Sicko Signs with Cowboys After All

I got a good laugh out of this - Scott Sicko, the TE from New Hampshire who turned down signing with NFL teams as an UFA and said that he wanted to pursue an education and get his PhD in history and maybe be a college professor.  Now he's reconsidered and signed with the Cowboys today. 

I got a good laugh at first because probably the last thing this country needs is another PhD in a social science but really Peter King's Monday Morning QB article on this really put a sour taste in my mouth. King went on a little editorial monologue about more young people need to be like Sicko and pursue higher education than try out for the NFL. He called Myron Rolle (SS - FSU) "brilliant" because he was a Rhodes scholar (it was for something in health policy, not like he was splitting atoms). Being a Rhodes scholar doesn't make you smarter than your next honors student - it means that the selection committee likes you more than the others. Sort of like peer reviewed journals. Because you are published in one doesn't make you a better researcher or writer for that matter, it's that the selection committee found your article more in line with their views than the rest.

Remember the uproar in some media outlets when a scout asked Rolle if he felt bad for abandoning his teammates to take a year off in England.  And a lot of media analysts and pundits were talking about how a lot of football guys are "afraid" of a smart player.  There are a lot of smart players in the NFL.  Always have been.  Just like there are a lot of smart people in a lot of different professions.  What the media missed is that teams aren't afraid of a smart guy, they are afraid of another slow, in the box SS prospect. 

A real insulting question - one that the media should've drilled in on - was when pro personnel guy asked Dez Bryant if his mother was a prostitute.  That's out of bounds.  And unprofessional.  And PFT dot com is reporting today that the guy who asked that question is Dolphins' GM Jeff Ireland. 
Today ESPN Dallas reported that Sicko (which I hope for him is pronounced Sis-ko not Sick-o) signed with the Dallas Cowboys. He can put that UFA signing bonus as a down payment on his grad school tuition if he wants. He is an intruiging prospect with a nice size-speed ratio. He was pursued by many teams but chose Dallas over the Patriots in his own backyard. He's from New York by the way and not a New Englander in case anyone wondered.
 
The Cowboys already have some tough roster decisions to make - and I'm not talking about Roy Williams.  Their roster is talented and could get younger and have more upside if Jones is willing to cut bait on some '09 mistakes (Jason Williams and Brandon Williams) and vets who are ST,emergency backups, and JAGs (Just a Guy) on their OL: Steve Octavien, Clint Johnson, Montrae Holland, Pat McQuistan, and Cory Procter. 

Rookie minicamp is this weekend, and Dallas has many '09 first year players who were on the shelf with injuries: Stephen Hodge, Michael Hamlin, and Robert Brewster.