Cowboys Get First Glimpse of Rolando McClain

McClain made his Cowboys debut in practice on Saturday

Dallas Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones says he was a bit surprised that the team threw linebacker Rolando McClain right into the action on Saturday, after he missed the first two days of practice to be in court in Decatur, Alabama on disorderly conduct and resisting arrest charges.

But he was happy to see the recently retired McClain on the field at long last.

“I was glad to see him,” Jones said, per ESPN Dallas. “I was impressed that they put him right in. I really thought they might ease him in, might need to since he hadn’t had OTAs, hadn’t had the kind of drills. The deal with him, and because of the issue retiring, what you want to see is what you were seeing when he wasn’t in the drill. He was back over there, his body language was great.”

After being drafted eighth overall in 2010 and spending three seasons with the Raiders, McClain was released by the team last May. He signed with the Ravens but retired abruptly before the 2013 season. He was out of football until Jones and the Cowboys came calling and he signed with Dallas on July 1.

“We have such a need with our linebacker and here you got a guy that has shown up enough to be drafted in the first round and has shown he was certainly a top college player and he’s shown flashes of that while he’s been in the pros,” Jones said. “That’s good opportunity when you’re in this business to be able to go get a guy that has that kind of skill and those kinds of issues. You don’t get them if they’re free of issues.”

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