The Dallas Cowboys and incumbent sack leader Jeremy Mincey are moving quickly towards a resolution of his contract dispute, Mincey traveling to Oxnard this weekend with possible plans to suit up for the team’s afternoon training camp workout.
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Mincey, who had six sacks in the regular season and two more in the playoffs, brought stability and leadership to an improving Dallas defense.
He’s hoped for an extension of that deal for months. Executive vice president Stephen Jones said on the eve of camp that the team wouldn’t negotiate with Mincey before he reported. You want that on your football team. Mincey was activated from the reserve/did not report list.
The fact that the Cowboys are willing to hash out a two-year deal with Mincey isn’t surprising, though, because while the former Florida Gator lacks substantial leverage, he is a quality player. Head coach Jason Garrett says he expects Mincey to be on the practice field today, although the Cowboys will ease him into practice after he missed the first few days.
“We’re not going to place him on the market and put him in a state of affairs which may compromise him”, Garrett stated. That would minimize some of the risk of the deal and possibly make him expendable if Hardy and Gregory shine, but it’s more likely that they’ll keep him for an extra year (2016) as a sub-package pass rusher. But he ended up with the Broncos only after Jacksonville decided to get rid of Mincey in the middle of a four-year, $20 million contract.
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The Patriots selected Mincey in the sixth round of the 2006 NFL Draft, but he spent his rookie season wth the 49ers before the Jaguars signed him off San Francisco’s practice squad in December. But two years later, in 2011, he had his best season as a pro, earning his big contract with career highs in tackles (101) and sacks (eight). “He’s physically tough and he plays hard”. We played hard. We played tough. Greg Hardy saw his suspension reduced to four games, and that significant reduction in time missed really cuts into Mincey’s value, especially since Hardy is the better player. “That positively impacted the games that we played, and I think Mince was a big part of that, establishing that identity, that toughness, that relentlessness”.
