UT: It's not optimism, just inevitability. All three of those vets could be viable one more season but something has to give among all those big contracts. Look at the state of the franchise today. It's all they can do to bring in discount free agents and that's after a ton of restructuring.
I really dislike Rick Gosselin of the DMN, but one thing he harps on which I agree with is how afraid of youth the Cowboys tend to be. They tend not to put a lot of young players out there until forced to.
Now I don't mean every single 6th round rookie should be starting instantly. But guys like Parnell, Lissemore, Wilber, Hanna, maybe Cook, Moore...what are they here for? Why give Costa, Lissemore & Parnell extensions if they can't play?
When you look back at how Ratliff, Romo, Miles, Hatcher, all got their starting jobs, someone had to get hurt. Hatcher rode the bench for 5 seasons behind Igor Olshansky and Marcus Spears types.
And if you try these guys and they fail, you get a Rob Petitti story. Don't know if you guys remember him, he was a 6th round tackle in Cowboys took in the very sick 2005 draft. He went the round before Ratliff.
Seriously, look how sick that class was.
But Petitti, for those who forgot: 6th round nobody. Jacob Rogers was supposed to start, but he decides to sit the season out with an elected surgery that could have waited. Pisses team off and they cut him (a year after being a 2nd round pick). Petitti comes in as rookie, plays every single offensive down as starting right tackle all year. Doesn't do so hot but good effort and enough to not be benched, partially because Flozell also lost for the year. They go 9-7 after a rash of injuries. The following year Petitti doesn't even make the team, so they go out and get Marc Colombo.
To me that's fine. They could have gone and grabbed a street FA that year for $2m--sometimes useful, sometimes Alex Barron--but instead they went with a healthy in-house prospect and gave him a good look. Torrin Tucker and Rob Petitti were the tackles with Drew Bledsoe at QB. He took 49 sacks that year (lol), and actually Tucker didn't return to the team the following year either.
So I mean when I see Lissemore getting a 5-year deal, I wonder why? He's been around 3 seasons and barely sees the field. If he can play then give him a shot. If it doesn't work out, the money you save letting Ratliff go can pay for a replacement. And if he can't play, churn him out and get some fresh blood.
I guess I just don't see the point in cultivating career backups. A couple years is okay if there's a strong player with a good value contract in front of them. But if you're going into year 3, 4, 5 and giving them raises to stay backups while hanging on to older and progressively more costly and risky vets, I'm not sure I see how the team improves.