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Ellis: Don't Blame Spears If He Ends Up Elsewhere
Josh Ellis
DallasCowboys.com Staff Writer
IRVING, Texas - Overwhelmingly, the @replies were positive, but I think there are probably a few Cowboys fans who owe Marcus Spears an apology.
I will say first off that there has scarcely been a more reluctant free agent than Spears, who, after finding out for certain Monday that he wasn't going to get a contract extension before the deadline Thursday night, posted a message explaining the situation on his personal Twitter account.
"Testing the market folks!" he tweeted. "Thank you all in Dallas for the support it's still possible I could be back, but it's shaky."
No matter how many times Spears, his coaches and teammates explained over the last few years that his position in the 3-4 was to be that of a garbage man, doing the dirty work that allowed guys like Jay Ratliff and DeMarcus Ware to flourish, it wasn't enough for a lot of people. It seems so often folks are swept up in the emotion of their own expectations that reason goes out the window, and Spears, after all, came to the Cowboys as a first-round pick.
So, never mind that Spears was a pro's pro all this time. Never mind that he was a hard-worker, a guy who didn't complain, a guy who was consistent on the field and off it and never missed a game in six years until his 2010 season ended halfway through after he suffered a calf strain. Never mind that - on a team that has been wont for real leadership the last several years - he was always a stand-up guy in the locker room.
Unfortunately he wasn't "Too Tall" Jones, and that always ticked some people off. Some two years after he first started talking about his hopes to sign a long-term extension, a few fans took to Twitter on Monday to tell him what they thought of the fact he might have to leave the Cowboys.
"Well, see ya later," one tweeted to him. "Thanks for a whole lot of nothing."
"He won't be miss'd!!" was another directed at the defensive lineman, whose Marcus Spears 96 Foundation serves underprivileged youth in the Dallas area and Baton Rouge, La., where he's from.
"Bye. Next," replied another.
Of course, this isn't the first time Spears or the other Cowboys who put themselves out there for public interaction have been disrespected in such a way. Sounding pretty much over it, Spears later thanked so many fans for the well-wishes, and offered a word of kindness for "the haters," letting them know that their opinion is respected as well.
If I were Spears, I don't know that "respected" would be the word that comes to mind, but I certainly wouldn't forget what anyone said. In fact, I would take it under advisement if and when the Eagles or Redskins come-a-calling.
The 27-year-old Spears has always seemed to have his priorities pretty well in order. First, he's about raising a family, as he and wife Aiysha have two young kids. Second has always been football. Third is hunting. But they have football and bucks and wild hogs elsewhere, and Spears doesn't exactly owe the Cowboys anything, at least not to the extent that his children deserve to go to a school where the other kids don't harass them because there dad doesn't get a lot of sacks.
In 2005, Spears signed a five-year contract with the Cowboys, who had picked him 20th overall that April. One year later, the NFL owners and the players union worked out a new collective bargaining agreement - the one set to expire in a couple days - that allowed management to opt out before the deal was finished, and play the 2010 season without a salary cap. Rather than Spears having the chance to get fair market value after a fifth year of service, as his original contract stipulated, he was indentured on a restricted free agency tender last year, and made less than two of his backups, Stephen Bowen and Jason Hatcher.
As Spears the professional would say, that's the business. He never once complained about it, though he did continue to express his hope that the Cowboys would get with him to talk about a new deal to keep him in town. They didn't.
Now, this isn't all to say the club has wronged Spears. They've fulfilled their contractual obligations and made him a pretty rich guy over the last six years. They haven't messed with his snaps or kept him down in any way. And now, unless an avenue opens up for him to come back at a bargain price, they're set to let him walk, just like they allowed Chris Canty to go free a couple of years ago, instead bringing in the much cheaper Igor Olshansky.
Good as Spears has been in his role, the team decided a while back that he wouldn't be successful as a third-down rusher. In order to afford Ware's contract and Ratliff's eventual extension, the Cowboys have to make sacrifices occasionally, particularly with the assumption a salary cap is coming back. Paying big bucks to a very good run-stopper doesn't make as much sense financially as it might from an X's-and-O's perspective.
As a free agent, Spears will have to do what makes sense for him. That likely will mean, first and foremost, taking care of his family. He owes it to them to get the last dollar rather than worry about being a team guy, or what some fans will say. No one should begrudge him for taking care of his priorities.
There is a real person, a very good one, behind the Madden character and the Twitter avatar, one equipped with real emotions, problems, wants and needs just like the rest of us. Of course, in most instances, everyone else is represented anonymously on the net, which, for whatever reason, seems to break down the accepted norms of human interaction.
While he waits, probably a little nervously, for his future to come into focus, most people who cross paths with Spears in real life would wish him the best of luck.
Fitting that within 140 characters should be pretty easy.
