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For Morris Claiborne, it's finally coming together with Cowboys
10:54 AM CT
Todd Archer
ESPN Staff Writer
FRISCO, Texas -- It would have been perfectly acceptable if Morris Claiborne chose to sign with any other team in the NFL but the Dallas Cowboys last March.
His four-year run with the Cowboys can be politely called a disappointment. Injuries prevented him from ever playing a full season. Inconsistent play prevented him from ever reaching the potential the Cowboys had for him when they boldly moved up to take him with the sixth overall pick in the 2012 draft.
A fresh start would have seemed best.
"I heard a whole lot of different stuff," Claiborne said. "I wasn't listening."
Claiborne chose to stay with a one-year contract that included a $1.25 million base salary, $500,000 signing bonus and $250,000 workout bonus. Every week he is on the 46-man roster, he earns an extra $62,500. He has another $375,000 available through incentives.
"I never really thought about going anywhere else unless I was just forced to go somewhere else," Claiborne said. "I always wanted to stay here no matter what I was going through here. This is where I started and this is where I want to finish."
On Sept. 23, 2014, Claiborne thought he might have been finished with the Cowboys. He had found out he would be replaced in the starting lineup by Orlando Scandrick, who was fully ready to go after a suspension. The anger and frustration he felt from not meeting his own expectations, plus the personal grief he felt from the death of his father the previous winter, boiled over, and he walked out of Valley Ranch.
That night he met with Jason Garrett. The next day he apologized to his teammates.
"That was one of the hardest things I felt myself ever having to do was stand up in front of those guys and apologize to them for something like that, for walking out on them," Claiborne said. "I didn't mean it as I was walking out on those guys at all. I apologized and I meant it from the bottom of my heart."
But the next week against the New Orleans Saints he suffered a torn patellar tendon and was done for the season. Claiborne has had more injuries -- wrist, shoulder, knee, hamstring, concussion, ankle -- than career interceptions -- three.
The darkest days followed in the months where he could do next to nothing. He had surgery on both knees and his weight dropped to 150 pounds.
"I never got to that point where I was like, 'I'm done with it. My mind's made up,'" Claiborne said. "I never got to that point but you do go back and think like, 'Is this for me?' You keep getting injured. You keep having these different surgeries. You come in and people are like, 'This should be his year,' and you go out and another nagging injury that holds you back. Now you're like, 'I thought this would be my year,' and it gets to you. But you just have to keep going through whatever you're going through at this moment. I realize that it never lasts that long."
The knee never gave him trouble in 2015, but hamstring and ankle injuries forced him to miss five games. He started all 11 games he played with Scandrick out for the year with a knee injury, but he failed to record an interception.
Early in the offseason, he had conversations with Garrett and owner and general manager Jerry Jones. They wanted him back.
"I know that this organization and coaches know that I can play when I'm not injured or not in the training room or nothing like that," Claiborne said. "I know they know what I can do."
The 2016 season is only three games old, but Claiborne's belief in himself and the Cowboys' belief in him is finally being rewarded. He still doesn't have an interception (a streak of 15 games over three seasons) but he has 16 tackles, a tackle for loss and one pass breakup.
"Mo's playing with a real competitive spirit and he's playing with a real physical nature," Garrett said. "He's making plays on the ball. He's tackling well. I think you see that week in and week out. He's playing with confidence. It's a hard position to play cornerback in the NFL. The receivers are good, the quarterbacks are good. When you're out there a lot by yourself on a consistent basis, not only do you need to be physically tough, but you need to be mentally tough because they'll have some success. I think Mo has demonstrated that mental toughness so far this season. I think he's played at a very high level."
It's close to the level he expected and the Cowboys expected back in 2012, but there is more to be done.
"I felt like I owed it to my teammates, the organization to go out and put together some good years for them, just go have some good games," Claiborne said. "From where they picked me at, there was a lot of high expectations for me and I know I haven't reached those high expectations yet but I'm still on it. I'm still going. My goal is to still reach those high expectations and go out and play good every week."
