Stop us if you’ve heard this one before.
Former top-10 pick Rolando McClain hasn’t played in an NFL game since November 2012, but his agent says this comeback is different, after the Cowboys traded for his rights yesterday.
“He sounds as excited about football as I’ve ever heard him,” agent Pat Dye told Todd Archer of ESPNDallas.com.
The Cowboys certainly have a need at middle linebacker, with Sean Lee’s torn ACL which will cost him the season. And they certainly didn’t give up much for the chance to work with the twice-retired McClain, swapping a sixth-rounder for a seventh with the Ravens to complete the transaction.
Now the only question is whether McClain is ready to commit himself to football.
“I see, and Rolando sees, the Dallas situation as a great opportunity given Sean’s injury, and you’re talking about a great franchise and a great organization,” Dye said. “I’ve described to any of the clients we’ve had through the years there -- Emmitt Smith, Dexter Coakley, DeMarcus Ware, Marcus Spears, Keith Brooking, DeMarco Murray -- that playing for the Cowboys in football is kind of like playing for the Yankees in baseball. Just an iconic franchise.
“With kind of what he’s done going back to his time with the Raiders, I think that all of this has led him to a point where he feels like the game is too important to him to give up. He’s just 24 years old. He’s very talented. He’s very bright. Tough. Competitive. There’s a reason he was a top-10 pick at a position that is almost impossible to be a top-10 pick. Hopefully this situation will go smoothly.”
Perhaps it will. But last year was supposed to go smoothly as well.
When the Ravens signed him, it seemed like a natural fit, with a stable, winning organization, and a General Manager in Ozzie Newsome who shared his Alabama pedigree. Obviously, that didn’t last, and he didn’t play a snap for the Ravens before giving it up.
We’ll see if the star means that much to him. If it does, the Cowboys may have done good business. If not, they only wasted a few spots of draft position for the effort.