IRVING, Texas – Recently retired linebacker Brian Urlacher would have apparently considered one other team besides the Bears.
The celebrated defender couldn't find the right fit with a team, but if that fit existed with the Cowboys, his Hall of Fame career might have continued.
"If I could have picked a spot, it would have been Dallas," Urlacher told the Chicago Tribune. "(The Cowboys) run our defense. They took our (defensive) coordinator. That would have been ideal. But they have two really good young linebackers."
It all goes back to the middle linebacker currently occupying the Cowboys' defense, as well as the weakside linebacker next to him.
The Cowboys could have had Urlacher and apparently decided not to pull the trigger. It demonstrates just how much they think of their young linebackers, specifically Sean Lee and Bruce Carter.
Bringing on Urlacher would have potentially meant slowing the development of Lee. Executive vice president Stephen Jones hinted at the NFL Owners Meetings earlier this year that he wasn't about to do that, as much as bringing on a player of Urlacher's caliber might be tempting.
[embedded_ad] "Any time you're talking about a Hall of Fame player in Urlacher, you don't ever dismiss Hall of Famers in my book," Jones said. "It would be difficult. He obviously plays what Sean plays. To move everything around for a year doesn't really make a lot of sense, but at the same time, you don't ever rule it out."
Unless Urlacher plans on coming out of retirement, the time to rule him out might be now.
