Post by heavyg on Mar 13, 2007 21:35:27 GMT -7
Mickey Spagnola - Email
DallasCowboys.com Columnist
March 13, 2007 5:40 PM IRVING, Texas - The Cowboys took a flier in 2005 on Marc Colombo.
Not sure we'd even call it a calculated flier. More like a shot in the dark.
My gosh, since the Bears drafted him with the 29th pick in the 2002 draft, he had started all of seven NFL games - five of those his rookie season. He had played in 19 of a possible 56 NFL games, 10 of those his rookie year and just the opener to the 2005 season.
The Bears had enough. They gave up. They figured the dislocated left knee he suffered in that 10th game he played his rookie season, along with the accompanying femoral nerve damage, was more than he would ever overcome. They just got out an eraser to rub out their first-round pick.
Colombo would sit in NFL limbo the next seven weeks. Oh, he'd have teams call, and even bring him in for a workout. But that was the extent of their interest. The guy just wasn't ever right again.
The NFL scrap heap wasn't far from limbo.
"I have this theory," then Cowboys head coach Bill Parcells said at the time. "At some point in time someone thought that he was a very good football player. Al Davis taught me to pay attention to the fact that someone thought very highly of someone as a player. If you can afford to and have the opportunity to, you should at least explore the possibility of finding that out for yourself."
So the Cowboys gambled, but in the scheme of things, it was about a $2 bet judging by today's free-agency standard. The roster spot probably was more costly than the fourth-year minimum he signed for or the fifth-year minimum he ended up playing for in 2006. Mere peanuts of a two-year deal.
Parcells merely told the former first-round draft choice this:
"I don't want you to look at this like I need you in a week and a half. I want you to look down the road."
Yeah, one of those Farm to Market roads at that.
Parcells just wanted Colombo to get strong again, and he wasn't talking solely about his upper body. He meant strength in his legs, something he struggled to regain after the near career-threatening knee injury, subsequent surgery and laying out the entire 2003 season on injured reserve.
See, the Bears couldn't wait. He was their first-round pick. They needed him now, or at least needed to find out if he was part of their future. They couldn't keep paying first-round base salaries for nothing. So he was rushed back in 2004, when he played eight games, and really, he still wasn't at himself for camp in 2005. After the opener, that was enough. Colombo was cut.
The Cowboys, with no cash outlay, they could wait. They could basically pay him minimum to work out, betting on the come. But truthfully, even they had no idea, and certainly no clue the guy eventually would not only win the starting job at right tackle in 2006, but play well enough to earn a two-year invite back.
"That might have been too much to hope for," Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said this past Friday after re-signing Colombo to that two-year, $7 million deal scheduled to pay him $5 million of that this year.
Hey, he knows better than most that in the NFL, to steal a line from Rush, "You don't get something for nothing . . . you don't get freedom for free."
After all, how many times had the Cowboys failed when trying, imprisoned by their own gambles? Remember, Kareem Larrimore was supposed to be a fourth-round steal. He ended up being a waste of time. The Cowboys were supposedly getting first-round talent when they drafted Solomon Page in the second. He eventually proved no better than second-day talent.
Need I remind you of Antonio Bryant, Derek Ross and Willie Blade? All gambles for one reason or another. All money down the drain.
Jones just might have hit this time.
"Marc had a lot to do with that," the Cowboys owner said of why this gamble is paying off. "Marc had a lot to do with that because, now he'll give Joe Juraszek (weight and conditioning coach) huge credit here, and he should because he made a difference, but Juraszek will give it up for any player that will really buy into it and is smart enough to see you can really improve yourself as a player and improve your chances of having a longer career and a more productive career.
"So while he would give Juraszek, and I do, too, a lot of credit, I don't want to discount the credit he ought to have. I've seen a lot of players hang 'em up or not pursue with just sheer work ethic and the conscientious way he has overcome his injury."
The Cowboys soon discovered Colombo had a little fight in him. He was willing to work. And that there was a sort of nasty streak in the mellow guy once he got on the field. He would make only cameo appearances late in 2005, and at that only on special teams.
But Colombo continued his hard work in the off-season, and by time training camp rolled around, the Cowboys considered him healthy enough and having regained enough leg strength to adequately compete. So he was thrown into the right tackle fray with 2005's 16-game starter Rob Petitti and 2006 free-agent signee Jason Fabini.
