Latest On Cowboys’ Tyrone Crawford
Cowboys defensive lineman Tyrone Crawford underwent surgery to both hips to repair a labrum tear, Clarence Hill of the Star-Telegram tweets. His injury was much more serious than initially thought, but he still plans on returning in the spring and playing in 2020, Hill hears. 
[RELATED: Urban Meyer: “I Think I’m Done Coaching”]
Crawford didn’t look like himself this year as his hip issue limited him to a part-time role. Initially, the Cowboys planned on having him rest up and return, but they ultimately placed him on IR after a two-game breather on the bench.
Before all of this, Crawford was largely healthy throughout his Cowboys career. He missed only a handful of games between 2012-2018 and last year he started in all 15 of his games and notched a career-high 5.5 sacks.
Crawford, 30, has one more year to go on the five-year extension he inked with the club back in 2015. He’s slated to count for a $9.1MM cap figure in 2020 with a base salary of $8MM.
Minor NFL Transactions: 12/16/19
Here are today’s minor moves:
Detroit Lions
- Claimed: OL Caleb Benenoch
Miami Dolphins
- Waived/inured: CB Ken Crawley
Pittsburgh Steelers
- Promoted: WR Amara Darboh
- Waived: WR Tevin Jones
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- Signed off Cowboys‘ practice squad: WR Cyril Grayson
Urban Meyer: “I Think I’m Done Coaching”
Recent reports have connected Urban Meyer to the Cowboys’ head coaching job, which is widely expected to become vacant at the end of the season. In addition, Meyer was at FedEx Field on Sunday to take in the Eagles-Redskins game, which gave rise to a report that Washington would also make a play for Meyer for its own HC post.
While Meyer would almost certainly prefer to coach the Cowboys instead of the Redskins, Meyer himself said, “I think I’m done coaching,” as Brit Hume of Fox News tweets. Per Hume, Meyer was in town for a White House Christmas party after attending Saturday’s Army-Navy game, and he knew his presence at the Redskins’ home venue would create additional speculation about his future plans.
Of course, Meyer could have simply been trying to deflect such speculation, and he did recently indicate that the Dallas gig appealed to him. Ian Rapoport of NFL.com says Meyer is certainly enjoying his retirement from coaching, but he tells us to “stay tuned” (Twitter link).
For what it’s worth, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said that he will wait until after the season to evaluate head coach Jason Garrett, as Clarence E. Hill Jr. of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram writes. But barring a Super Bowl win, it feels like Garrett will be seeking new employment in 2020.
Meyer is one of the most accomplished head coaches in college football history and boasts a 187-32 career record that includes a whopping 12-3 mark in bowl games. He also won three national championships, two with Florida and one with Ohio State.
Cowboys Deny Reaching Out To Sean Payton
The Cowboys have long been connected to Saints head coach Sean Payton and those rumblings have picked up once again this season, along with speculation about Jason Garrett‘s job security. A recent report indicated that the Cowboys expressed interest in Payton through backchannels last offseason, but VP Stephen Jones flatly denied that in an interview on Monday. 
“That’s just untrue,” Jones said. “Obviously we don’t comment on rumors like that. Obviously our focus right now is beating the Eagles. Certainly, everyone knows what we think of Jason. I do think we’ve been criticized to a fault for what we do think of him. He just did a great job getting this team back on track yesterday and we’re focused on beating the Eagles.”
The Cowboys kept their playoff hopes alive with an emphatic 44-21 win over the Rams, bringing them back to the .500 mark. With a win over the Eagles on Sunday, the Cowboys can clinch the NFC East and punch their ticket to the postseason. A loss, meanwhile, would put them on the ropes and place the Eagles in the driver’s seat – an Eagles win on Sunday coupled with a Week 17 victory over the lowly Giants would allow the bird to fly away with the divisional crown.
Sunday’s game will be critical to the Cowboys’ 2019 season and could dictate the future of Garrett. While the Cowboys sweat things out, Payton’s Saints will march their way into the playoffs behind yet another NFC South title – and, possibly, a first round bye.
