DMN Blog: Cowboys juggle practice squad

WoodysGirl

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11:34 AM Mon, Nov 30, 2009 | Permalink | Yahoo! Buzz
Gerry Fraley/Reporter E-mail | News tips

The Dallas Cowboys shuffled the practice squad today, releasing cornerback Jamar Love and adding linebacker Donovan Woods and defensive back Marquis Floyd.

Woods played quarterback and safety at Oklahoma State. He appeared in six games with Pittsburgh during the last two seasons.

Floyd, from West Georgia, is an Areana League veteran who has been on the practice squads with Seattle and Cleveland in the last two years.
 

cowboyjoe

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Floyd bio;
BioHt: 6' 0" Wt: 190 Age: 29
Born: 3/17/1980, Monroe, GA
College: West Georgia
NFL Experience: 1st season
Salary: n/a

Floyd attended Monroe Area High School where he was a four sport athlete. He played football, baseball, basketball and track. Floyd was the MVP of the basketball team his junior year and senior years. He won the 'Best Sprinter' award from his track team and 'Best Outfielder' honor for baseball.

[edit] College career
Floyd attended the University of West Georgia, where he was a three-time American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) All-American. He led the Braves in interceptions in each of his last three seasons and holds the school record for career interceptions with 19. Floyd recorded 231 tackles, 164 solo during his four seasons. He holds the school's all-time punt return yards record with 982 on 125 returns. Floyd ended his college career participating in the 2003 Cactus Bowl Division II all-star classic in Kingsville, Texas. Floyd was named Team MVP his senior year.[1]

[edit] Professional career
[edit] Tennessee Valley Vipers
Floyd began his professional career playing in 16 games with the Tennessee Valley Vipers of af2 in 2004. He led team with 17 passes defensed while posting 37.0 tackles, 27 solo and two fumble recoveries. Floyd had 20 receptions for 242 yards and three touchdowns and ran for seven yards and two touchdowns.

[edit] Rio Grande Valley Dorados
In 2005, Floyd played in all 16 games for the Rio Grande Valley Dorados earning af2 Ironman of the Year honors.[2] He recorded a team-best 101 receptions for 1,452 yards and 29 touchdowns with 23 rush yards and four touchdowns on 20 carries. Floyd caught at least one touchdown pass in all 16 games. He placed fourth in the league with nine interceptions. Floyd added 47.0 tackles, 42 solo, 11 passes defensed and two forced fumbles. He earned league weekly recognition twice and was named player of the game seven times.

[edit] San Jose SaberCats
On October 10, 2005, Floyd signed with the San Jose SaberCats of the Arena Football League.

In 2006, Floyd played in 13 games his rookie season. He finished second on team with 46.5 tackles and tied for second with three interceptions. Foyde returned his first career interception for a touchdown. He tied for third in the league with four forced fumbles. Floyd had 203 yards and a touchdown on 21 receptions and scored a rush touchdown on two attempts. He spent two games on Injured Reserve with a groin injury.

As a starting Wide Receiver / Defensive back, Floyd recorded seven catches for 43 yards with four tackles and a forced fumble in his AFL debut against the Utah Blaze. He scored his first career AFL touchdown on a 51-yard interception return, the second longest return in franchise history, and added his first career touchdown reception, along with a forced fumble and two tackles to win the Ironman of the Game at the Grand Rapids Rampage. Floyd is credited with three tackles and a forced fumble that resulted in a safety, at the Tampa Bay Storm, after missing the previous three games. He had a 2-yard touchdown on his first career rush attempt against the Gladiators. Floyd recorded his second interception of the season, against the Crush. He recorded his third interception of the year against the Columbus Destroyers. Floyd played in both postseason games. He had 10 receptions for 116 yards and a touchdown with 4.5 tackles and a forced fumble against the Chicago Rush.

In 2007, Floyd started all 16 games at defensive back. He was second on the team with six interceptions, third with 16 passes defensed and fourth with 56.0 tackles. He was the first player with two multi-interception games in the same season since Clevan Thomas in 2003. Floyd moved into seventh place on team's career interception list with nine. He tied for 10th in the league with 22 passes defensed. Floyd recorded his 100th career tackle. He had his second career interception return touchdown, 46 yards, along with a career-high seven tackles against the Storm. Floyd had the first two passes defensed of his career against the Crush. He registered his 55th career solo tackle, against the New Orleans VooDoo. Floyd made his second interception of the season, fifth career, against the Blaze. He had his first career two-interception game, against the Gladiators, to become the 12th player in franchise history with a mulit-interception game. Floyd had his second two-interception game and moved into seventh on the franchise's career list with nine, also returned an onside kick 10-yards for a touchdown, at the Nashville Kats, his fifth career touchdown. He established a new career-high with three passes defensed against the Arizona Rattlers. Floyd matched his career-best with three passes defenesd at the Gladiators. In the 2007 postseason, he started all three games at defensive back. Floyd tied a team playoff record with two interceptions against the Rush. He had seven tackles and a playoff career-high tying two passes defensed in ArenaBowl XXI against the Destroyers.

On August 14, 2007, Floyed was re-signed by the SaberCats.

