The Dallas Cowboys released veteran defensive tackle Dontari Poe earlier this week. This was a shock given that the team signed Poe to a two-year, $8.5 million deal. However, the Cowboys head coach spoke to the media on Thursday and said that with the release of Poe the Cowboys will offer up opportunities for others on the team.
“…My view is based on evaluation, going through everything each and every day,” said McCarthy, via the Dallas Morning News. “You look at all the variables involved in what it takes for players to be successful. But at the end of the day, we feel this decision gives a number of guys more opportunities. We want to feel the impact of particularly some of these young guys getting more snaps, so that’s the direction I’m going.”
Basically, McCarthy said Poe was not playing well. When the Cowboys released the veteran defensive tackle, some believed that owner Jerry Jones partially made the move because Poe kneeled for the national anthem.
According to the team’s owner, it had nothing to do with that, but more with his play on the football field.
“When you’re 30 pounds overweight and you’re not doing anything about what’s keeping you from performing well on the field, there is no reason to get into the other stuff,” said Jones, via ESPN on Wednesday.
When it came to questions about the anthem, Jones refused to answer.
“I understand your question and I’m deliberately not going to answer it,” Jones told ESPN. “We have a platform here but the platform on the football field has a high standard, and he [Poe] was not up to the standard. He needed to correct that and he did not. I’m going to leave it at that.”
The NFL Trade Deadline is on November 3rd, so this could not be the last move we see out of Dallas.