At various points in 2011, the Cowboys leaned on three different rookies to help anchor a young offensive line. David Arkin was not one of them.
Despite being the Cowboys' fourth-round pick last year, Arkin was passed over for playing time in favor of seventh-rounder Bill Nagy and even undrafted free agent Kevin Kowalski. But the team was adamant that it wasn't a condemnation of Arkin's ultimate potential.
“We had our eyes wide open as to what his developmental process would be, the expectations for a guy like that coming from a smaller school is not to jump in there and play immediately," head coach Jason Garrett said in October.
“There are a lot of things we liked about him intangibly. He’s a tough guy, he loves to play football. Physically, we feel like he has the traits as well, but it’s going to be a process."
The "process" left Arkin, a Missouri State alumnus, on the sideline for his entire rookie season. It didn't help that the lockout left him without an off-season regimen of OTAs and training camp to acclimate himself to the NFL game sooner.
But with his second season looming, Arkin has earned some reps with the first-team offense and says he's spent the off-season trying to fix one of his biggest issues as a rookie -- a lack of strength.
"I feel like I was able to get in the weight room with Mike Woicik and really work a lot and get stronger," Arkin told Cowboys.com's Josh Ellis. "I felt like that was a little bit of a problem for me, my anchor strength, and I feel like I've gotten a lot better with that."
But Arkin's got competition, namely in the form of free agent acquisition Mackenzy Bernadeau as well as Kowalski, Nagy and, depending on how you look at it, center Phil Costa.
And then there's Ron Leary, an undrafted guard out of Memphis. Leary dropped in the draft because of a degenerative knee condition that could limit the length of his career, but shouldn't hamper him too much in the interim.
"I'm getting in there a little bit," Leary told Ellis. "I haven't accomplished anything. Right now that's just practice reps. (Callahan) is just giving me a chance. I haven't accomplished anything until the season comes around and I'm in there. That's a long time from now, though."
Despite being the Cowboys' fourth-round pick last year, Arkin was passed over for playing time in favor of seventh-rounder Bill Nagy and even undrafted free agent Kevin Kowalski. But the team was adamant that it wasn't a condemnation of Arkin's ultimate potential.
“We had our eyes wide open as to what his developmental process would be, the expectations for a guy like that coming from a smaller school is not to jump in there and play immediately," head coach Jason Garrett said in October.
“There are a lot of things we liked about him intangibly. He’s a tough guy, he loves to play football. Physically, we feel like he has the traits as well, but it’s going to be a process."
The "process" left Arkin, a Missouri State alumnus, on the sideline for his entire rookie season. It didn't help that the lockout left him without an off-season regimen of OTAs and training camp to acclimate himself to the NFL game sooner.
But with his second season looming, Arkin has earned some reps with the first-team offense and says he's spent the off-season trying to fix one of his biggest issues as a rookie -- a lack of strength.
"I feel like I was able to get in the weight room with Mike Woicik and really work a lot and get stronger," Arkin told Cowboys.com's Josh Ellis. "I felt like that was a little bit of a problem for me, my anchor strength, and I feel like I've gotten a lot better with that."
But Arkin's got competition, namely in the form of free agent acquisition Mackenzy Bernadeau as well as Kowalski, Nagy and, depending on how you look at it, center Phil Costa.
And then there's Ron Leary, an undrafted guard out of Memphis. Leary dropped in the draft because of a degenerative knee condition that could limit the length of his career, but shouldn't hamper him too much in the interim.
"I'm getting in there a little bit," Leary told Ellis. "I haven't accomplished anything. Right now that's just practice reps. (Callahan) is just giving me a chance. I haven't accomplished anything until the season comes around and I'm in there. That's a long time from now, though."
