Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

Cowboys give injured Barry Church a four-year extension

Tampa Bay Buccaneers v Dallas Cowboys

ARLINGTON, TX - SEPTEMBER 23: Barry Church #42 of the Dallas Cowboys pressures Luke Stocker #88 of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Cowboys Stadium on September 23, 2012 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images)

Getty Images

The Cowboys gave safety Barry Church a four-year contract extension Friday, according to Charean Williams of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

The deal comes despite the fact he tore his Achilles earlier this season and went on injured reserve after just three games.

Church was in the final year of the three-year contract he signed as a rookie. He’d have been a restricted free agent next year.

The numbers will be the interesting part of this one, because the Cowboys could have simply sat on him for a year with a restricted tender, giving them a year to see how he recovered from a traumatic injury. It’s a good faith gesture, but the Cowboys could easily take advantage of his condition to write a smaller deal than they would have otherwise.