In conversations with the media this week, both team Vice President Stephen Jones and head coach Jason Garrett have said that free agent wide receiver Laurent Robinson is someone the Cowboys want to keep.
But the team's ultimate decision maker, owner Jerry Jones, is thinking twice about that.
"He's valuable," Jones said of Robinson. "We have, in addition, a very good young receiver that we're really proud of, so he's a factor in what we do here with Robinson, not to diminish what Robinson did here for us this year or can do in the future. He has a real knack of keeping the play alive, and that works real well with (Tony) Romo."
The young receiver Jones was referring to? Andre Holmes.
Yes, that Andre Holmes.
An undrafted free agent who went to training camp with Minnesota, he spent most of the year on the Cowboys' practice squad, but was called up in December when another team expressed interest.
Because Holmes has no pro experience, Jones knows it would be a big gamble to make him the Cowboys' No. 3 wide out behind Miles Austin and Dez Bryant.
"But you've got to take them," Jones said. "There's no way to put a team on the field and not play players who have never played before in the NFL . . . You're just more comfortable with a guy that you think knows what to do, even though you're sitting there with somebody that's making as good of plays or better plays than guys ahead of him every day in practice.
"Holmes has been impressive. Holmes impresses his teammates, he's got the work ethic, and so we've got some young receivers that we have got to figure in and should figure in as we look at what we're going to do with our whole receiving look."
