Matt

Johnson

The Cowboys continue to shore up their leaky secondary. Johnson is a rugged strong safety at 6'0/211 and ran a 4.58 40-yard dash at his Pro Day. He’ll compete for playing time behind starters Brodney Pool and Gerald Sensabaugh in Dallas.

Ineligible to practice until Eastern Washington’s classes ended, Johnson took the field Thursday for the first time since rookie minicamp. A big-hitter and playmaker with 17 interceptions and plus athleticism in college, Johnson is expected to battle Brodney Pool and Barry Church for the one open safety spot opposite Gerald Sensabaugh.

Church is competing with Brodney Pool and rookie Matt Johnson opposite Gerald Sensabaugh. Dallas’ third safety last season, the hard-hitting Church recorded 28 tackles while playing in less than 20 percent of defensive snaps.

Johnson missed most of training camp with an initial hamstring injury, but suffered one to his other leg on Saturday. Initially considered to be a contender for regular snaps, if not a starting job, Johnson doesn’t figure to make a big rookie-season impact.

Johnson hasn’t played in a game this season after recurring hamstring issues. He was expected to make his debut on Sunday against Carolina, but the fourth-rounder suffered a setback in Friday’s practice. Garrett said that Johnson has “practiced well,” but “you don’t want to waste that roster spot all year long, so at some point there’s going to be a decision we have to make.”

Kowalski has been out with an ankle injury since training camp and will add depth behind Phil Costa, but with Costa and Ryan Cook out this week, he could see plenty of action. Kowalski was signed as an undrafted free agent out of Toledo prior to 2011. Johnson, a fourth-round rookie, has been battling a hamstring issue since the summer and didn’t play a snap this season.

Johnson has yet to play a defensive snap this season due to recurring hamstring woes. Dallas has been mulling this decision over for weeks now, and the team finally made the move after activating C Kevin Kowalski (ankle) from PUP. Johnson will be sidelined for a minimum of six weeks and would only be available if the Cowboys make the playoffs.

“He looked like the same guy we saw last year before we lost him to the injury,” DBs coach Jerome Henderson said Tuesday. “He’s moving around extremely well. I just hope he continues on the path he’s on.” As of now, Church and Matt Johnson are the Cowboys’ starting safeties. Injuries limited them to a combined 108 snaps last season, zero of which were played by Johnson.

Johnson said he was squatting too much in the gym, and he has since focused on doing more hamstring workouts. “When you get to the pros, and playing at safety, I don’t need to squat 500 pounds,” Johnson said. “We did more position specific and more dynamic work.” Johnson says he’s lost a couple pounds since last season and feels more comfortable. He’s competing for a starting job.

Allen, 31 on Monday, signed a one-year deal in March, and he has 33 career starts under his belt through nine seasons. The veteran will face competition from second-year S Matt Johnson, but Johnson wasn’t overly impressive in OTAs and minicamp. Barry Church has a firm grip on the strong safety spot.