SCOOP: Cowboys 'Unique' Happens - DB Brandon Carr Signs To Practice Squad
FRISCO - Brandon Carr is about to become the most "pro's pro'' ever to be placed on an NFL practice squad.
As CowboysSI.com reported exclusively on Saturday, the Dallas Cowboys hosted their former starting cornerback, last year a starter with the Baltimore Ravens, here at The Star on Friday with a unique intention.
That intention? To get "eventual'' help in their secondary by asking Carr, the 13-year NFL veteran, to start the year on the practice squad.
Carr, 34, has his offseason home in DFW, so the visit was a convenient fit. Also convenient? The new COVID-19-related NFL rules that allow more flexibility in who can be on a practice squad.
It's a start-over for Carr, who is an ironman - he started all 16 games a year ago while playing both cornerback (as he once did in Dallas) and safety (where the Cowboys could now use some help).
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Carr's ability to "win'' at corner may be fading. And he's not viewed as a traditional "tackler'' as a safety. But he's a high-quality guy and he's played 192 straight games - the NFL's longest streak among defensive players - and this move gives him a chance to move to the regular roster as part of the weekly expansion to 55 (another COVID-19-era wrinkle) or maybe more permanently as soon as Week 2 (after the vested-veteran Week 1 issue passes).
Carr's five-year stint with Dallas was pricy, but solid. In Baltimore, he enriched his "solid'' rep, Ravens defensive coordinator Wink Martindale saying of him, “He’s a pro’s pro.'”
We can half-joke that another reason to interview Carr was to poke into his thoughts on the troubled Thomas - but that's half-joking, as Carr has his own career to think about.
Indeed, it is our continued view that Earl Thomas is at best a back-burner issue in Dallas and that a lot of media time has been wasted pretending/guessing that there is some "meeting'' scheduled right around the corner.
A connection with the troubled Thomas is about guessing. A connection with Carr is now a fact - a unique connection 53-man roster and an expanded practice squad, sources tell us that as of Saturday night, that is the job being offered to a receptive Carr.