Cowboys' Gifford Done For The Year
- The Cowboys pulled off a big win over the Rams on Sunday, but they also suffered a blow to their depth. Rookie linebacker Luke Gifford will miss the rest of the season with a fractured arm he picked up during the win, a source told Michael Gehlken of the Dallas Morning News (Twitter link). Gifford, an UDFA from Nebraska, has only appeared in five games this season due to injury, but he’s been playing a pretty big role on special teams when healthy. He’s yet to take a defensive snap in his pro career.
East Rumors: Rhule, Meyer, Jets
Despite reports connecting the Cowboys to Lincoln Riley and Urban Meyer, team owner Jerry Jones on Saturday downplayed the notion that he would pursue a college coach this offseason. However, Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports says Jones remains interested in Riley, and he is also paying close attention to Baylor head coach Matt Rhule.
Rhule was a hot name on the NFL head coaching circuit last year and reportedly could have had the Jets’ job if he agreed to certain appointments to his coaching staff. He signed an eight-year extension with Baylor in September, but pro teams are still interested in him. Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network shot down recent speculation that the Cowboys would pursue Sean Payton, but he says Dallas made it known through back channels last offseason it was interested in the Saints’ HC, which helped Payton land his extension with New Orleans in September (video link).
Now for more from the league’s east divisions:
- The Cowboys may not be the only team interested in Meyer. As JP Finlay of NBC Sports Washington tweets, Meyer is at FedEx field for the Redskins‘ contest against the Eagles today, and Washington would love to land Meyer as its next HC. Meyer, of course, served as Dwayne Haskins‘ head coach at Ohio State, but it seems like the Redskins don’t really meet Meyer’s criteria for coming out of retirement.
- Rich Cimini of ESPN.com expects the Jets to overhaul 50% of their roster this offseason, and he unsurprisingly names Brian Winters and Quincy Enunwa as two of the big-name players who could be cut. He also says that, if New York retains Le’Veon Bell, it should bring in another RB with the speed to run outside the tackles.
- Though the Patriots just cut kicker Josh Gable two days after adding him to the practice squad, head coach Bill Belichick suggested that Gable could be back in 2020 as possible competition for Stephen Gostkowski, as Mike Reiss of ESPN.com writes.
- In the same piece linked above, Reiss says Patriots D-line coach Bret Bielema, a former collegiate head coach with Wisconsin and Arkansas, is generating interest from college teams. Bielema is said to be open to such an opportunity if the right one presents itself.
- The NFL’s decision on the Patriots‘ punishment for Spygate 2.0 is expected shortly.
Jerry Jones Against Hiring HC From College Ranks?
The Cowboys‘ best teams during the Jerry Jones era came under head coaches the owner hired from the college ranks, with Jimmy Johnson and Barry Switzer combining for three Super Bowl wins and six playoff berths from 1991-96. But the owner’s past five HC hires have come from the professional ranks. Jones is either attempting a stealth run at a college coach this time around or has changed his line of thinking since the Johnson-Switzer days.
Both Oklahoma’s Lincoln Riley and acclaimed ex-Ohio State leader Urban Meyer have been linked to the Cowboys, so it’s probably best not to dismiss Jones going the college route. But this stance does not point to the 77-year-old owner looking beyond the pro ranks for Jason Garrett‘s replacement.
Cowboys Promote LB Chris Covington
Chris Covington is getting another chance on the Cowboys active roster. Michael Gehlken of the Dallas Morning News reports (via Twitter) that the linebacker has been promoted from the practice squad. Offensive tackle Caleb Benenoch was waived in a corresponding roster move.
The 2018 sixth-round pick has spent his entire career with the Cowboys organization. He appeared in five games as a rookie, compiling one tackle. Otherwise, he was inactive for Dallas’s other 11 contests.
Covington had a standout game in the Cowboys’ preseason opener, finishing with six tackles. However, he was waived by the Cowboys at the end of August, and he subsequently caught on with their practice squad. He had a brief stint on the active roster back in September.
