A daring look at the 53-man roster
Here's my daring look at how the 53-man roster is going to shake up. This is unofficial:
Quarterbacks: Tony Romo, Jon Kitna and Stephen McGee.
Comment: No surprises.
Running backs: Marion Barber, Tashard Choice, Felix Jones and Chris Gronkowski
Comment: The Cowboys took calls on Barber and Choice but elected to keep them. Gronkowski beats out Deon Anderson by a nose.
Tight ends: Jason Witten and Martellus Bennett
Comment: Maybe Martin Rucker is here, but he didn't have enough time to get it done. If not for John Phillips' injury, he would be here.
Wide receiver: Roy Williams, Miles Austin, Jesse Holley, Kevin Ogletree and Dez Bryant.
Comment: So much risk here after the trade of Patrick Crayton. Sam Hurd is a valued special teams guy, but his price tag, $1.759 million, was too much for just a speciality player. Cowboys looking to get something for him, maybe a seven-round pick.
Offensive line: Kyle Kosier, Montrae Holland, Andre Gurode, Phil Costa, Doug Free, Leonard Davis, Alex Barron, Marc Colombo, Sam Young and Robert Brewster.
Comment: Travis Bright improved, but he goes to practice squad. Barron hasn't impressed the coaches enough, but he's getting there.
Cornerbacks: Mike Jenkins, Cletis Gordon, Orlando Scandrick and Terence Newman.
Comment: No surprises here but Jamar Wall and Bryan McCann might get practice squad duty.
Safety: Alan Ball, Akwasi Owusu-Ansah, Michael Hamlin, Danny McCray, Barry Church and Gerald Sensabaugh.
Comment: Church and McCray are expected to contribute on special teams with Pat Watkins and Hurd sent home. Owusu-Ansah has the talent to be a nice return guy.
Linebackers: Sean Lee, Keith Brooking, Leon Williams, Bradie James, Victor Butler, Jason Williams, Brandon Williams, Anthony Spencer and DeMarcus Ware.
Comment: Butler helped his cause the last two preseason games but it wouldn't surprise us if Jason and Brandon Williams are not here. Steve Octavien, a good special teams player, is sent packing.
Defensive linemen: Stephen Bowen, Josh Brent, Jay Ratliff, Junior Siavii, Marcus Spears, Jason Hatcher and Igor Olshansky.
Comment: The team will have three nose tackles, but Brent will be inactive most games. Cowboys didn't tell Marcus Dixon they might bring him back to practice squad. Sean Lissemore had a nice preseason finale, but his body of work just wasn't good enough.
Specialists: Mat McBriar, David Buehler and LP Ladouceur.
Comment: What should we say? Buehler won the job in the last preseason game.
Calvin Watkins
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Calvin Watkins
Calvin Watkins joined ESPNDallas.com in September 2009. He's covered the Cowboys since 2006 and also has covered colleges, boxing and high school sports.
Todd Archer
Todd Archer joined ESPNDallas.com in November 2010. He's covered the NFL since 1997 and the Cowboys since 2003. He covered the Bengals and Dolphins before arriving in Dallas. A Massachusetts native, Archer lives in the Dallas area with his wife and two children.
Tim MacMahon
Tim MacMahon joined ESPNDallas.com in September 2009. Tim covers the Cowboys and Mavericks. He has covered the local sports scene from high schools to colleges to pros during his six-year tenure at The Dallas Morning News. MacMahon is a graduate of UNT.
Jean-Jacques Taylor
Jean-Jacques Taylor joined ESPNDallas.com in August 2011. A native of Dallas, Taylor spent the past 20 years writing for The Dallas Morning News, where he covered high schools sports, the Texas Rangers and spent 11 seasons covering the Dallas Cowboys before becoming a general columnist in 2006.
Ben Rogers
Ben Rogers joined ESPNDallas.com in November 2009. He is one half of "The Ben & Skin Show," heard weekdays from 9a-12p on 103.3 FM ESPN.
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