Cowboys Cut Caleb Hanie, 10 Others
The Cowboys are the latest NFL team to trim its roster to 75 players, with former Bears quarterback Caleb Hanie and former fourth-round pick Matt Johnson among the players cut today by Dallas. Per Todd Archer of ESPN.com (via Twitter), here’s the full list of roster moves made by the Cowboys in advance of this afternoon’s deadline:
Cut:
- Chris Boyd, WR
- Caleb Hanie, QB
- Tom Hornsey, P
- Casey Kreiter, LS
- Adewale Ojomo, DE
- Wayne Tribue, G
Waived-injured:
- Justin Green, CB
- DeVonte Holloman, LB
- Matt Johnson, S
- Jordan Najvar, TE
- Johnny Thomas, S
Placed on injured reserve:
- Ben Gardner, DE
Placed on reserve/non-football injury list:
- Amobi Okoye, DT
East Notes: Hanie, Cowboys, Eagles, Pace
As Todd Archer of ESPN.com writes, Brandon Weeden may have been the biggest beneficiary of Kyle Orton‘s absence from the Cowboys’ spring workouts, but it’s worked out for Caleb Hanie as well. The quarterback, who drew interest from Dallas in 2008 before he signed with the Bears as an undrafted free agent, is competing for a roster spot and isn’t going to let Orton’s presence – or lack thereof – at training camp affect his approach.
“If he’s here, I’ll notice,” Hanie said. “If he’s not, I don’t worry about that. I just worry about what I can do and control and see how it goes from here.”
Here’s more from around the NFL’s two East divisions:
- In a separate piece for ESPN.com, Archer fields readers’ questions from Twitter, providing his take on the Cowboys‘ acquisition of Rolando McClain, whether or not the team is in rebuild mode, and the long-term prospects of Zack Martin vs. Travis Frederick.
- Archer also contributes to ESPN.com’s look at burning questions for NFC East teams, exploring whether the Cowboys‘ defense can be passable following the departures of Jason Hatcher and DeMarcus Ware, as well as Sean Lee‘s season-ending injury. Within the same piece, Phil Sheridan discusses the impact free agent signee Malcolm Jenkins will have on the Eagles‘ secondary.
- While Calvin Pace is set to turn 34 this fall, the Jets were willing to re-sign him to a two-year contract in March, and we shouldn’t assume he’ll ease into a reduced role, says Brian Costello of the New York Post.
Cowboys Sign Caleb Hanie
The Cowboys have signed former Bears quarterback Caleb Hanie to a one-year contract, according to Jeff Dickerson of ESPNChicago.com (via Twitter). Since his stint in Chicago, Hanie has spent time with the Broncos and Browns.
Hanie, a Dallas native, likely won’t be a real factor in the Cowboys’ quarterback picture in 2014, considering the team already has Kyle Orton and Brandon Weeden on the roster to compete for the No. 2 job behind Tony Romo. Nonetheless, perhaps the signing is a signal that there are still lingering question marks about Orton’s future. As our Rory Parks wrote earlier this week, Orton’s absence from the Cowboys’ voluntary offseason workouts was worth keeping an eye on, given the rumors of retirement that surrounded the veteran signal-caller this year.
After being thrust into his first extended action in the 2010 NFC championship game against the Packers, Hanie appeared in six games for the Bears in 2011, losing all four of his starts, while completing 50% of his passes and throwing nine interceptions.