Dallas Cowboys Team Moves

IRVING, Texas (April 13, 2006) -- Dallas Cowboys fullback Lousaka Polite signed a one-year contract.

Polite played in 14 games last season with three starts. Polite had two carries for 8 yards and caught nine passes for 72 yards. He also played extensively on special teams.

With Polite's signing, the Cowboys have re-signed all their exclusive rights free agents for 2006.

• Free (safety) fallin': Whether or not the Dallas Cowboys match the restricted free agent offer sheet that incumbent free safety Keith Davis signed with the New Orleans Saints -- and the deadline for a decision is next Monday -- they want to upgrade in the interior secondary. Davis is a more natural strong safety, a guy who is most effective when playing close to the line of scrimmage, and the Cowboys already have Pro Bowl performer Roy Williams to fill that role. What the Cowboys covet is a ball hawking free safety, a midfield defender with range and ball skills. They'll use the draft to find such a player.

Still working to address the safety position before the draft, and to add more experience to the backup spots in their secondary, the Dallas Cowboys on Tuesday signed 10-year veteran Marcus Coleman, who had been released by the Houston Texans in March for salary cap reasons.

The one-year deal Coleman signed includes the minimum base salary of $810,000 for a 10-year veteran.


The addition of Coleman, 31, gives the Dallas coaches not only a proven commodity but a player who will provide some flexibility in the secondary as well. Primarily a cornerback for the first eight seasons of his NFL career, much of that tenure spent with the New York Jets, Coleman moved to safety in 2004 and played well at the new position.


He started 12 games at free safety in '04 and, despite missing the final month of the season with a shoulder injury, registered 80 tackles, two interceptions and eight passes defensed. Coleman played in 15 games last season, with 11 starts, and had 66 tackles, one interception and three passes defensed. With the Texans intent on getting younger at the position, and on dumping Coleman's contract, he was replaced in the lineup by rookie C.C. Harris for the final month of the campaign.


It is believed the Cowboys will use Coleman mostly at safety, but his experience at cornerback could come in handy. Since he has played both safety positions and cornerback, Coleman could end up being a "swing man" in the secondary. At 6-feet-2 and 215 pounds, he brings more size to the secondary, too.


This marks the second time in two years that the Cowboys have added a onetime starter from the Houston secondary to their roster. Last spring, Dallas signed cornerback Aaron Glenn after the Texans released him, and he became their primary nickel corner. Glenn and Coleman are close friends and both played with the Jets before moving to Houston in the 2002 expansion draft.


Dallas coaches have been attempting to upgrade the safety spot for much of the offseason, and there is a good chance the Cowboys will address the position in the draft as well. The Cowboys last week retained incumbent free safety Keith Davis by matching the two-year, $3.1 million restricted free agent offer sheet to which the New Orleans Saints had signed him.

Dallas has three-time Pro Bowl strong safety Roy Williams, a superior player vs. the run, but is seeking to get more big plays from the position.


A former Texas Tech standout, Coleman was chosen by the Jets in the fifth round of the 1996 draft. He played six seasons in New York (1996-2001) before being shipped to the Texans in 2002 as part of a deal the two teams made in the expansion draft to stock the Houston roster with veterans.


Coleman has 561 tackles, 25 interceptions, 136 passes defensed, five forced fumbles and two recoveries for his career, while appearing in 149 games and starting 101 of them. In one five-season stretch, 1999-2003, Coleman posted 20 interceptions, fifth best in the league over that period. That included six interceptions with the Jets in 1999 and seven pickoffs with the Texans in 2003.