IRVING, Texas - Dave Campo wanted to coach Cowboys free safety Ken Hamlin as far back as last spring while serving as Jacksonville's assistant head coach/secondary coach. Hamlin, then a free agent, instead signed a one-year deal with Dallas and earned his first trip to the Pro Bowl.
Now the Cowboys' secondary coach, Campo still hasn't worked with Hamlin on the field. But, that will change Friday when the club opens training camp in Oxnard, Calif.
Hamlin, the Cowboys' designated "franchise" player, signed a new six-year, $39 million deal that includes $15 million in guarantees last week, just before the NFL's July 15 deadline for franchise players to continue negotiating a long-term deal. He'll rejoin his teammates at camp after missing the club's offseason program and workouts because of his contract situation.
"He's kind of the quarterback of that unit," Campo said Monday at the Cowboys' annual Coaches Clinic at Texas Stadium. "When you have a situation where you've got a new system and you have a guy go through that system and he was kind of the guy that handled the calls, and then he's not there, you get a little nervous because you don't just plug somebody in that hasn't been in that system and expect them to just pick up where he left off."
Hamlin never signed his one-year, $4.396 million franchise tender and chose to sit out the Cowboys' OTA's (organized team activities) and June mini-camp. But Campo said the Pro Bowl safety stayed in contact with the defensive coaches, including defensive coordinator Brian Stewart and assistant secondary coach Brett Maxie throughout the offseason.
"He was talking to the players the whole time," Campo said. "I told him the very first time I talked to him, 'Look, if you want to know anything about me, you stay in touch with the players we've got here during these OTA's and you'll find out about me.' And that's kind of what he did."
Campo doesn't expect Hamlin to fall behind in the defense because the Cowboys' secondary isn't making drastic schematic changes. Hamlin finished second on the team last year with five interceptions and third with 102 tackles - his first career 100-tackle season.
"He's a great centerfielder," Cowboys head coach Wade Phillips said. "He's a great overlap guy. It looks like we may play a little more man-to-man, and he's really good at playing the free safety side. I think that'll add even more to what he can do and what we can do."
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