Keith Brooking Signs Deal With Cowboys

If you wanted a little indication that Ray Lewis will not be joining the Dallas Cowboys next season, this might be it.

Jerry Jones and the 'Boys have agreed to a three-year deal with former Falcons linebacker Keith Brooking, who will help out a Cowboys defense that gave up 77 points in the two "must-win" games at the end of the '08 season to miss the playoffs.

Talk had been heating up that Dallas wanted Ray and Ray wanted Dallas, but this has to be a move in the direction of leaving Lewis in Baltimore.

Brooking was productive last season for Atlanta, leading the team in tackles with 102 that helped take the Falcons to the playoffs after a 4-12 season the year before.

As a Cowboys fan, it would have been nice to get Ray on the squad, just because he seems like the type that could help a group of guys that seemed lost this past season after such high expectations, but Brooking will help. The amount Dallas plans to pay him isn't available yet but it has to be substantially less than Lewis would have asked for and you're getting a guy that had just 15 less tackles.

He might be be the presence or the face fans might have wanted, but Dallas has enough of those guys and will be benefited by a veteran on the defensive side.

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