After changing from outside linebacker to inside and back again over his first two years in the NFL, Bobby Carpenter is moving again , this time to compete with Zach Thomas for the other inside linebacker spot.
"I think it's an opportunity to play," said Carpenter, who will be competing with 35-year-old veteran Zach Thomas for the starting "Mo" inside backer spot vacated by the trade of two-year starter Akin Ayodele to Miami the day before the draft. "Wade told me they were moving me to where Akin was playing.
"I'm excited about the move."
This will be Carpenter's final chance to really make a name for himself as a Dallas Cowboy. Last year he never impressed Wade Phillips in training camp and the preseason game, then was hampered by a quad season for most of the year. I think the move is a good one for him and hopefully he provides the playmaking ability the Cowboys expect out of that spot. I keep thinking back to the one time he saw significant playing time (Seattle playoff game), he was one of the Cowboys' best players on the field. Of course, that was when he was playing OLB.
A belated big old Texas hat tip to BTB regular dunkman for first posting the link in the comments.
Well, the Cowboys held practice at Valley Ranch for the first time since the week before the playoff game against New York. It's exciting to think of how not too far from now the Cowboys will be meeting for OTA's and soon after training camp starts. I think a lot of the excitement will have to do with the quality of rookies the Cowboys will have in camp this year, especially with more than a few of them expected to be big contributors to the team.
Nick Eatman covers Felix Jones' first day as a Cowboy , and Jones says he looks forward to working with Marion Barber.
Jones said he doesn't foresee any problems with having to share the load once again, especially from a guy with a running style like Barber.
"He's a beast, the way he runs - he runs over you," Jones said of Barber. "I'm going to try to put some moves on you. But I think we can work well together. I'm not worried about it all. I'm just going to do my thing and everything will work out."
Perhaps the most impressive performer on Friday was none other than WR Danny Amendola , a guy that has started to cause quite a stir among the Cowboys faithful. He didn't drop a pass until the afternoon practice and first round pick Mike Jenkins was unable to cover him all day. He also was fielding punts today as well, something he excelled at in college.
Mike Jenkins started the day off rough but it started to come together for him in the afternoon, as Albert Breer notes in the DMN blog. Jenkins will be making a slight transition in playing style coming to the Cowboys so there will be a learning curve with him. The good news is that he is in close contact with his mentor, Deion Sanders. He also had Dave Campo back there as his position coach, who is relishing being back where he feels comfortable.
"It was great. I'm very happy to be here, just from looking at the Cowboys uniforms. There's nothing like the Cowboys uniforms," said Campo, who started his NFL coaching career as the Cowboys' secondary coach and eventually became head coach from 2000-02. "I'm really enjoying coaching a position because that's why I got into coaching in the first place. I like being around the guys, I like the one-on-one contact and this is really good with the rookies here because we've got one-on-one (time) with them. They're not going to have this same one-on-one time once the veterans get here."
Orlando Scandrick was also turning heads as he showed off his athleticism and ability to play man on man. I think that Scandrick may turn out to be the steal of the draft. The man is exceptionally fast but is also quick, which allows to recover from a mistake easily as well as make plays on the ball.
Anquan Boldin was a player who was supposedly unhappy with his situation in Arizona and would welcome a trade to another team. A lot of fans were hoping that the Cowboys might be the lucky winners, but it seems that the trade rumors were just that: rumors.
"I went to sleep one night and woke up the next morning and I was disgruntled, wanted out of Arizona and all this stuff," [Anquan] Boldin said. "I hadn't even talked to nobody. It's funny to see the reports going around, especially around draft time. It is what it is. I can't do anything about it. None of it was me."
The Cardinals have repeatedly shot down any notion they might be willing to trade Boldin and he denies a story that his agent, Drew Rosenhaus also inquired about a trade.
Well, if Boldin doesn't come to the Cowboys, we still have Danny Amendola.