Published: July 14, 2008 11:43 pm      

Home grown player proud to be a Dallas Cowboy

GREENVILLE — As a youngster growing up in Hunt County, Justin Rogers dreamed of playing football for the Dallas Cowboys.

But when he was selected by the New England Patriots in the sixth round of the 2007 NFL draft it looked like Rogers would be a Patriot, not a Cowboy.

As it turned out, Rogers got his first wish and wound up playing last season for the Cowboys after the Patriots put him on waivers at the end of the exhibition season and Dallas claimed the 6-4, 250-pounder just before the season opener.

“I loved it up in New England, but you can’t beat playing in your hometown,” Rogers said on Monday by cellphone near his family’s residence in Greenville.

Rogers wound up making 20 tackles last season for the Cowboys, with 18 stops in the regular season and two in the Cowboys’ 21-17 divisional playoff loss to the eventual Super Bowl champion New York Giants. Fifteen of his tackles were solos. He backed up DeMarcus Ware at an outside linebacker position, but recorded most of his tackles on special teams.

“I love it,” he said of special teams duty. “That’s what they want me to do.”

Any way he can get on the field and contribute is okay with Rogers, who played on the Commerce Tigers’ Class 3A state championship teams in 1999 and 2001.

Special teams duty requires a fearless type of mentality since the collisions between returner and tackler are usually at full speed. The tackler can’t be afraid of contact, that’s for sure.

“I’ll never back down from that,” said Rogers.

Rogers made plenty of contact for the Southern Methodist University Mustangs during his four-year collegiate career, racking up 184 tackles, including 117 solos and 32 for losses. He also recorded 19 1/2 quarterback sacks and forced five fumbles.

Rogers played defensive end for the Mustangs so the switch to outside linebacker in the pros was a challenge.

“I had to learn coverages...,” he said.

While with the Patriots Rogers had to learn from a defensive playbook he said was about the size of three Bibles stacked up together.

“(Bill) Belichick is known as a defensive minded coach,” he said of the Patriots’ head coach.

Rogers also picked up a lot of information from some of the Patriots’ veteran linebackers.

“Learning from Tedy Brushci and Junior Seau was pretty neat,” he said. “The main thing learning from them was they taught you how to be professionals.”

Rogers registered 11 tackles, two sacks and recovered one fumble in four exhibition games with the Patriots. However, New England released Rogers when the teams had to cut their regular season rosters down to 53 players. The Patriots hoped Rogers would clear waivers so they could sign him to their practice squad.

But the Cowboys couldn’t pass on the opportunity to take Rogers and he had to learn a new style of play and new terminology in a short time.

“That was the hardest part, changing the terminology,” he said.

Now that he’s had a full season with the Cowboys and time spent in 2008 mini-camps Rogers is way ahead on the learning curve compared to this time last year.

“I’ve gotten stronger and faster,” he said. “I have a better grasp of the defense. I feel a lot more confident than last year.”

Training camp starts on July 24 for Rogers and the rest of the Cowboys.

His goals?

“First of all to make the team and just to contribute, do anything I can to win,” he said.

Anything to help the Cowboys advance in the playoffs and help Rogers achieve more childhood dreams, like playing in the Super Bowl.