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After a year of development on the practice squad, those players, and the Cowboys as well, now hope they're ready to claim a roster spot.
by John Tranchina
http://www.dallascowboysstar.com/article-details&nid=3628&vid=3629&uid=35812
Will the big investment pay off?
In training camp, with 80 players battling it out for one of the 53 roster spots, it is time to see if all the effort and energy the club expended the previous year, keeping eight men on its practice squad, will now produce a roster player who can contribute on game day.
For the Cowboys, that means wide receivers Manuel Johnson and Jesse Holley, defensive end Marcus Dixon, and offensive lineman Travis Bright, who each spent the entire 2009 season on the practice squad, have the opportunity to emerge from camp and the preseason with an active roster spot.
Based on their play through the first several weeks of camp and the first three preseason contests, each of those four players is still in the mix for jobs, although some more than others. And all feel that their time on the scout team last season was beneficial in helping them improve their game.
"It helped a lot, being around the players, being around the coaches, one year under my belt," says Johnson, the Cowboys' seventh-round draft choice (229th overall) in 2009 out of Oklahoma, of his experience last year. "I didn't get to play but I learned a lot on the practice field. I did everything they did on the practice field preparing to play, so I did that well."
"They call it the developmental stage and it definitely helped me," adds Dixon, who has toiled on the practice squad since signing as an undrafted free agent out of Hampton in 2008. "First of all, learning the defense, learning my way around the NFL, learning the business, and just learning and seeing what the coaches really want from me. So that allows me to go out there now, going into my third year, to play fast because I know what to do. And plus, I'm able to do special teams as well, so it shows I can do other things."
Bright, an undrafted free agent signed last year out of Brigham Young who has been used at center and guard, has looked solid playing with the second team offensive line and was singled out by coach Wade Phillips as a bright spot in the second preseason game against the Raiders.
"Bright, I thought played well at guard and played very strong there," Phillips said after Dallas lost 17-9 on Aug. 12. "We've still got a lot of things to work on and they're not there yet, but they did show some things that we liked."
Holley and Johnson, as wide receivers, recognize they're faced with a monumental task to claim a job behind a glut of talented players on the depth chart. But after the training camp injury to Dez Bryant, they got a chance to showcase their skills a bit more by taking a few extra reps in practice and the exhibition contests.
"It's a competitive group and we wouldn't have it any other way," says Holley, who earned himself a spot in training camp last summer by winning Michael Irvin's reality TV show Fourth and Long and made the most of it. "That's what makes each and every one of us better every single day. When guys are at your back, when guys are on your heels, it makes you work."
Holley, who caught two passes for 20 yards and recorded a special teams tackle in the Hall of Fame Game on Aug. 8, has more than justified Jerry Jones' decision to allocate a spot to a TV show contestant.
"He's a good football player," says wide receivers coach Ray Sherman of Holley. "He does a great job on special teams, he's a guy that gives great effort. He's come along okay. Trust me, it's not a publicity stunt; he belongs out here."
So far, both receivers have had some strong moments in the preseason and some plays they probably wish they had back.
After a good performance against the Bengals, Holley didn't register any receptions in the next two outings. And Johnson, who didn't catch a ball in the 16-7 win over Cincinnati, made three catches for 11 yards in the Raiders game, although he also had a frustrating mistake that contributed to the Cowboys' defeat.
With the Raiders up 10-9 and the Cowboys driving towards midfield, quarterback Matt Nichols threw to Johnson with 33 seconds left, but the ball went through his hands and was promptly intercepted by Oakland's Jerome Boyd, who then returned it 48 yards for the game-clinching touchdown.
"If you have one opportunity and it bounces off, it's hard to evaluate a guy on one play and say he can't play," says Phillips. "Manny Johnson, as we charted, had the highest percentage of receptions, not drops, in practice last year. It was practice, but it happened in the game and it bounced off of him and they get a touchdown. And it makes him look bad and I know he wanted to catch that ball. I still think he has good hands and a great percentage of it, he's going to catch the ball. I want to see those guys some more. I think (Jesse) Holley's played outstanding on special teams and I think it helps his case a lot."
Despite the negative moment, Johnson still has the confidence of the coaching staff, particularly after his performance last season in practice. And his work in the game against San Diego certainly didn't hurt as he bounced back and finished with two catches for 17 yards, third on the team.
"He did a really nice job on the practice squad," Phillips says of Johnson. "I think he got one or two game balls last season for competing so well on the practice squad. I know he got one during the Philadelphia game because he did such a great job of being DeSean Jackson. I think we held him to one or two catches that ballgame. We like the way (Johnson) is playing and we like his future. But this year, he needs to step forward and make the team rather than just the practice squad."
