Earlier yesterday, the Patriots released a whole slew of players, among them DE Ty Warren. His release does not come as a major surprise, as Warren has had trouble staying healthy recently and was sitting to a fairly large contract with the Patriots that would would have resulted in a cap hit in 2011 of $5,878,950.
But right on the heels of his release came this report from Charean Williams at the Star-Telegram:
A source said Warren, a Bryan High and Texas A&M product, is interested in returning home to play for either the Cowboys or the Texans.
With the Cowboys signing Kenyon Coleman just hours ago, joining the Cowboys may not be that easy, particularly since Warren is not a completely no-risk proposition.
The 30-year old Warren won two Super Bowls with the Patriots, was elected team captain by his teammates in 2007 and made named to the All Pro team that same year. Warren started 92 of 105 games while with the Patriots (missed three games in '08, four in '09) but sat out the entire 2010 season with a torn labrum in his hip that required surgery. Warren had already been cleared from the hip surgery but opened this year's Patriots training camp on the PUP list after his hamstring tightened up during Wednesday's conditioning run.
Warren could be an ideal defensive end. He wouldn't be able to join the Cowboys before August 4th anyway, but depending on how his hammy feels, could be able to jump into practices immediately. Warren is a top notch run defender and, when healthy, can cause all sorts of problems in an opponent's backfield.
Peter King from SI.com opined via twitter that Warren is willing to play for something close to the veteran's minimum in order to sign with a contender. Warren himself confirmed at least the contender part:
"I will be moving on to bigger and better things. We are sorting out and will look forward to wearing a contending NFL team jersey this fall."
Are the Cowboys a contender? Of course they are. Always. At least in the preseason. How anybody could consider the Texans a contender is completely beyond me though.
The Cowboys have re-signed Marcus Spears, have just added Kenyon Coleman and still have Igor Olshansky on the roster. While they look set on the d-line on paper, adding such an experienced player as Warren at a relatively low cost - the veteran minimum would be $810,000 for Warren - does appear enticing and could open up the possibility of trading Olshansky (cap hit $4.8 million in 2011) to Houston or perhaps Denver.
Should the Cowboys take a flyer on an experienced 3-4 end who has let it be known he would like to play in Dallas?