10:54 AM CT
Todd Archer
ESPN Staff Writer
FRISCO, Texas -- It would have been perfectly acceptable if Morris Claiborne chose to sign with any other team in the NFL but the Dallas Cowboys last March.
His four-year run with the Cowboys can be politely called a disappointment. Injuries prevented him from ever playing a full season. Inconsistent play prevented him from ever reaching the potential the Cowboys had for him when they boldly moved up to take him with the sixth overall pick in the 2012 draft.
A fresh start would have seemed best.
"I heard a whole lot of different stuff," Claiborne said. "I wasn't listening."
Claiborne chose to stay with a one-year contract that included a $1.25 million base salary, $500,000 signing bonus and $250,000 workout bonus. Every week he is on the 46-man roster, he earns an extra $62,500. He has another $375,000 available through incentives.
"I never really thought about going anywhere else unless I was just forced to go somewhere else," Claiborne said. "I always wanted to stay here no matter what I was going through here. This is where I started and this is where I want to finish."
On Sept. 23, 2014, Claiborne thought he might have been finished with the Cowboys. He had found out he would be replaced in the starting lineup by Orlando Scandrick, who was fully ready to go after a suspension. The anger and frustration he felt from not meeting his own expectations, plus the personal grief he felt from the death of his father the previous winter, boiled over, and he walked out of Valley Ranch.
That night he met with Jason Garrett. The next day he apologized to his teammates.
"That was one of the hardest things I felt myself ever having to do was stand up in front of those guys and apologize to them for something like that, for walking out on them," Claiborne said. "I didn't mean it as I was walking out on those guys at all. I apologized and I meant it from the bottom of my heart."
But the next week against the New Orleans Saints he suffered a torn patellar tendon and was done for the season. Claiborne has had more injuries -- wrist, shoulder, knee, hamstring, concussion, ankle -- than career interceptions -- three.
The darkest days followed in the months where he could do next to nothing. He had surgery on both knees and his weight dropped to 150 pounds.
"I never got to that point where I was like, 'I'm done with it. My mind's made up,'" Claiborne said. "I never got to that point but you do go back and think like, 'Is this for me?' You keep getting injured. You keep having these different surgeries. You come in and people are like, 'This should be his year,' and you go out and another nagging injury that holds you back. Now you're like, 'I thought this would be my year,' and it gets to you. But you just have to keep going through whatever you're going through at this moment. I realize that it never lasts that long."
The knee never gave him trouble in 2015, but hamstring and ankle injuries forced him to miss five games. He started all 11 games he played with Scandrick out for the year with a knee injury, but he failed to record an interception.
Early in the offseason, he had conversations with Garrett and owner and general manager Jerry Jones. They wanted him back.
"I know that this organization and coaches know that I can play when I'm not injured or not in the training room or nothing like that," Claiborne said. "I know they know what I can do."
The 2016 season is only three games old, but Claiborne's belief in himself and the Cowboys' belief in him is finally being rewarded. He still doesn't have an interception (a streak of 15 games over three seasons) but he has 16 tackles, a tackle for loss and one pass breakup.
"Mo's playing with a real competitive spirit and he's playing with a real physical nature," Garrett said. "He's making plays on the ball. He's tackling well. I think you see that week in and week out. He's playing with confidence. It's a hard position to play cornerback in the NFL. The receivers are good, the quarterbacks are good. When you're out there a lot by yourself on a consistent basis, not only do you need to be physically tough, but you need to be mentally tough because they'll have some success. I think Mo has demonstrated that mental toughness so far this season. I think he's played at a very high level."
It's close to the level he expected and the Cowboys expected back in 2012, but there is more to be done.
"I felt like I owed it to my teammates, the organization to go out and put together some good years for them, just go have some good games," Claiborne said. "From where they picked me at, there was a lot of high expectations for me and I know I haven't reached those high expectations yet but I'm still on it. I'm still going. My goal is to still reach those high expectations and go out and play good every week."
