The Dallas Cowboys are continuing to work on their defensive line and added defensive tackle Marvin Austin on Monday.
Austin – 6’2, weighing in at 312 pounds – was cut by the Miami Dolphins October 13th after playing two games with them and making one tackle. He was a former second-round pick by the New York Giants in 2011.
Austin missed his rookie year with a pectoral muscle injury and played eight games last year finishing with eight tackles.
Austin can be compared to defensive tackle Tank Johnson. The commonality among the two seems to be a lack of push and motivation. When Johnson and Austin give it their all, they get things done. But there is an inconsistency in their performance.
The Cowboys liked Austin coming out of the draft, but he wasn’t a good fit for their 3-4 defense at that time.
“He’s one of those guys we kept our eye on,” coach Jason Garrett said. “Obviously our situation on the defensive line we’ve had a lot of different injuries up there, so you look at the landscape of personnel and see you who can bring in and try to help your football team.”
There came an availability on Friday when the Cowboys put DE Edgar Jones on short-term injured reserve. Jones had sports hernia surgery on Friday and is unable to play until the Dec. 15 game against the Green Bay Packers.
The Cowboys have added five defensive linemen to their 53-man roster since Sept 3.
“We’d like to tap into some of that ability that caused him to be such a high draft pick,” said Garrett.
