Cowboys Release Dontari Poe Due To Weight Issues

Cowboys’ owner Jerry Jones announced on Wednesday that Dallas is releasing defensive tackle Dontari Poe citing Poe’s weight issues and his lack of production on the field. While these could be considered valid reasons, some are speculating whether or not this decision has to do with Poe’s persistent kneeling during the national anthem before games – Poe is the only Cowboys’ player who kneeled every week.

“When you’re 30 pounds overweight and you’re not doing anything about what’s keeping you from performing well on the field, there is no reason to get into the other stuff,” Jones told ESPN. The “other stuff” is likely his protesting, but he was pressed on the question by his interviewer, “I understand your question, and I’m deliberately not going to answer it. We have a platform here, but the platform on the football field has a high standard, and [Poe] was not up to the standard. He needed to correct that, and he did not. I’m going to leave it at that.”

This feels like an absolute cop-out but, unfortunately, owners and NFL organizations have the unilateral power in the league to terminate a player’s employment for any reason that they want, even if that reason has nothing to do with football. I would say that Poe has the talent to make another roster but with some of the blackballing that has gone on in the league, most notably Colin Kaepernick, that is no guarantee anymore.

Poe, 30, was signed to a two-year, $8.5 million contract as an unrestricted free agent in the offseason. Poe was guaranteed $3.5 million on the deal.