Ellis: Don't Blame Spears If He Ends Up Elsewhere
Josh Ellis
DallasCowboys.com Staff Writer
IRVING, Texas - Overwhelmingly, the @replies were positive, but I think there are probably a few Cowboys fans who owe Marcus Spears an apology.
I will say first off that there has scarcely been a more reluctant free agent than Spears, who, after finding out for certain Monday that he wasn't going to get a contract extension before the deadline Thursday night, posted a message explaining the situation on his personal Twitter account.
"Testing the market folks!" he tweeted. "Thank you all in Dallas for the support it's still possible I could be back, but it's shaky."
No matter how many times Spears, his coaches and teammates explained over the last few years that his position in the 3-4 was to be that of a garbage man, doing the dirty work that allowed guys like Jay Ratliff and DeMarcus Ware to flourish, it wasn't enough for a lot of people. It seems so often folks are swept up in the emotion of their own expectations that reason goes out the window, and Spears, after all, came to the Cowboys as a first-round pick.
So, never mind that Spears was a pro's pro all this time. Never mind that he was a hard-worker, a guy who didn't complain, a guy who was consistent on the field and off it and never missed a game in six years until his 2010 season ended halfway through after he suffered a calf strain. Never mind that - on a team that has been wont for real leadership the last several years - he was always a stand-up guy in the locker room.
Unfortunately he wasn't "Too Tall" Jones, and that always ticked some people off. Some two years after he first started talking about his hopes to sign a long-term extension, a few fans took to Twitter on Monday to tell him what they thought of the fact he might have to leave the Cowboys.
"Well, see ya later," one tweeted to him. "Thanks for a whole lot of nothing."
"He won't be miss'd!!" was another directed at the defensive lineman, whose Marcus Spears 96 Foundation serves underprivileged youth in the Dallas area and Baton Rouge, La., where he's from.
"Bye. Next," replied another.
Of course, this isn't the first time Spears or the other Cowboys who put themselves out there for public interaction have been disrespected in such a way. Sounding pretty much over it, Spears later thanked so many fans for the well-wishes, and offered a word of kindness for "the haters," letting them know that their opinion is respected as well.
If I were Spears, I don't know that "respected" would be the word that comes to mind, but I certainly wouldn't forget what anyone said. In fact, I would take it under advisement if and when the Eagles or Redskins come-a-calling.
The 27-year-old Spears has always seemed to have his priorities pretty well in order. First, he's about raising a family, as he and wife Aiysha have two young kids. Second has always been football. Third is hunting. But they have football and bucks and wild hogs elsewhere, and Spears doesn't exactly owe the Cowboys anything, at least not to the extent that his children deserve to go to a school where the other kids don't harass them because there dad doesn't get a lot of sacks.
In 2005, Spears signed a five-year contract with the Cowboys, who had picked him 20th overall that April. One year later, the NFL owners and the players union worked out a new collective bargaining agreement - the one set to expire in a couple days - that allowed management to opt out before the deal was finished, and play the 2010 season without a salary cap. Rather than Spears having the chance to get fair market value after a fifth year of service, as his original contract stipulated, he was indentured on a restricted free agency tender last year, and made less than two of his backups, Stephen Bowen and Jason Hatcher.
As Spears the professional would say, that's the business. He never once complained about it, though he did continue to express his hope that the Cowboys would get with him to talk about a new deal to keep him in town. They didn't.
Now, this isn't all to say the club has wronged Spears. They've fulfilled their contractual obligations and made him a pretty rich guy over the last six years. They haven't messed with his snaps or kept him down in any way. And now, unless an avenue opens up for him to come back at a bargain price, they're set to let him walk, just like they allowed Chris Canty to go free a couple of years ago, instead bringing in the much cheaper Igor Olshansky.
Good as Spears has been in his role, the team decided a while back that he wouldn't be successful as a third-down rusher. In order to afford Ware's contract and Ratliff's eventual extension, the Cowboys have to make sacrifices occasionally, particularly with the assumption a salary cap is coming back. Paying big bucks to a very good run-stopper doesn't make as much sense financially as it might from an X's-and-O's perspective.
As a free agent, Spears will have to do what makes sense for him. That likely will mean, first and foremost, taking care of his family. He owes it to them to get the last dollar rather than worry about being a team guy, or what some fans will say. No one should begrudge him for taking care of his priorities.
There is a real person, a very good one, behind the Madden character and the Twitter avatar, one equipped with real emotions, problems, wants and needs just like the rest of us. Of course, in most instances, everyone else is represented anonymously on the net, which, for whatever reason, seems to break down the accepted norms of human interaction.
While he waits, probably a little nervously, for his future to come into focus, most people who cross paths with Spears in real life would wish him the best of luck.
Fitting that within 140 characters should be pretty easy.
