The next time someone tells you that the fourth preseason is a total waste of time, just steer them in the direction of Ryan Cook and the guy that the Dolphins take with the Cowboys' seventh-round pick next April.
Cook started at center against the Cowboys in Wednesday night's preseason finale and obviously made a strong impression on Dallas because they decided to trade for him on Friday. The Cowboys will send that aforementioned seventh-round pick to Miami in exchange for Cook, who was a starter in Minnesota before making his way to the Dolphins.
The move isn't a surefire fix to the Cowboys' interior line problems, but it does upgrade the talent on hand a little bit ahead of Friday evening's cut to 53 players. Phil Costa figures to remain the starter at center, but the team really hasn't had another option all summer.
Cook gives them that, at the very least, and he could prove to be a better fit for the offense once he's settled in Dallas. If he doesn't, he's a better reserve option than David Arkin, who could barely snap the ball without causing problems for the offense, and can also pitch in at other spots along the offensive line.
That's significant because four offensive linemen -- Jeff Adams, Pat McQuistan, Daniel Loper and Ronald Leary -- are reportedly among the group of Cowboys getting their pink slips on Friday. None of the four profiled to anything particularly exciting, even with Leary getting a massive signing bonus as an undrafted rookie, but the fact that they got cut illustrates just how shaky the depth on the line is with the start of the season just a few days away.
Cook doesn't solve any of the blocking problems all by himself. It's an attempt to address a real problem, though, and that's much better than sitting back and hoping the situation gets resolved all by itself.
