IRVING, Texas -- The Cowboys answered one of their final lingering questions of this offseason on Saturday afternoon.
The team re-signed Pro Bowl defensive end Anthony Spencer to a one-year contract. Spencer's agent, Jordan Woy, broke the news via Twitter.
"Happy to announce that Anthony Spencer has resigned with the Dallas Cowboys on a one year deal," Woy said.
This is Spencer's third one-year contract in a row with the Cowboys, who drafted him out of Purdue in 2007. The team placed the franchise tag on him after his 66-tackle, six-sack 2011 season, and again after he managed 11 sacks and a Pro Bowl selection in 2012.
In 2013, Spencer missed all of training camp, and 15 of 16 games with a leg injury. He underwent microfracture knee surgery and has been rehabilitating the leg in Dallas during the offseason.
Spencer's future with the Cowboys has been a talking point since the league year began in March. Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones said on March 21 it was a matter of health.
In an interview with 105.3 The Fan, Jones said the Cowboys expected newly-signed defensive tackle Henry Melton to be ready for training camp. The prognosis for Spencer was not as clear.
"His bigger issue, not unlike Henry, is the injury to his knee. Certainly he's got more work to do on that, just as Henry does. I fully expect Henry to be ready for training camp -- that's probably a bigger question mark for Anthony," Jones said. "We'd certainly love to get him back, get him healthy, and if the right opportunity is there we'll certainly look at that."
Whether Spencer will be ready for the start of training camp in July remains to be seen, but he has been working at Valley Ranch during the team's offseason program.
The new contract also makes Spencer the Cowboys' longest-tenured defender, after fellow linemates DeMarcus Ware and Jason Hatcher departed in free agency.
