IRVING, Texas -- These are not your father's Dallas Cowboys, so to speak.
Once a team stocked with enough players to field a softball team in an over-30 league, the Cowboys are getting young.
With the releases of DeMarcus Ware and Miles Austin, the Cowboys have three starters over 30 years old in Tony Romo, who turns 34 next month, Jason Witten, who turns 32 in May and Doug Free, who turned 30 in January.
The only other thirty-somethings on the roster are backup quarterback Kyle Orton, who is 31, and long-snapper L.P. Ladouceur, who turns 33 on Thursday.
Not included on the list are free agents Anthony Spencer (30) and Jason Hatcher (31).
Ware turns 32 in July and Austin turns 30 in June.
The Cowboys have refused to use the word "rebuild" over the last three seasons but they have re-tooled their roster moving away from Leonard Davis, Kyle Kosier, Andre Gurode and Marc Colombo on the offensive line and Ware, Jay Ratliff, Marcus Spears and Kenyon Coleman on the defensive line.
They have made the decision to not restructure the contracts of Witten and Brandon Carr, who turns 28 in May, unless absolutely necessary so they do not push more money into the salary cap in future years.
For years people have called the NFL a young man's game. The Cowboys are moving to a younger man's team.
