Mike McCarthy comments on Damontae Kazee arrest
Dallas Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy spoke on 96.7 The Ticket about safety Damontae Kazee’s recent arrest and the team’s handling of the situation. Kazee was arrested on Tuesday for driving while under the influence.
McCarthy on Damontae Kazee’s arrest
“I visited with Damontae today. It’s unfortunate,” stated McCarthy on the radio broadcast, via The Athletic’s Jon Machota. “We’re definitely aware of everything that went on. It’s a pending legal matter right now. I really can’t comment much further than that.”
Kazee was pulled over early Tuesday morning and a spokesperson from The Colony police said that an officer reported noticing physical signs that Kazee had been drinking. The Cowboys defensive back failed a field sobriety test and was detained. He was charged with DWI, a class B misdemeanor for a first offense.
Kazee posted a $2,500 bond Tuesday.
Damontae Kazee is in his first season with the Dallas Cowboys. Drafted in the fifth round of the 2017 NFL Draft, Kazee spent the first four seasons of his NFL career with the Atlanta Falcons. He signed with the Cowboys in the offseason, reuniting with Dallas defensive coordinator Dan Quinn, who was the head coach for Atlanta from 2015-2020.
This season, Kazee has started all six games and recorded 17 tackles, one forced fumble, one interception and three passes defected.
In his four seasons with Atlanta, Damontae Kazee recorded 199 tackles, three tackles for loss, 10 interceptions, five forced fumbles and 13 passes deflected.
The 5-1 Dallas Cowboys are coming off a win against the New England Patriots and have a bye week in week 7. After losing in Week 1 to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Cowboys have won five games in a row. Dallas sits as the clear top team in the NFC East at 5-1. After the bye week, the Cowboys have the Minnesota Vikings, Denver Broncos, and Kazee’s former team, the Atlanta Falcons on the upcoming schedule.
If the NFL does punish Kazee in any fashion, not having him on the field will cause some concern as the Cowboys’ defense has dealt with injuries all season long.
La’el Collins returns
The Cowboys waived fullback Nick Ralston on Wednesday, opening up a roster spot for tackel La’el Collins to return to the team after serving his five-game suspension.
In some good news for the Cowboys, Collins will be back on the offensive line for the first time since week 1 when the Cowboys lost to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
With Collins returning, the Cowboys needed to open up a roster space and unfortunately Ralston is the player they chose. Ralston has been used on special teams for the Cowboys in their last four games, and has only taken one snap with the offense so far this season.
Collins was suspending initially for five games following a series of missed drug test appointments as part of the NFL’s drug testing policy. The NFLPA negotiated on his behalf and were able to get the suspension reduced to just two games.
Collins was not satisfied with the new suspension terms either and asked for the suspension to be fully overruled and the NFLPA brought in an arbitrator to hear the case. After presented with all information and additional information that Collins attempted to bribe one of the NFL drug testing officials, the arbitrator recommended the suspension be upheld and increased to the original five games.
Collins then appealed the arbitrator’s ruling through the US court system, and the court ruled that his suspension would be upheld after all.
On3’s Tim Verghese contributed to this article.