Cowboys Claim Zac Dysert Off Waivers
Zac Dysert has not played in a regular-season NFL game despite being a 2013 draft pick, but the quarterback found another taker on Monday after the Cardinals waived him on Friday. The Cowboys submitted a successful claim and landed Dysert on waivers, Rob Phillips of DallasCowboys.com tweets.
To make room on their 90-man roster, the Cowboys waived quarterback Austin Appleby.
This will be Dysert’s seventh NFL team. The former seventh-round Broncos pick most recently caught on with the Cardinals early in the 2016 season. He’d gone to camp with the Dolphins last year but landed in Arizona soon after. However, the equation changed in the desert after the Cardinals signed Blaine Gabbert in May to play behind Carson Palmer and Drew Stanton.
Prior to Gabbert’s arrival in Arizona, Dysert signed an ERFA tender and was working out with the Cardinals during OTAs. In Dallas, the 27-year-old Dysert figures to have a path toward the No. 3 role. The team re-signed Kellen Moore to be Dak Prescott‘s backup. In Moore and Dysert, the Cowboys have two players with a combined nine years of NFL roster or practice squad time but only two career games — both from Moore in 2015.
Appleby was a UDFA out of Florida.
Is RB Alfred Morris Expendable?
Alfred Morris only played 112 snaps during his first season with the Cowboys, and Charean Williams of ProFootballTalk.com writes that the veteran running back’s future with the organization “remains murky.”
According to the writer, the Cowboys believe Morris has more success when he has more carries, but that isn’t a possibility in Dallas. Ezekiel Elliott should see even more responsibility in his second NFL season, and the team also re-signed veteran Darren McFadden this offseason.
Terrance Williams Took Less Money For Cowboys
Terrance Williams took less money to stay with the Cowboys, the wide receiver tells Drew Davison of the Star Telegram. Williams re-signed a four-year, $17MM contract with $9.5MM guaranteed early on in free agency. 
[RELATED: Cowboys, Zack Martin Put Extension Talks On Hold]
“It just wasn’t about money to me,” Williams said of his free agency. “There was a lot of money I could have taken, but it’s just the people. The guys I hang around with in my locker room and then the coaches that I have. That’s a bigger price tag on it for me than money.”
Williams, a third-round pick of the Cowboys in 2013, mentioned fellow receiver Dez Bryant as one reason he gave Dallas a hometown discount. It also helps that Williams is already familiar with the playbook and has already enjoyed success with the team. He had 44 grabs for 594 yards and four touchdowns in 2016. In the year prior, he set watermarks in receptions (52) and yards (840).
Cowboys, Zack Martin Extension Talks On Hold
The Cowboys and guard Zack Martin aren’t expected to reach agreement on an extension in the near future, as negotiations won’t begin “in earnest” until later this summer, reports Todd Archer of ESPN.com.
The lack of urgency between Dallas and Martin isn’t entirely surprising, as the Cowboys control the All Pro offensive lineman through 2018 after exercising his fifth-year option earlier this year. But executive VP Stephen Jones called an eventual Martin extension a “big priority,” and Martin himself is in favor of a long-term deal.
“It would be huge,” Martin said. “I’m not real worried about that. I’m worried about playing. Obviously I’ll be here for hopefully a long time. These guys make it fun to come to work every day…Hopefully we can get something done.”
Martin, 26, has started all 48 games since joining Dallas three years ago, and has emerged as one of the league’s best guard on one of the NFL’s finest offensive lines. Playing alongside talents such as left tackle Tyron Smith and center Travis Frederick — each of whom are signed to long-term deals — Martin graded as the third-best guard of 2016, per Pro Football Focus.
As Archer notes, the Cowboys picked up $14MM in cap space today when Tony Romo‘s post-June 1 release was officially processed, but that savings doesn’t figure to be immediately utilized on a Martin extension. Based on Dallas’ precedents, Martin’s new deal figures to be “cap neutral,” meaning his 2017 cap charge won’t be altered.
Details On Nolan Carroll's Arrest
- It’s sounding like the NFL’s investigation into Cowboys star Ezekiel Elliott is winding down, and Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com says there are three possible scenarios that could play out next. For starters, the NFL could simply continue their investigation. They could alternatively determine that the running back “violated the Personal Conduct Policy,” and they’d presumably slap him with some type of punishment. The ideal route (at least in this impartial writer’s eyes) is the third option, which sees the NFL clearing Elliott and ending their investigation.
- Thanks to Claire Z. Cardona of The Dallas News, details have emerged on Nolan Carroll‘s arrest last week for driving while intoxicated. Police pulled the Cowboys cornerback over at 2:20am after seeing him driving on the wrong side of the road. The 30-year-old told police that he hadn’t been drinking, and he noted that he “had not taken prescription medications or illegal drugs in the last 24 hours.” After getting arrested, Carroll “refused to voluntarily give a blood specimen.”
