OXNARD, Calif. - The Cowboys are staging a workout Thursday afternoon for three veteran guards who were with the club in 2011, Montrae Holland, Derrick Dockery and Daniel Loper, and could pull the trigger on a signing later in the evening.
The team has been hit with a rash of injuries on the interior of the offensive line, with free agent addition Mackenzy Bernadeau out at least a couple more weeks while still recovering from hip surgery. Second-year players Kevin Kowalski (ankle tendonitis) and Bill Nagy (high ankle sprain) are expected to miss most, if not all, of the preseason.
The club has instructed guards David Arkin, Ronald Leary and Harland Gunn to begin working on snapping the ball to make up for the loss of the utility players, Kowalski and Nagy, but the Cowboys currently face a numbers crunch at guard and center.
Holland was originally acquired by the Cowboys in a 2008 trade. He has started 14 games with the club in four seasons, including 10 in 2011, and has 60 starts in a nine-year career.
Also a nine-year vet, Dockery signed with the Cowboys at the beginning of the 2011 regular season. The team had planned for him to take over the starting job, but he suffered a knee injury in his first game and after recovering, filled a backup role the remainder of the year.
Added for depth midway through 2011, the seven-year veteran Loper was never activated for a game as a Cowboy.
