IRVING, Texas - It's hard to tell at this point whether the Cowboys wish they had Greg Ellis back, but at a time like this they certainly could use him.
After rookie fourth-rounder Brandon Williams suffered a season-ending ACL tear in the home preseason opener Friday, the Cowboys have suddenly become light at the outside linebacker position, even lighter than they were the day after Ellis was let go back in June, when Williams and fellow rookie Victor Butler became the likely backups to starters DeMarcus Ware and Anthony Spencer.
Third-year pro Justin Rogers, who had been running third-team at the position, missed practice Monday with knee tendinitis, leaving the Cowboys with just four players there: the two starters, Butler and first-year player Steve Octavien.
"We're getting thin," Wade Phillips said Monday.
Making matters worse is a similar problem at inside linebacker, where Bradie James and Keith Brooking are cemented as the starters, and Bobby Carpenter and Jason Williams are the backups. Sixth-round pick Stephen Hodge practices some, but admits he hasn't fully recovered from an off-season knee scope.
To compensate, the Cowboys have journeyman linebacker Matt Stewart filling in as a swingman. The injury to Brandon Williams forced the Cowboys to shuffle the deck in the middle of the game Friday.
"We still have eight players that are healthy and can play," Phillips said of his linebacking corps. "We moved Victor Butler over to the strong side and kept Steve Octavien over on the weak side, so we have enough people right now."
The Cowboys do have enough people for a defined first and second team across the board, but none of those second-unit players are proven, and three of them have never experienced one regular season play from scrimmage.
Phillips said last week the club thought it an unfeasible luxury to carry Ellis as a backup and situational edge pass rusher since he wouldn't be a good special teams contributor, but now the question is whether the team has even one player capable of filling in for Ware or Spencer for any length of time.
Moving Butler to the strong side forces him to learn a new position, taking on more responsibility in both the running game and pass coverage, whereas previously he would have been focused on rushing the passer, his specialty coming out of Oregon State. Octavien, who the Cowboys signed off Washington's practice squad late last season, is now the only healthy understudy for Ware.
Carpenter has played outside 'backer off and on during his Cowboys career, but Phillips said Monday he wouldn't move him back to the edge now that he seems to be making real strides inside and on sub-packages. Same goes for Jason Williams, though he did have a couple pressures Friday, including one that led to a safety, and topped his (albeit small) conference in sacks playing on the weak side as a junior at Western Illinois, tallying eight.
"Bobby's doing well inside," the coach said. "And Jason Williams, a light came on, I could see it in that game, he played well in that game. I'm looking forward to seeing him more. He practiced good right before the game, practiced good again today. It seems to be coming to him. That's a good sign for us at inside 'backer."
But it doesn't help the Cowboys any on the outside, where their primary concern has to be right now. There's always a drop off when a starter has to miss time, but it would be basically impossible to replace Ware, whose pass-rushing ability makes the defense what it is.
The coaches do seem to like Octavien since they gave him second-team reps Friday even before Brandon Williams was hurt and Butler had to fill in on the strong side. But that doesn't change the fact he's undersized for the position, the smallest of the Cowboys' outside 'backers at 6-0, 246 pounds, and he's playing a new position as well.
He was a special-teamer last December, but before that had only played in 4-3 defenses, at college in Nebraska, then at training camp with the Chiefs and for a brief time on the Redskins practice squad. In those schemes he was the Mo linebacker, equivalent to the position Keith Brooking plays in the Cowboys' 3-4.
"D-Ware brings a lot to the table," Octavien said. "So if it's my duty to be a solid backup then I have to bring a lot of pressure. It's a lot more to learn."
Octavien did get some pressure on at least one play Friday, when he tipped a Vince Young pass into the arms of Stewart. Phillips said Saturday he was pleased with Butler on that play, who made the right play instinctively despite never having been drilled at the position.
During the game the Cowboys just asked him to rush the passer on nearly every play. If he had to fill in for Spencer there would be more to it than that.
"It's just a whole position change," Butler said. "There's a little more coverage for me, so now it's kind of learning a whole new position on the fly, and that's what happened in the game on Friday. (Brandon Williams) went down and they needed a Sam, so I stepped in and did the best I could. I did pretty good, from what I'm told, but they kept it basically simple. We ran a few plays that I knew just from watching film and paying attention in meetings, you can kind of pick up the coverage that everybody else is supposed to have."
Like most players transitioning from college defensive end in a three-point stance to standup outside linebacker, pass coverage will be the toughest aspect of the game for Butler. He said he can cover well, so long as he knows who his man is.
Such is the problem, though, when youth and inexperience combine as contingency plans, as they do for the Cowboys. The team has three roster spots they could use to address their linebacking group before Sept. 1, when they must trim the payroll to 75. Four days later they will cut to 53.
It's entirely possible the Cowboys could try to bring in a player cut by another team at the end of the preseason, but they are likely to have the same challenges Butler and Octavien are facing.
And there probably won't be many solid 11-year veterans like Ellis looking for a job, either.
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