Dallas Cowboys offensive lineman Ronald Leary has officially requested a trade from the team, but that doesn't mean he's going to find himself in a new uniform anytime soon. On Thursday, Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones said that the team would only move Leary if the right deal came along.
"We told Ron that he could certainly look around, but we're not in the business of letting go of good football players for little or nothing," Jones said. "We got our calls during the draft asking to trade for some of our running backs. We just don't have that interest. Ron's a big part of this football team. We know it's disappointing when you've been starting and you're not. We'd hope that he would look at it as 'let's come in here and compete.'"
Leary was the starting left guard for the Cowboys in 2013 and 2014. Last year, he began the season as the starter but was supplanted by undrafted rookie La'El Collins, who would have gone in the first-round had he not been dogged by any off-field question marks at the time. Collins is expected to start the season as the starter at left guard once again. Leary would be a starter on most rosters around the NFL.
As of now, Dallas appears to want Leary in camp as an insurance policy, especially with Tony Romo returning from injury and rookie running back Ezekiel Elliott taking over the starting duties in the backfield. Jones added that he expects Leary to "come in here at some point." The veteran is staying away from voluntary OTAs, but Jones hopes that he's "getting in shape wherever he is right now."
In 2015, Leary only saw the field for 173 pass snaps and 84 run snaps. He did not qualify to be ranked as an offensive lineman due to the small sample size, but he did merit on overall grade of 72.2 from Pro Football Focus. That would have put him among the top 30 guards in the NFL last season.
One possible solution is moving Leary out for a veteran backup QB behind Romo, allowing fourth-round rookie Dak Prescott more time to develop.
