably on the lookout for a backup NT, and with Tony Curtis being cut, TE might also be a consideration.
Kudos for the Cowboys on keeping Sam Hurd and Jamaica Rector, two young talents who may pay-off big down the road. You also got to like Abram Elam and Oliver Hoyte making their way onto the roster, another couple of young talents who could be players on defense.
Overall, even though I predicted three wrong players on the final roster, I'm not that surprised by the roster. The one thing that I totally didn't see coming was Miles Austin making it. I just didn't think he had done enough to make anything more than the practice squad. I would like to see Montavious Stanley, Skyler Green, D'Anthony Batiste, Tony Curtis and Stephen Bowen make the practice squad. Throw in Matt Baker because we need someone in case Bledsoe or Romo go down.
P.S. - Carl-Johann Bjork doesn't count as part of our practice squad; he's a freebie from an exemption from NFLE. So we'll have 9 PS players including him.