Those comments highlight the two-pronged benefits of the practice squad. Its short-term purpose is to help the roster players prepare for the coming week's opponent, and if necessary, as Phillips points out, to impersonate a key player on the other team, allowing the Cowboys to get a sense of what to do to neutralize him.
"On the practice squad, (the task is to) just give them a good look of the team we're going to play," Johnson notes.
"Sometimes the offensive line will come in, and if (that week's opponent) has a good pass-rusher that's on the D-line, sometimes I'll mimic him and go against (starting tackle Marc) Colombo," adds Dixon, who currently sits behind the injured Marcus Spears and Jason Hatcher on the depth chart for left end. "You just go out there and do what they want you to do. When we played Carolina, Julius Peppers jumps the snap a lot, so that week I had to jump the snap against Colombo a lot, to give him a good look."
And the entire roster recognizes and appreciates the value of what the practice squad guys provide for them.
"I think it helps everybody," starting wide receiver Miles Austin says. "It not only helps them out as players, but it helps us out because it gives us a consistent look out there in front of you. And they're good players themselves - that's why they're on the practice squad."
"The guys on the practice squad are always trying to get better, so sometimes they give you a better look than the other team you're playing that week might give you," says seventh-year receiver Patrick Crayton, who actually spent about a month on the practice squad himself as a rookie in 2004.
Of course, the second purpose of the practice squad is to develop young, promising players who show potential but need some refining. Because there is no football minor league system, especially now that NFL Europe has been dormant for a couple of years, the practice squad is pretty much the only way teams can tutor raw talent without committing a valuable roster spot.
"I feel like it helped me a lot, going against Terence Newman and Mike Jenkins every day; that helped me out a lot," says Johnson. "Also, I'm going against those guys in training camp, so I kind of know what their game is, so it helped me out quite a bit."
Since there are only eight practice-squad slots available, the Cowboys have to make them count, and being able to graduate players from the scout team to the primary roster maximizes the value they get from it.
The fact that Dallas has had some success in the past producing contributors from its practice squad, including Crayton, defensive end Stephen Bowen, and yes, even star quarterback Tony Romo, simply fuels the motivation for those on the most recent incarnation of the unit as they hope to become the next ones to make it.
After a year of development on the practice squad, those players, and the Cowboys as well, now hope they're ready to claim a roster spot.
by John Tranchina
http://www.dallascowboysstar.com/article-details&nid=3628&vid=3629&uid=35812
Will the big investment pay off?
In training camp, with 80 players battling it out for one of the 53 roster spots, it is time to see if all the effort and energy the club expended the previous year, keeping eight men on its practice squad, will now produce a roster player who can contribute on game day.
For the Cowboys, that means wide receivers Manuel Johnson and Jesse Holley, defensive end Marcus Dixon, and offensive lineman Travis Bright, who each spent the entire 2009 season on the practice squad, have the opportunity to emerge from camp and the preseason with an active roster spot.
Based on their play through the first several weeks of camp and the first three preseason contests, each of those four players is still in the mix for jobs, although some more than others. And all feel that their time on the scout team last season was beneficial in helping them improve their game.
"It helped a lot, being around the players, being around the coaches, one year under my belt," says Johnson, the Cowboys' seventh-round draft choice (229th overall) in 2009 out of Oklahoma, of his experience last year. "I didn't get to play but I learned a lot on the practice field. I did everything they did on the practice field preparing to play, so I did that well."
"They call it the developmental stage and it definitely helped me," adds Dixon, who has toiled on the practice squad since signing as an undrafted free agent out of Hampton in 2008. "First of all, learning the defense, learning my way around the NFL, learning the business, and just learning and seeing what the coaches really want from me. So that allows me to go out there now, going into my third year, to play fast because I know what to do. And plus, I'm able to do special teams as well, so it shows I can do other things."
Bright, an undrafted free agent signed last year out of Brigham Young who has been used at center and guard, has looked solid playing with the second team offensive line and was singled out by coach Wade Phillips as a bright spot in the second preseason game against the Raiders.
"Bright, I thought played well at guard and played very strong there," Phillips said after Dallas lost 17-9 on Aug. 12. "We've still got a lot of things to work on and they're not there yet, but they did show some things that we liked."
Holley and Johnson, as wide receivers, recognize they're faced with a monumental task to claim a job behind a glut of talented players on the depth chart. But after the training camp injury to Dez Bryant, they got a chance to showcase their skills a bit more by taking a few extra reps in practice and the exhibition contests.