During the week one loss of the, Floyd recorded three tackles, one tackle for loss,[3] During the week two win over the Rampage, Floyd had one missed field goal return for a loss of six yards, three 3.5 tackles. He also recovered an onside kick at the 11-yard line and returned it eight yards.[4] During the week three win over the Rattlers, he had six tackles, one interception returned 43 yards.[5] During the week four loss to the Dallas Desperados, Floyd had, 5.5 tackles, on kick return for no yards[6], he was also involved in a helmet-to-helmet collision, that resulted in Desperados Wide Receiver / Defensive Back Will Pettis reveiving a concussion.[7] During the week five win over the Brigade, Floyd had one tackle, and one interception for no yards.[8]

[edit] Seattle Seahawks
On August 12, 2008, Floyd was signed by the Seattle Seahawks. He was waived by the team during final cuts on August 30 but was later re-signed to the team's practice squad.

On September 5, 2009, Floyd was waived by the team during final cuts.

[edit] Cleveland Browns
On September 6, 2009, Floyd was claimed off of waivers and signed to the active roster.[9] He was waived on September 22. He was signed back onto the Cleveland Browns practice squad on September 24th after the team waived practice squad receiver Lance Leggett.

[edit] References
 

cowboyjoe

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Donovan Woods (born July 27, 1985 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma) is an American football linebacker who is currently a free agent. He was signed by the Pittsburgh Steelers as an undrafted free agent in 2008. He played college football at Oklahoma State.

[edit] College career
Woods played in 49 career games for the Cowboys, excelling first as a quarterback and then as a safety after converting during the middle of the 2005 season and was named defensive MVP of the 2007 Insight Bowl during his senior season, also set OSU freshman record with 13 touchdown passes in 2004. He had a major in general business.

Donovan Woods No. -- Free Agent
Linebacker
Personal information
Date of birth: July 27, 1985 (1985-07-27) (age 24)
Place of birth: Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Height: 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) Weight: 230 lb (104 kg)
Career information
College: Oklahoma State
Undrafted in 2008
Debuted in 2008 for the Pittsburgh Steelers

Career history
As player:

Pittsburgh Steelers (2008-2009)

Career highlights and awards
Super Bowl Champion (XLIII)

Career NFL statistics as of 2008
Tackles 4
Sacks 0.0
Interceptions 0
School Oklahoma State
Height 6 ' 2.0 "
Weight 230 lbs.
Speed 4.60 ( )

Graduation Year 2008
Birth Date 7/27/1985
Jersey # 8
Current Position S
Projected Position LB
CDS Projected 2008 NFL Draft Round Undrafted
Member Projected 2008 NFL Draft Round Not enough entries

Important Links
Oklahoma State's Profile for Donovan Woods
Stats
Season Year GP GS Solo Asst TT TFL Sacks FF FR INTs PD QBH
'04-'05 QB --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
'05-'06 11 7 19 13 32 3.5 0 1 0 2 1 1
'06-'07 13 13 39 23 62 2 0 2 1 2 4 0
'07-'08 13 13 63 19 82 6 2 2 8 1 3 3
 

Future

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Woods sounds like a decent special teams guy if nothing else. Should be pretty fast if he played safety.
 

speedkilz88

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The Marquis Floyd pickup doesn't make much sense. He's 29 and has already bounced around the nfl and arena league. Seems like a waste.
 

TheCount

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speedkilz88;3109953 said:
The Marquis Floyd pickup doesn't make much sense. He's 29 and has already bounced around the nfl and arena league. Seems like a waste.

... It's the practice squad.
 

cowboyjoe

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Future;3109933 said:
Woods sounds like a decent special teams guy if nothing else. Should be pretty fast if he played safety.

nope, 4.6 in 40 real slow for a safety
 

cowboyjoe

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speedkilz88;3109953 said:
The Marquis Floyd pickup doesn't make much sense. He's 29 and has already bounced around the nfl and arena league. Seems like a waste.

i think they got him for one main reason
he was at pittsburgh,

the steelers are noted for grooming linebackers in the 3-4 defense
 

Chocolate Lab

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Future;3109933 said:
Woods sounds like a decent special teams guy if nothing else. Should be pretty fast if he played safety.

Yep, supposedly that's why Pittsburgh signed him -- for special teams.

I didn't understand why we did this until Wade said today that Butler sprained his knee. That's probably behind this move.
 

cowboyjoe

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Chocolate Lab;3110203 said:
Yep, supposedly that's why Pittsburgh signed him -- for special teams.

I didn't understand why we did this until Wade said today that Butler sprained his knee. That's probably behind this move.

exactly, again he is on the practice squad, but if butler doesnt get better, then you might have another decent player on special teams that you can bring up from the practice squad;

your also using those players on your scout team to help improve your players in practices, etc

so its just basically insurance

in case butler doesnt get better, dont forget we still have curtis johnson who should be about ready to really contribute to the team
 

KingintheNorth

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Chris in SoCal;3110190 said:
Who else was released? How did we add 2 and only lose 1?

nevermind, I didn't see that we had lost Rudy Carpenter to Tampa Bay earlier.
 

cowboyjoe

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BraveHeartFan;3110209 said:
Some different faces to look at on the practice squad. I have nothing against that.

yep, you always churn the bottom of the roster, so players wont get complacent
 

jterrell

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This is why the concept of us not having tryouts in season is so silly.

We churn the PS as much as anyone and in doing so we see a number of bottom of the roster type guys in practice situations for a lot more than 1 short workout.

That gives the staff a chance to see if these guys can pick up a defense/offense and learn special teams roles.

I don't generally think much of these types of moves but we have developed Romo, Austin, Crayton and a few others from essentially the scrap pile of UFA so we do cull diamonds from the rough occasionally.
 
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