Ware ponders return to Cowboys
Prospects field scout questions
INDIANAPOLIS — Defensive end DeMarcus Ware is eyeing a return to the Dallas Cowboys to bookend his career, per a source.
Ware, who will be 35 next season, is a free agent after playing the past three seasons with the Denver Broncos, where he won a Super Bowl ring in 2015.
Going back to Denver is an option, but so is a return to the Cowboys where he spent the first nine years of his career.
His representatives might have some informal talks with the Cowboys during the NFL scouting combine this week.
The only issue for Ware, regardless of where he signs, is his health.
He missed six games in 2016 and finished the season on injured reserve because of a ruptured disc in his back.
Ware is healthy after undergoing back surgery and believes he is ready to finish his career with a flourish, according to a source.
Ware is the Cowboys’ all-time leading sacker and a future inductee in the team’s hallowed Ring of Honor.
The question for the Cowboys is how much does he have left and how he fits in a Rod Marinelli’s defense that doesn’t generally make allowances for specialists.
But there is no doubt that a healthy Ware still fits a need for a Cowboys defense devoid of difference-making pass rushers.
Ware recorded four sacks last season in a part-time role, despite missing six
games with injuries. He has 11½ sacks over the past two seasons.
COMBINE: The NFL scouting combine is known as much for the grilling as the drilling of prospective pros.
Tennessee running back Alvin Kamara, for instance, says every team he’s met with wondered why he had transferred from Alabama.
He says he told them, “I just felt like it was the right business decision for me and it worked out.”
Kamara says the biggest surprise so far was all the poking and prodding from the doctors, “but it’s worth it, I guess.”
The 15-minute interviews with a dozen teams also were draining.
“The craziest question?” Kamara said. “A guy asked
what my drink of choice was.”
And his response? “Water.”
MORE WATER: At the NFL’s annual scouting combine, LSU running back Leonard Fournette tried to douse the first serious question — his weight.
He tipped the scales at 240 pounds, 5 more than his playing weight. It was also heavier than anyone, including Fournette, anticipated.
The explanation: It’s the water
“Well, I drank a lot of water before I weighed in,” he said, trying to brush it off. “It came right off.”
MANAGEMENT MATERIAL: Take it from someone who’s done it, John Elway predicts John Lynch will go from superstar on the playing field to successful front office man.
Maybe it’s the Stanford smarts.
Said Elway: “John’s a very bright guy. He knows football and ultimately that’s what that position is about. He’s got a lot to learn administratively and the rules that go along with that but John’s smart to know what he doesn’t know.”
Once Lynch gets familiar with the ins and outs of his new job as 49ers general manager, Elway thinks Lynch will “do very, very well.”
Elway also endorsed Adam Peters, the 49ers’ new vice president of player personnel who was plucked from the Broncos’ personnel department. Elway called Peters a “hard worker and a great talent evaluator” whom he didn’t want to lose but was glad to see get this opportunity alongside Lynch.
PACKERS: Green Bay is increasing season-ticket prices for the coming season by $7 across the board.
REDSKINS: General manager Scot McCloughan is not attending the NFL combine. Team spokesman Tony Wyllie confirmed McCloughan’s absence, saying McCloughan “is taking care of some family matters.”
TITANS: Tennessee agreed to a contract extension with quarterback Matt Cassel a week before he was set to hit free-agent market.
JETS: New York released wide receiver Brandon Marshall, clearing $7.5 million on the salary cap, the AP has learned.
Marshall is the latest big-name player to be cut by the Jets, who have also parted ways with Darrelle Revis, Nick Mangold, Nick Folk and Breno Giacomini this offseason.