MOBILE, Ala. – Each day he's been here at the Senior Bowl, coach Jason Garrett has had at least two media sessions, where he has been asked about nearly every player on the North squad he's coaching.
Naturally, Garrett has limited experience with his inherited players, but he has been able to provide a few nuggets and some perspective on each guy.
Of course, most of the questions have centered on North Dakota State quarterback Carsen Wentz, or Ohio State receiver Braxton Miller.
But on Thursday, Garrett was asked about a few more guys that he knows all about, addressing some of his veteran players on the Cowboys' roster.
Here are some of the highlights from his press conference following Thursday's North practice:
- Garrett was asked to comment on Brandon Carr entering the final year of a contract that paid him $50 million over five years.
"I think the biggest thing you try to do is evaluate the player independent of the business side of football," Garrett said. "We all understand the business is part of football. We get that. And that's part of the evaluation with every player: what's the cost to our football to have him, and the impact that they make, relative to that. But the biggest thing you want to do is evaluate the player first. He's been a very consistent player for us. He's started for us every game since he's been here, started every game of his career. He's done a lot of things for us. You try to separate those two things, but it is part of the equation with every player we have on our football team."
- Receiver Terrance Williams didn't have his best season of his three-year career, taking somewhat of a backward step with the injuries to Dez Bryant and Tony Romo. But his season-finale against the Redskins, where he caught eight passes for 173 yards was an example of the potential and ability Garrett has been looking for on a consistent basis.
"I thought he played really, really well in that game. It has everything to do with the approach that he takes," Garrett said of Williams. "He was one of those guys that over the course of the season we had a lot of ups and downs and he just fought through it. I thought his performance in that game was as good as he's had in a long time. Really productive, did a lot of things for us. His spirit was fantastic and just contagious throughout our football team."
- Former Univ. of Miami head coach Al Golden was on the sidelines for most of practice, shaking hands with several of the current Cowboys assistant coaches. Garrett said Golden indeed interviewed with the team on Wednesday.
"We had a chance to visit with him the last day or so," Garrett said. "We had good interviews with him. We'll have other guys we interview over the next week or so."
Garrett didn't 100 percent confirm that Golden was interviewing for the secondary job that was vacated by Jerome Henderson, but said Thursday "it's an open position right now" and pointed out Golden has coached defensive backs in the past.