"It's a competitive group and we wouldn't have it any other way," says Holley, who earned himself a spot in training camp last summer by winning Michael Irvin's reality TV show Fourth and Long and made the most of it. "That's what makes each and every one of us better every single day. When guys are at your back, when guys are on your heels, it makes you work."
Holley, who caught two passes for 20 yards and recorded a special teams tackle in the Hall of Fame Game on Aug. 8, has more than justified Jerry Jones' decision to allocate a spot to a TV show contestant.
"He's a good football player," says wide receivers coach Ray Sherman of Holley. "He does a great job on special teams, he's a guy that gives great effort. He's come along okay. Trust me, it's not a publicity stunt; he belongs out here."
So far, both receivers have had some strong moments in the preseason and some plays they probably wish they had back.
After a good performance against the Bengals, Holley didn't register any receptions in the next two outings. And Johnson, who didn't catch a ball in the 16-7 win over Cincinnati, made three catches for 11 yards in the Raiders game, although he also had a frustrating mistake that contributed to the Cowboys' defeat.
With the Raiders up 10-9 and the Cowboys driving towards midfield, quarterback Matt Nichols threw to Johnson with 33 seconds left, but the ball went through his hands and was promptly intercepted by Oakland's Jerome Boyd, who then returned it 48 yards for the game-clinching touchdown.
"If you have one opportunity and it bounces off, it's hard to evaluate a guy on one play and say he can't play," says Phillips. "Manny Johnson, as we charted, had the highest percentage of receptions, not drops, in practice last year. It was practice, but it happened in the game and it bounced off of him and they get a touchdown. And it makes him look bad and I know he wanted to catch that ball. I still think he has good hands and a great percentage of it, he's going to catch the ball. I want to see those guys some more. I think (Jesse) Holley's played outstanding on special teams and I think it helps his case a lot."
Despite the negative moment, Johnson still has the confidence of the coaching staff, particularly after his performance last season in practice. And his work in the game against San Diego certainly didn't hurt as he bounced back and finished with two catches for 17 yards, third on the team.
"He did a really nice job on the practice squad," Phillips says of Johnson. "I think he got one or two game balls last season for competing so well on the practice squad. I know he got one during the Philadelphia game because he did such a great job of being DeSean Jackson. I think we held him to one or two catches that ballgame. We like the way (Johnson) is playing and we like his future. But this year, he needs to step forward and make the team rather than just the practice squad."
Those comments highlight the two-pronged benefits of the practice squad. Its short-term purpose is to help the roster players prepare for the coming week's opponent, and if necessary, as Phillips points out, to impersonate a key player on the other team, allowing the Cowboys to get a sense of what to do to neutralize him.
"On the practice squad, (the task is to) just give them a good look of the team we're going to play," Johnson notes.
"Sometimes the offensive line will come in, and if (that week's opponent) has a good pass-rusher that's on the D-line, sometimes I'll mimic him and go against (starting tackle Marc) Colombo," adds Dixon, who currently sits behind the injured Marcus Spears and Jason Hatcher on the depth chart for left end. "You just go out there and do what they want you to do. When we played Carolina, Julius Peppers jumps the snap a lot, so that week I had to jump the snap against Colombo a lot, to give him a good look."
And the entire roster recognizes and appreciates the value of what the practice squad guys provide for them.
"I think it helps everybody," starting wide receiver Miles Austin says. "It not only helps them out as players, but it helps us out because it gives us a consistent look out there in front of you. And they're good players themselves - that's why they're on the practice squad."
"The guys on the practice squad are always trying to get better, so sometimes they give you a better look than the other team you're playing that week might give you," says seventh-year receiver Patrick Crayton, who actually spent about a month on the practice squad himself as a rookie in 2004.
Of course, the second purpose of the practice squad is to develop young, promising players who show potential but need some refining. Because there is no football minor league system, especially now that NFL Europe has been dormant for a couple of years, the practice squad is pretty much the only way teams can tutor raw talent without committing a valuable roster spot.
"I feel like it helped me a lot, going against Terence Newman and Mike Jenkins every day; that helped me out a lot," says Johnson. "Also, I'm going against those guys in training camp, so I kind of know what their game is, so it helped me out quite a bit."
Since there are only eight practice-squad slots available, the Cowboys have to make them count, and being able to graduate players from the scout team to the primary roster maximizes the value they get from it.
The fact that Dallas has had some success in the past producing contributors from its practice squad, including Crayton, defensive end Stephen Bowen, and yes, even star quarterback Tony Romo, simply fuels the motivation for those on the most recent incarnation of the unit as they hope to become the next ones to make it.