From an appearance sake, Colombo truthfully best looked the part. Petitti's cemented feet would never allow him to be much more than average, if that. It readily became obvious Fabini had seen better days, and had, the Cowboys releasing him last Friday.
The job became Colombo's, but who knew it wasn't by default.
"Now the old adage is a good one," Jones explained of the Cowboys' initial reasoning. "When a player has been a blue player, and I got to say coming in, most first-round picks, since they haven't played in the NFL, you have to at least first start with a blue. And when you got a chance to bring into your organization a player that's had some good recognition as a player, while he might not have played because of injury, he's got a chance to come on and be a really good player in the NFL. That makes a difference. It's longer odds if you were dealing with a seventh-round pick or a sixth-round pick, to come back and end up playing at this level."
So there was pedigree on his side. And within no time, Colombo's play began qualifying Parcells' decision to go with him at right tackle. Now he wasn't exactly dominating, but at least he was sealing off the right side for Drew Bledsoe and then Tony Romo, regardless if he was getting some extra help.
Better yet, he seemed to improve as the season drew on.
Now, not to get carried away or dabble in hyperbole here, Colombo was not a Pro Bowler waiting to happen by no means, but he wasn't a slouch either, and it had been some time since the Cowboys had such quality play out of the right tackle position. And even that might be somewhat a backhanded compliment, since playing the position following Erik Williams' final season in 2000 had been Solomon Page, Javier Collins, Ryan Young, Kurt Vollers, Torrin Tucker and Petitti.
Only Petitti made a roster last year, and at that, he was a game-day inactive 15 out of 16 times.
Still, as Jones said, "When we looked at his play and the contribution he made last year, we were really impressed. It was not only at a level we could accomplish our goals as a team, but there is room for improvement."
That's why the Cowboys only signed him to a two-year deal, but are paying him for 2007 ($5 million) as if he's a proven starter. Do what you did in 2006 again, and we'll tear up 2008 and pay you like you are ours for keeps, is what he was told.
So as important as 2006 was for Colombo, getting his foot back in the NFL door, 2007 will be twice as important. Because if he has a repeat performance, then one of those double-digit signing bonus days will await him. And wouldn't that be something?
Not only for Colombo, but the Cowboys, too, knowing most of their long-shot gambles this century have been money and, worse, draft picks, down the drain.
DallasCowboys.com Columnist
March 13, 2007 5:40 PM IRVING, Texas - The Cowboys took a flier in 2005 on Marc Colombo.
Not sure we'd even call it a calculated flier. More like a shot in the dark.
My gosh, since the Bears drafted him with the 29th pick in the 2002 draft, he had started all of seven NFL games - five of those his rookie season. He had played in 19 of a possible 56 NFL games, 10 of those his rookie year and just the opener to the 2005 season.
The Bears had enough. They gave up. They figured the dislocated left knee he suffered in that 10th game he played his rookie season, along with the accompanying femoral nerve damage, was more than he would ever overcome. They just got out an eraser to rub out their first-round pick.
Colombo would sit in NFL limbo the next seven weeks. Oh, he'd have teams call, and even bring him in for a workout. But that was the extent of their interest. The guy just wasn't ever right again.
The NFL scrap heap wasn't far from limbo.
"I have this theory," then Cowboys head coach Bill Parcells said at the time. "At some point in time someone thought that he was a very good football player. Al Davis taught me to pay attention to the fact that someone thought very highly of someone as a player. If you can afford to and have the opportunity to, you should at least explore the possibility of finding that out for yourself."
So the Cowboys gambled, but in the scheme of things, it was about a $2 bet judging by today's free-agency standard. The roster spot probably was more costly than the fourth-year minimum he signed for or the fifth-year minimum he ended up playing for in 2006. Mere peanuts of a two-year deal.
Parcells merely told the former first-round draft choice this:
"I don't want you to look at this like I need you in a week and a half. I want you to look down the road."
Yeah, one of those Farm to Market roads at that.
Parcells just wanted Colombo to get strong again, and he wasn't talking solely about his upper body. He meant strength in his legs, something he struggled to regain after the near career-threatening knee injury, subsequent surgery and laying out the entire 2003 season on injured reserve.
See, the Bears couldn't wait. He was their first-round pick. They needed him now, or at least needed to find out if he was part of their future. They couldn't keep paying first-round base salaries for nothing. So he was rushed back in 2004, when he played eight games, and really, he still wasn't at himself for camp in 2005. After the opener, that was enough. Colombo was cut.
