Dallas Cowboys DE Marcus Spears talked with Norm Hitzges on KTCK-AM 1310 in Dallas on Thursday. Here are some of the highlights:
On his future with the Cowboys:
I was a casualty of the system. I went in and played and still gave it all I had, and now this year I'm in limbo and waiting again. I'm real good friends with Jason Hatcher, and we're in the same position. Me and Hatch have been working out for the last 2 1/2 weeks, and we just talk about it. He just says, 'Man, that was so messed up what happened to you last year,' and I just keep telling him that's football. There's nowhere else where you can make $1.2 million in a year, so it's not all bad. But now you have the opporunity to go out on the maket, but you have to wait. It's been two years of waiting for me.
On getting tendered last season:
It stings your pride, I gotta be honest. I was always taught that you play with the cards you're dealt, especially in a situation where you have no control. I'm a firm believer that a person starts to go crazy when they try and control what others do. That's why you can't let the negative interfere with your job. I can't control the population of people that think I suck as a football player; there's not I can do. I also can't control the one's that think I'm good; I appreciate them, but there's nothing I can do.
On if the team quit on Wade Phillips last season:
I can't speak for individual guys that I know didn't. And to be honest, I was so focused on trying to get the ship righted, as far as myself, I had no indication that anyone quit, to be honest with you. Especially when you have problems, you're always trying to find ways to improve. Everyone was trying to do that; they were all trying to improve.
On his future with the Cowboys:
I was a casualty of the system. I went in and played and still gave it all I had, and now this year I'm in limbo and waiting again. I'm real good friends with Jason Hatcher, and we're in the same position. Me and Hatch have been working out for the last 2 1/2 weeks, and we just talk about it. He just says, 'Man, that was so messed up what happened to you last year,' and I just keep telling him that's football. There's nowhere else where you can make $1.2 million in a year, so it's not all bad. But now you have the opporunity to go out on the maket, but you have to wait. It's been two years of waiting for me.
On getting tendered last season:
It stings your pride, I gotta be honest. I was always taught that you play with the cards you're dealt, especially in a situation where you have no control. I'm a firm believer that a person starts to go crazy when they try and control what others do. That's why you can't let the negative interfere with your job. I can't control the population of people that think I suck as a football player; there's not I can do. I also can't control the one's that think I'm good; I appreciate them, but there's nothing I can do.
On if the team quit on Wade Phillips last season:
I can't speak for individual guys that I know didn't. And to be honest, I was so focused on trying to get the ship righted, as far as myself, I had no indication that anyone quit, to be honest with you. Especially when you have problems, you're always trying to find ways to improve. Everyone was trying to do that; they were all trying to improve.