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Cowboys Sign Ross Burbank
- The Cowboys have signed center Ross Burbank and waived wide receiver Quincy McDuffie, according to Todd Archer of ESPN.com. Per Archer, Dallas head coach Jason Garrett said earlier this week the Cowboys were in need of offensive line depth, and they’ve now added another front five player in Burbank, who was originally an undrafted free agent in 2016. He’s spent the past year with the Raiders and Seahawks, but doesn’t have any NFL experience. McDuffie, meanwhile, had signed a reserve/futures deal with the Cowboys in January.
Latest On Cowboys’ Ezekiel Elliott
The NFL’s investigation into Cowboys star Ezekiel Elliott could be winding down. The NFL Players Association recently turned over phone records and other documents that league investigators have been seeking in their probe of domestic violence allegations against the running back, Tom Pelissero of USA Today writes. 
The NFL was asking for Elliott’s phone records for a while, but the running back’s camp was reluctant to turn those over and the union was also putting up a battle for fear of setting a bad precedent. As Pelissero notes, phone records also became an issue in the Tom Brady Deflategate case. Ultimately, Brady’s unwillingness to fully cooperate with the investigation led to him being served with a controversial four-game suspension.
Last year, a woman accused Elliott of abusing her on two separate occasions in 2016. However, the 21-year-old was never arrested nor charged for either supposed incident. In one case, a key witness says Elliott’s accuser told her to lie to police about a separate incident. From a legal standpoint, there’s little evidence to pin Elliott for wrongdoing, but the NFL requires much less proof to dole out a suspension or fine. The league is also feeling increased pressure to come down hard on domestic violence cases in the wake of the Ray Rice fiasco.
The NFL opened its investigation in July, meaning that we are nearing its one-year mark.
Stephen Jones Addresses Irving, Carroll Situations
- The Cowboys learned last week that defensive end David Irving is facing a four-game ban after failing a test for performance enhancing drugs. That was followed by yesterday’s news that cornerback Nolan Carroll was arrested for driving while intoxicated. Predictably, executive vice president Stephen Jones wasn’t particularly happy with these developments. “We just have to continue to try to educate these young men that there’s consequences and there’s accountability that you have to have for the bad decisions you make,” Jones said during an interview on the team’s website (via Jon Machota of the Dallas News). “Then we have to move forward and do the very best we can. We know it’s frustrating and disappointing to our fans and all the people who support us…At the same time, they have to know that we’re dealing with young people who aren’t going to be perfect, and we’ll obviously try to continue to draft the right kind of guys, but the right type of guy can make a bad decision every now and then as well.”
- The Cowboys lost a pair of team leaders this offseason in safety Barry Church and cornerback Brandon Carr. Following the news of Irving’s potential suspension and Carroll’s arrest, David Moore of the Dallas News writes that the team isn’t “off to a good start replacing” those veterans’ positive locker room presence.
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Nolan Carroll Arrested For DWI
Cowboys cornerback Nolan Carroll was arrested for driving while intoxicated early Monday morning, according David Moore of the Dallas Morning News (Twitter link).
Dallas police arrested the 30-year-old Carroll, who posted bond at 2:45 p.m. Monday and was released from custody. Moore points out the Cowboys offer free Uber rides for players who feel they’re unfit to drive. Police pulled Carroll over for a traffic violation around 2:20 a.m., leading to the arrest, Clarence Hill of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports.
The Cowboys signed Carroll in March, and the veteran defender is expected to start for the team after doing so with the Eagles. Dallas signed Carroll during an offseason that saw both Morris Claiborne and Brandon Carr defect in free agency. Carroll signed a three-year, $10MM deal to join Dallas after playing three seasons as a starter in Philadelphia.
A former Dolphins draft pick, Carroll is expected to start for the Cowboys this season. Now, he might face a suspension. Already having embattled defenders Randy Gregory and Rolando McClain no closer to returning, the Cowboys received notice last week David Irving failed a drug test and faces a four-game suspension. A Carroll ban would further deplete a defense that also lost Barry Church and J.J. Wilcox.
The Cowboys added corners Chidobe Awuzie and Jourdan Lewis on Day 2 of the draft, and if Carroll incurs a suspension from this, they could be pressed into duty alongside Orlando Scandrick. Second-year man Anthony Brown factors into this equation as well.
Cowboys QB Coach Wouldn't Mind Backup QB Addition To Push Kellen Moore
- Cowboys 11th-year quarterbacks coach Wade Wilson would be on board with the team bringing in competition for Kellen Moore, who is entering his sixth season but has just three career games (all with the 2015 Cowboys) to his name. “I do think that we need to create competition for him, and that’s at every position, but especially at the quarterback position,” Wilson said, via Matt Galatzan of Scout.com. “So because he hasn’t played, if there’s a veteran out there that we want to bring in and compete against him, I’d be all for that, but if not, I feel very comfortable about him going out there and playing.” The Cowboys were in on Josh McCown but didn’t come close to matching the Jets’ offer. They signed Moore, who is coming off a season-ending injury, to a one-year, $775K deal in March.