The Cowboys, with no cash outlay, they could wait. They could basically pay him minimum to work out, betting on the come. But truthfully, even they had no idea, and certainly no clue the guy eventually would not only win the starting job at right tackle in 2006, but play well enough to earn a two-year invite back.
"That might have been too much to hope for," Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said this past Friday after re-signing Colombo to that two-year, $7 million deal scheduled to pay him $5 million of that this year.
Hey, he knows better than most that in the NFL, to steal a line from Rush, "You don't get something for nothing . . . you don't get freedom for free."
After all, how many times had the Cowboys failed when trying, imprisoned by their own gambles? Remember, Kareem Larrimore was supposed to be a fourth-round steal. He ended up being a waste of time. The Cowboys were supposedly getting first-round talent when they drafted Solomon Page in the second. He eventually proved no better than second-day talent.
Need I remind you of Antonio Bryant, Derek Ross and Willie Blade? All gambles for one reason or another. All money down the drain.
Jones just might have hit this time.
"Marc had a lot to do with that," the Cowboys owner said of why this gamble is paying off. "Marc had a lot to do with that because, now he'll give Joe Juraszek (weight and conditioning coach) huge credit here, and he should because he made a difference, but Juraszek will give it up for any player that will really buy into it and is smart enough to see you can really improve yourself as a player and improve your chances of having a longer career and a more productive career.
"So while he would give Juraszek, and I do, too, a lot of credit, I don't want to discount the credit he ought to have. I've seen a lot of players hang 'em up or not pursue with just sheer work ethic and the conscientious way he has overcome his injury."
The Cowboys soon discovered Colombo had a little fight in him. He was willing to work. And that there was a sort of nasty streak in the mellow guy once he got on the field. He would make only cameo appearances late in 2005, and at that only on special teams.
But Colombo continued his hard work in the off-season, and by time training camp rolled around, the Cowboys considered him healthy enough and having regained enough leg strength to adequately compete. So he was thrown into the right tackle fray with 2005's 16-game starter Rob Petitti and 2006 free-agent signee Jason Fabini.
From an appearance sake, Colombo truthfully best looked the part. Petitti's cemented feet would never allow him to be much more than average, if that. It readily became obvious Fabini had seen better days, and had, the Cowboys releasing him last Friday.
The job became Colombo's, but who knew it wasn't by default.
"Now the old adage is a good one," Jones explained of the Cowboys' initial reasoning. "When a player has been a blue player, and I got to say coming in, most first-round picks, since they haven't played in the NFL, you have to at least first start with a blue. And when you got a chance to bring into your organization a player that's had some good recognition as a player, while he might not have played because of injury, he's got a chance to come on and be a really good player in the NFL. That makes a difference. It's longer odds if you were dealing with a seventh-round pick or a sixth-round pick, to come back and end up playing at this level."
So there was pedigree on his side. And within no time, Colombo's play began qualifying Parcells' decision to go with him at right tackle. Now he wasn't exactly dominating, but at least he was sealing off the right side for Drew Bledsoe and then Tony Romo, regardless if he was getting some extra help.
Better yet, he seemed to improve as the season drew on.
Now, not to get carried away or dabble in hyperbole here, Colombo was not a Pro Bowler waiting to happen by no means, but he wasn't a slouch either, and it had been some time since the Cowboys had such quality play out of the right tackle position. And even that might be somewhat a backhanded compliment, since playing the position following Erik Williams' final season in 2000 had been Solomon Page, Javier Collins, Ryan Young, Kurt Vollers, Torrin Tucker and Petitti.
Only Petitti made a roster last year, and at that, he was a game-day inactive 15 out of 16 times.
Still, as Jones said, "When we looked at his play and the contribution he made last year, we were really impressed. It was not only at a level we could accomplish our goals as a team, but there is room for improvement."
That's why the Cowboys only signed him to a two-year deal, but are paying him for 2007 ($5 million) as if he's a proven starter. Do what you did in 2006 again, and we'll tear up 2008 and pay you like you are ours for keeps, is what he was told.
So as important as 2006 was for Colombo, getting his foot back in the NFL door, 2007 will be twice as important. Because if he has a repeat performance, then one of those double-digit signing bonus days will await him. And wouldn't that be something?
Not only for Colombo, but the Cowboys, too, knowing most of their long-shot gambles this century have been money and, worse, draft picks, down the drain.