FanHouse TerryGlenn

Another preseason game, another injured wide receiver for the Cowboys. Terry Glenn hobbled his way out of town earlier this summer and Miles Austin could be out for three weeks after hurting his knee in the second preseason game.

And last night, Sam Hurd went down during Dallas' first possession, and according to the Morning News' Jean-Jacques Taylor, "[Hurd] wore a walking boot on his left foot and carried a Bible in his right hand. No one knows when he'll be back on the field."

As it stands, the Cowboys enter the regular season with Terrell Owens and Patrick Crayton and, well, that's it at wideout. There's tight end Jason Witten, of course, but it would be nice to have a little more depth beyond the starters, I'd think. Taylor writes that crappy luck has conspired against the Cowboys, but that doesn't mean Jerry Jones will run out and sign the first aged veteran to answer the phone.

Good news: Chad Pennington is coming to Miami and the Dolphins are back in the Super Bowl hunt. Bad news: it's still not clear who he will be throwing passes to. Ted Ginn, last year's first-round pick, hopes to build on last year, but behind him, well, the Dolphins have bupkes.

The team signed Ernest Wilford this offseason, and had grand plans for the former Jags wideout, but as it turns out, he's apparently not very good.

The Dolphins' WR corps is suffering from a bad case of the drops. Coach Tony Sparano gave them an earful after a recent practice, and as a coach who stresses the fundamentals, Sparano has been visibly agitated. One of the most disappointing receivers has been free-agent acquisition Ernest Wilford, who has been indefinitely demoted to the second team, with Derek Hagan taking his starting spot.

That's swell for Hagan, but he's had his own struggles. Ultimately, the Dolphins are going to have to find Pennington some weapons, and while Hagan might be a nice complementary player, he's not a starter -- at least not yet.

The obvious solution: get that guy married. And, oh, I don't know, sign Terry Glenn.

There have been plenty of big-named veterans released from their teams this offseason only to have trouble finding work. Shaun Alexander and Travis Henry are the two most obvious examples, but it looks like 34-year-old Terry Glenn won't get the opportunity to be part of that group.

Word on the street is that the recently out of work Dallas Cowboy wide receiver will be a Miami Dolphin any minute now. At least according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

Former Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Terry Glenn is expected to sign with the Miami Dolphins in the next few days, according to two sources. ...

In Miami, the veteran receiver will be reunited with Bill Parcells and several other former Dallas coaches and players. Parcells, the Dolphins executive vice president for football operations, coached Glenn in New England and in Dallas.

Despite Derek Hagans' offseason progress, the Dolphins could use some depth at wide receiver. Currently, it's Ted Ginn, who should benefit from Glenn's presence, and offseason acquisition Ernest Wilford. Not a lot to get excited about.

That's not to say Glenn will suddenly solve the team's passing woes, but he's an established veteran who's still a deep threat. Sure, he's only good for one, maybe two more seasons, but for an organization looking for a spark, particularly when it comes to matriculating the ball up the field, Glenn seems like an obvious choice.

Assuming the deal goes through, now all the Dolphins have to figure out is, well, everything else.

In not-so-shocking news, the Cowboys have released Terry Glenn. One of the team's primary concerns this offseason was finding a healthy, big-play wideout to line up opposites Terrell Owens, but Dallas seemed unconcerned about the lack of depth at the position (or, at the very least, more concerned about other personnel issues), and I suspect tight end Jason Witten's versatility had a lot to do with that. But enough about the Cowboys -- relative to most teams, they're in great shape.

Miami, on the other hand, is a different story. And now that Glenn is available, it seems certainly plausible that the Dolphins would make a run at him.

The Miami-Dallas-Parcells connections are way too obvious, and more importantly, the team could stand to add some quality receivers to the roster. But there could be a bigger fish to fry. Or something. From the Miami Herald's Armando Salguero:

"I think Boldin will be in play," the NFL source said. "The Cardinals don't want to trade him. But I don't think the Giants wanted to trade Jeremy Shockey and the Dolphins didn't want to trade Jason Taylor. And we know how that turned out. When a team has an unhappy player in camp, it is not a comfortable situation for anyone."

The Dallas Cowboys have finally released WR Terry Glenn after an offseason of turmoil. While this doesn't come as a shock, it is interesting to hear the reasoning for the move.

After all the bickering about Terry Glenn's refusal to accept a split-salary agreement, Jerry Jones claims that the contract beef didn't play a role in the receiver's release. It's foggy whether Glenn agreed to the deal over the last 24 hours, but Jerry said it wasn't a factor.

"That didn't play here," Jerry said. "It had more to do with where we are right now, the managing of how he got to the field, the aspect on concentrating on the what-ifs. All of that might have impacted how we give our young players a chance and how we evaluate that decision. At the end of the day, we thought the clearest thing to do was waive him."

I'm sure that is the public reasoning, but I'm sure it isn't the entire truth. Why keep Glenn around this whole time if it was a numbers game at the receiver position? I mean, would Glenn have been cut had he previously agreed to the split-salary agreement? No.

Still, it is a smart move for the Cowboys, who don't want to go another season worrying about Glenn's knee. Also, there is a line of thinking that Dallas may still look at re-signing Glenn once he clears waivers for a cheaper deal.

