Bucs' Defense Features Some Familiar Faces

Five former Cowboys' defenders are now playing for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers

The Dallas Cowboys will run into a few familiar faces in Tampa Bay on Sunday.

Three defensive players that spent last season with the Cowboys are with the Bucs now, including former second round pick, linebacker Bruce Carter, cornerback Sterling Moore and defensive tackle Henry Melton. Also on the roster are Mike Jenkins, a first round pick out of USF that led off the Cowboys’ notoriously bad 2008 Draft, and Orie Lemon.

Moore got his first start with the Bucs last week against the Giants, and recorded his first interception with the team.

Sterling is a good player and he played a lot of snaps for us last year,” Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett told the team’s official website. “Unfortunately, in free agency sometimes guys have an opportunity to go elsewhere that might be a better fit for them and that’s what happened with Sterling. But he played a lot of snaps in our defense last year and was a productive player for us. He did a good job defending the run, making some plays--he’s a good tackler. And then, similarly, just covering guys.”

Meanwhile, Melton has six tackles and a sack. Carter has six tackles on defense, and six tackles on special teams. Jenkins has 13 tackles and four passes broken up, and Lemon has a single tackle.

“That’s the nature of our business,” Garrett said. “There are a lot of guys who you like and want to have on our team, but they had an opportunity to go elsewhere and often times you come across them and compete against them later. Each of those guys did a good job for us when they were here.”

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