A receiver with the Cowboys, Jared Green is not following in his father's footsteps
Jared Green grew up a die-hard Redskins fan. As the son of Hall of Famer Darrell Green, he didn't have a choice.
Jared Green, though, chose his own road. He insists his father is comfortable with the fact that he is with the Redskins' rival, trying to win a job with the Cowboys.
"We appreciated everything that he did, and that the organization allowed him to do," Jared Green said. "But after that, it’s just a job that dad worked for 20 years, and now, I’m a grown man, and my dad supports everything that I do. So we are all in for the Dallas Cowboys. It’s something to be proud of. Every kid in the '90s, I don’t care what anybody says, every kid saw that star and wanted to be a Dallas Cowboy. I don’t care who you are, where you’re from, you wanted to be a Dallas Cowboy. My dad allowed me to put Michael Irvin’s poster up in my room, so I had Darrell Green up on one side of my room; I had Michael Irvin up on the other side. So I’m proud to wear that star. When I was young, they had that movie, Little Giants. And the kids got that star on their helmet. I wanted that. So I’m proud to be a Dallas Cowboy."
Green's respect for Irvin was one of the reasons he ended up a receiver and not a defensive back like his father. He graduated from the University of Virgina and then played his last season at Southern, catching 17 passes for 307 yards and two touchdowns as a senior. In 46 career games, including three starts, Green caught 52 passes for 670 yards and four touchdowns.
He spent last season on Carolina's practice squad, but when the Panthers didn't give him a chance on their 53-player roster at the end of the year, he opted to leave for the Cowboys. Green was the second-most watched receiver in the team's rookie minicamp behind only third-round pick Terrance Williams.
"Jared is a good football player," Cowboys coach Jason Garrett said. "He’s an experienced football player. You can see that. He’s got a good feel for playing the position, and he also has some quickness and some speed that allows him to separate from corners. So he’s been working very hard in our off-season program. One of the more veteran guys involved in this. I think you can see that when they’re practicing. He’s a guy who kind of understands what to do maybe a little bit better than some of the other guys and it reflects in his performance."
He enters a crowded competition with Williams, Dwayne Harris, Cole Beasley and Danny Coale among the receivers trying to stick behind Miles Austin and Dez Bryant.
-- Charean Williams