The Cowboys have released 32-year old center Andre Gurode.  Gurode played in 16 games (all starts) for the Cowboys last year.  He played in 138 games (122 starts) in his 9 years with the Cowboys.  Gurode made it to five Pro Bowls as a member of the Cowboys, so he’s not going to be easily replaced.  The essentially cut him because he wouldn’t restructure his contract.  Only time will tell if this was a mistake or not.

The Cowboys have re-signed 27-year old OT Doug Free to a 4-year, $32 million dollar deal.  The price was driven up big time by the Tampa Bay Bucs, who were also after him.  Free played in 16 games (all starts) for the Cowboys last year.  He has played in 33 games (23 starts) in his first four years with the Cowboys.  The Cowboys are glad to have Free back to block the blind side of QB Tony Romo.  The Cowboys have also released 24-year old OT Robert Brewer who played in 1 game (he didn’t start) as a rookie last year.

The Dallas Cowboys have released 34-year old kicker Kris Brown.  Brown didn’t get into any games for the Cowboys last year.  He has played in 179 games in his first 12 years in the NFL and he has made 256 of 331 field goal attempts (77.3%).  Brown also has connected on 355 of 362 extra points in his career.  He has scored 1,123 points so far in his NFL career.  Brown will hook on with another team in 2011, but the Cowboys won’t miss him one bit.

The Cowboys have released 29-year old WR Roy Williams.  Williams played in 15 games (9 starts) for the Cowboys last year and he caught 37 passes for 530 yards (14.3 avg) with 5 TD grabs.  He played in 40 games (29 starts) in his three years with the Cowboys and he caught 94 passes for 1,324 yards (14.1 avg) with 13 TD grabs.  Roy Williams is going to hook on with another team and he might have a good year, but the Cowboys couldn’t justify paying him what he was earning anymore.

The Cowboys have released 28-year old running back Marion Barber.  Barber played in 13 games (10 starts) for the Cowboys last year and he carried the ball 113 times for 374 yards (3.3 ypc) with 4 TD runs.  He also caught 11 passes for 49 yards (4.5 avg) last season.  Barber played in 88 games (41 starts) in his six years with the Cowboys and he carried the ball 1,042 times for 4,358 yards (4.2 ypc) with 47 TD runs.  He also caught 174 passes for 1,280 yards (7.4 avg) with 6 TD catches with the Cowboys.  Barber only made it to one Pro Bowl with the Cowboys but that’s because he had to share the football.  He is the Cowboys’ #6 rusher in team history with 4,358 yards and he is also #3 in TD runs with 47 of them.  The Cowboys probably feel that Barber’s running style has led to him not having a lot left in the gas tank.

The Dallas Cowboys have released 32-year old guard Leonard Davis and 32-year old tackle Marc Colombo.  Davis played in 16 games (all starts) for the Cowboys last year.  He played in 64 games (all starts) in his four years for the Cowboys.  Marc Colombo played in 15 games (all starts) for the Cowboys last year.  He played in 76 games (72 starts) in his six years with the Cowboys.  With the way the Cowboys blocked this year, starting over on the offensive line is probably a good idea going forward.

The Cowboys have lost 23-year old linebacker Stephen Hodge with a injury settlement.  He has had microfracture surgery on each knee in his first two years with the Cowboys.  He didn’t get into any games for them in his career.  Hodge was a sixth round pick of the Cowboys in 2009.  Maybe Jerry Jones shouldn’t be picking the players anymore.

The Cowboys have fired 63-year old head coach Wade Phillips.  The Cowboys were 1-7 under Phillips this year as they were outscored 232-161.  The worst part about the Cowboys’ play of late is that they have looked like a team that just doesn’t care.  They were outscored 80-24 the last two weeks against the Jaguars and Packers and that is what likely did Phillips in.  In four years with the Cowboys, Phillips was 34-22 (60.7%) during the regular season and 1-2 in the post season.  44-year old Jason Garrett has been promoted to take over as the Cowboys’ head coach.  He has been the Cowboys’ offensive co-ordinator since 2007.  It will be interesting to see if Garrett can start getting the Cowboys to play with some fire in their bellies because if not, they might be lucky to win a game the rest of the year.

The Cowboys have waived 24-year old linebacker Jason Williams.  Williams played in 5 games for the Cowboys this year and he had 3 tackles.  Williams played in 10 games in his two years with the Cowboys and he had 6 whole tackles.  Williams was a 3rd round pick for the Cowboys in 2009!  He was quickly claimed off waivers by the Panthers.

The Cowboys have waived 27-year old safety Pat Watkins.  Watkins played in 13 games for the Cowboys last season and he made 29 tackles.  He played in 49 games in four years with the Cowboys and he had 124 tackles, 10 passes defensed, 2 forced fumbles and 4 interceptions.  It will be interesting to see if the Cowboys miss Watkins in 2010.