Cut Crawford? Tyrone’s Presence at The Star Suggests Another Cowboys Plan
FRISCO - We use the term "cap casualty'' rather loosely, given the fact that the word "casualty'' is actually more about a person who has died. But Tyrone Crawford? He is, due to our own eye-witness accounts on two recent visits inside The Star in Frisco, an alive-and-kicking member of the Dallas Cowboys.
"Doin' great!'' he said to us the other way, striding down a corridor with seemingly no ill effects following the surgery on both hips that ended his 2019 season prematurely.
And now it's time for 2020. Crawford is under contract but he himself has made no secret of the dollars and sense involved in keeping him.
Crawford is scheduled to count $9.1 million against the cap next season. An outright release would shave $8 million off the Cowboys' cap. The temptation to examine that is natural. But there's another way to approach this.
Previous to the hip problems, Crawford was an iron man. He was also a playmaker, as in 2018 he started 15 games and notched a career-high 5.5 sacks. And at age 30, he's a vital team leader and a "bully'' (in a good way) in practice; in fact, his absence from the team following the December surgery likely created a leadership void. (And ruined his chance of wearing his Super Bowl suit in the best place possible; see our Video Visit below.)
Crawford can play most any position across the defensive line, and he does so unselfishly. That's a trait that head coach Mike McCarthy and coordinator Mike Nolan figure to value, given the fact that outside of DeMarcus Lawrence, the Dallas roster is terribly shy of D-linemen.
Tyrone Crawford's frequent presence here inside The Star in February speaks volumes about his intentions. The team's intentions are not yet as clear. But soon, he'll find himself upstairs inside team headquarters, working toward a way to stay alive and kicking as a Cowboy.
