The Cowboys are back to a full eight-man practice squad on Tuesday, signing three in the last 48 hours.
On Tuesday, the club signed former Baylor wide receiver Lanear Sampson, who spent all summer and preseason with the Colts before being cut just prior to the regular season. Sampson played in all four exhibition games with Indy, catching two passes for nine yards, despite having 10 targets.
Sampson joins college teammate Terrance Williams on the Cowboys' receiving corps. Like Williams, Sampson is also a Dallas native (Mesquite) who spent five seasons in Waco, including a redshirt in 2008.
At Baylor, Sampson started opposite of Williams last year and had his best season of his career, catching 52 passes for 646 yards and six touchdowns, earning All-Big 12 honorable mention honors. Sampson not only finished his career with a 43-game reception streak, but ranked fifth in school history with 165 catches.
While the Cowboys sent wide receiver coach Derek Dooley and assistant receiver coach Keith O'Quinn down to Waco for the Baylor Pro Day mainly to scout both Williams, they were also impressed by Sampson, who ran a 4.35 time in the 40. He went undrafted but signed with Indy after the draft.
Sampson becomes the fourth Baylor wide receiver in the last three seasons to be on an NFL roster or practice squad, along with Williams, Josh Gordon (Cleveland) and Kendall Wright (Tennessee).
And the Cowboys now have eight players on the practice squad roster. Over the weekend, they had to waive receiver Jamar Newsome and guard Ray Dominguez because of an NFL rule that doesn't allow teams to keep three-year practice squad veterans if the 53-man roster is not full. Since the Cowboys had only 52 players on the roster going to Philly, those two players had to be released to prevent from losing the ability to sign them back in the future.
After they claimed waivers, Newsome and Dominguez were officially retained Monday. And along with Sampson, they join wide receiver Tim Benford, running back Davin Meggett, cornerback Micah Pellerin, safety Jakar Hamilton and quarterback Alex Tanney.