As Gehlken notes, Sean Lee is questionable for Sunday’s game against the Rams. The linebacker missed an entire week of practice as he recovers from a thigh and pectoral issue. If Lee is forced out of the lineup, then Gehlken opines that undrafted rookie Luke Gifford would earn the majority of snaps at Sam linebacker. Covington would most likely be on the roster for emergency depth.
NFC East Notes: Shurmur, Vander Esch, Eagles
Giants head coach Pat Shurmur is clearly on the hot seat, and everything we have heard this year suggests that he could be fired at season’s end. And as Paul Schwartz of the New York Post writes, the sentiment for bringing Shurmur back for the 2020 season is dimming within the organization because there is simply no concrete reason to suggest that he should be retained. Previous reports indicated that Shurmur could keep his job simply for the sake of giving young QB Daniel Jones some continuity, but Schwartz says the cons of keeping Shurmur outweigh that potential pro.
Schwartz does not offer an update on Big Blue’s plans for GM Dave Gettleman, and the fact that the Giants have historically practiced patience with their GMs and knew that they were tasking Gettleman with a rebuilding job could mean that he is safe for 2020. But will the team trust him to hire another HC since the Shurmur hire has flopped, or will ownership just clean house and start afresh? All options are definitely on the table.
Let’s take a swing around the NFC East:
- Cowboys linebacker Leighton Vander Esch has not played since November 17 due to a neck injury, and while there has been some improvement, the 23-year-old is still not ready to practice, as Todd Archer of ESPN.com writes. The club is not ready to put Vander Esch on IR just yet, but it sounds like that could be a possibility.
- The Eagles may have lost WR Alshon Jeffery for the season, and as Bo Wulf and Zach Berman of The Athletic write, Nelson Agholor‘s status remains up in the air. Agholor sat out the team’s Monday night win with a knee injury, so Philly may need to make more than one WR roster move. Old friend Jordan Matthews just signed with the 49ers, so Berman believes it’s more likely that the team will promote one or two of their taxi squad wideouts than sign a free agent. Wulf, though, names a few players on other practice squads that the Eagles could poach.
- Speaking of Jeffery, Eliot Shorr-Parks of 94WIP.com says the Eagles have no choice but to release the veteran wideout if they cannot find a trade partner for him (which seems highly unlikely). Because the team guaranteed Jeffery’s 2020 salary earlier this year in order to create more cap room, cutting Jeffery will result in an enormous dead cap number of over $26MM in 2020. That seems like an impossible pill to swallow, even if the club were to designate him as a post-June 1 cut to spread out the dead cap money over two years, but Shorr-Parks believes the team will indeed cut Jeffery if he cannot be traded.
Minor NFL Transactions: 12/10/19
Today’s minor moves:
Arizona Cardinals
- Re-signed DL Caraun Reid
- Placed on IR: DL Rodney Gunter
Dallas Cowboys
- Promoted from practice squad: OT Mitch Hyatt
- Placed on IR: WR Cedrick Wilson
Jacksonville Jaguars
- Signed: LB Dakota Allen, C Tyler Gauthier
- Placed on IR: LB Jake Ryan
Miami Dolphins
- Signed off New England’s practice squad: DB Nate Brooks
- Signed off Tennessee’s practice squad: LB Jamal Davis
- Claimed off waivers from Packers: OT Adam Pankey
- Placed on IR: CBs Ryan Lewis and Ken Webster
- Waived: RB Zach Zenner
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- Promoted: WR Ishmael Hyman
Washington Redskins
- Suspended: CB Simeon Thomas (four games)
Interestingly Dallas’ hand was forced with Hyatt, as they promoted the offensive lineman because another team was trying to poach him away, a source told Calvin Watkins of The Dallas Morning News (Twitter link). He’s a rookie UDFA from Clemson. Elsewhere, the Dolphins are scooping up players from other teams left and right as they build for 2020.