Maybe what former Ravens third-round wideout Devard Darling needed was the proverbial change of scenery. Or maybe he's nothing more than a No. 3 or 4 NFL wide receiver. That he struggled to make it on the field in Baltimore's anemic offense is indicting, but it's hard to place all the blame on the pass catchers when Kyle Boller is whizzing footballs in the general direction in which they were intended.

Whatever, Darling is now in Kansas City, and he's trying earn playing time on the only AFC unit with bigger questions at wide receiver than Baltimore (the Bears have the league's worst wideouts by miles, in case you're wondering). Second-year player Dwayne Bowe is quarterback Brodie Croyle's go-to guy -- and he should be -- but after that, it's a crapshoot.

The rest of the Chiefs' receiving unit is a bit of a mystery. But Croyle is pretty sure he's spotted the Chiefs' fastest receiver.

"That would probably be Devard Darling," Croyle said. "He can really go. It's one of those things where you don't really notice it until you see the film. He just 'leaves' people."

So there's that. Bowe is primed for another big season, but defenses are sure to roll coverages in his direction, which means that Tony Gonzalez and his protege, Brad Cottam, will play an integral role in the offense (which, frankly, isn't much of a change).

Almost a month ago, it looked like Terry Glenn had decided that signing that injury waiver was in his best interest. Apparently not. The Cowboys are in Oxnard, California for training camp and Glenn is not. Presumably because he reconsidered the whole injury waiver thing and decided it's not worth a the potential loss in salary.

Fine, except that owner Jerry Jones ain't budging on his demands, which means Glenn's Cowboys career could be quickly coming to an end. The Dallas Morning News' Jean-Jacques Taylor confirms as much, and his latest post sounds more like a eulogy than a "hey, training camp's here!" report.

For shiggles, let's assume Glenn is done in Dallas, then what? MDS mentioned that Tampa Bay could be a potential destination, and I'm sure Brett Favre would love to be reunited with his former teammate.

But perhaps a better (and less insane) idea would have the Browns, currently in need of some depth at wideout, trying to acquire Glenn. I'm not sure Glenn would be happy as a No. 3 wide receiver, but I suspect Cleveland's offense would feature enough multi-receiver looks that he would get plenty of snaps.

That the Browns haven't made a move to sign former Chargers wideout Eric Parker might indicate they're not in the market for a pass catcher, but if Glenn really has played his last game for the Cowboys, he won't be out of work long. NFL teams are forever in need of guys who can make plays.

The Dallas Cowboys are looking for a backup quarterback and could have interest in Chris Simms, currently under contract to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

The Bucs are looking for a veteran wide receiver and could have interest in Terry Glenn, currently under contract to the Cowboys.

Rick Stroud of the St. Petersburg Times puts two and two together:

Glenn would make some sense. It would enable the Bucs to unload Simms via trade, much the way they were able to swap Keyshawn Johnson for Joey Galloway. Both players were about to be cut by their respective teams. ...

Simms will likely be traded or released. The Cowboys scenario makes some sense.

I agree, it makes some sense. And yet trades that make some sense when fans and sports writers are speculating about them often don't make enough sense to the teams involved for those teams to pull the trigger.

Hear that? It's the pitter-patter of fantasy football season approaching. Fantasy FanHouse is here to get you ready by previewing every team from a fantasy perspective.

Meet The ...
Team everyone is sick of hearing about. If not, give it some time. You already have the circus around The Artist Formerly Known as Pac-Man and constant updates on Tony Romo's social life ... mix in the storylines involving my personal least favorite player in the NFL (he wears #81), speculation about the head coaching situation, and anything involving Jerry Jones; and it's a cornucopia of maddening media attention.

The Breakout
Actually, most of the guys on this team are properly rated, but since I have to pick one I'm going with Patrick Crayton. He has been steadily improving since his rookie season in Dallas each year, and exploded once last year (7-184-2 in week 4). With Terry Glenn back in the fold some fantasy owners may downgrade Crayton's value. The thing is, he's still gonna be their second outside option. I like him to be a top-40 wideout for '08. He quietly set career highs in everything last year (50 catches, 697 yards, seven TDs) and will far exceed those.

Joe Horn's cell phone won't ring, which is weird given that's sorta his shtick (although, to be fair, I don't really think he was making a call during that touchdown celebration). Recent speculation had the Cowboys interested in trading for the current Falcons wideout, but Jerry Jones shot down those rumors, and Horn pretty much agreed to as much during an interview with ESPN radio.

He also made a plea for the Cowboys -- anybody, really -- to save him from the NFL Siberia that has become the Atlanta Falcons, while also admitting that he understands why it might not happen.

"To come there and be on the other side of T.O. would be fabulous, but right now, that hasn't happened. No conversations have been made and all that is speculation."

Horn was realistic and said "asking for a draft pick for a 36-year-old at my salary is kind of hard." But Horn also knows the Falcons want to go with younger players. He said he'd rather go somewhere else because Horn believes he can still start in the NFL.

I mentioned it last week, but the Cowboys don't have much need for Horn. He may still be a fine No. 2 receiver, but so too are Terry Glenn, Patrick Crayton, and, hell, Jason Witten. I certainly understand why Horn might want to play somewhere other than Atlanta; I just don't see the Cowboys being the team to help him out of that predicament.