Off the wire

Cowboys place Darren McFadden on waivers; ex-Hog has no plans to retire

Darren McFadden
Darren McFadden

FRISCO, Texas — Darren McFadden’s time with the Dallas Cowboys has come to an end, but the veteran running back said he has no plans to walk away from the game.

McFadden, a former Arkansas Razorback, and the Cowboys mutually agreed to part ways, Coach Jason Garrett announced Sunday. If McFadden clears waivers, he’ll be free to sign with any team. McFadden (Pulaski Oak Grove) was in the final year of his contract with the Cowboys.

McFadden thanked the Cowboys organization in a post to his Twitter account, writing: “Just want to say Thank You to the @ dallascowboys. I grew up a Cowboys fan and it was awesome to wear the Star on my helmet. I wish my boys good luck.”

Garrett expressed similar appreciation for McFadden’s time with the Cowboys.

“Darren has been a really good player for us and has been just a first-class guy on our football team,” Garrett said. “Just the way the running back rotation has been and is probably going to be as we go forward, he wasn’t going to get many opportunities.”

McFadden, the 2008 fourth overall pick out of Arkansas, is in his 10th season and has become largely an afterthought for the Cowboys’ running game. The thought going into the season had been that McFadden would serve as Ezekiel Elliott’s primary backup, and possibly gain a starting role when Elliott’s six-game suspension kicked in.

But McFadden has been passed on the depth chart by Alfred Morris and Rod Smith, and has been active in only one of the Cowboys’ 11 games this season.

In McFadden’s lone active game, he received one carry and lost 2 yards on it.

McFadden, 30, became a surprising inactive decision two weeks ago before the Philadelphia game, and expressed frustration about it afterward. He was inactive again on Thanksgiving when the Cowboys lost to the Los Angeles Chargers.

McFadden said he’s 100 percent healthy and feels as though he hasn’t lost a step. The Cowboys coaching staff and front office have also raved about his burst, but that never materialized on game day.

McFadden led the Cowboys in rushing two years ago when he overtook the primary role from Joseph Randle. In that 2015 season, McFadden finished with the fourth-most rushing yards (1,089) in the league.

Last season became a lost year for McFadden as he missed 13 games coming off elbow surgery, and this has essentially became a second lost season by being inactive 10 of the 11 games.

Sports on 11/27/2017

GOLF

Ormsby wins in Hong Kong

Australia’s Wade Ormsby won the 2017 Hong Kong Open in dramatic fashion for his first European Tour victory on Sunday. Ormsby was 12 under and two shots ahead heading into the last, but bogeyed the final hole to head into the clubhouse at 11 under, even with Rafa Cabrera Bello who was playing in the group behind. Cabrera Bel-lo, who started the day in the final pairing at 9 under, got off to a rocky start with a bogey on the third hole. He bounced back on the back half of the course to close on the leaders. A birdie on the 17th had him draw even with Ormsby for the lead. A par on the 18th would have forced a playoff but his second shot into the bunker made for a difficult putt for par that the Scottish Open champion missed, handing the victory to Ormsby. Ormsby shot 68 for an overall total of 11-under 269, while Cabrera Bello finished in a group of four tied for second after a 69, finishing a stroke back with Americans Julian Suri (66) and Paul Peterson (67) and Sweden’s Alexander Bjork (68). Race to Dubai winner Tommy Fleetwood of Britain finished sixth at 9-under

  1. Previous winner Miguel Angel Jimenez, who shot the lowest round of the tournament with a 63, finished at 8-under 272 to tie with early pace setter S.S.P Chawrasia of India and American Micah Lauren Shin.

TENNIS

France takes Davis Cup

France won the Davis Cup for the first time in 16 years after beating Belgium 3-2 on Sunday at Lille, France. Lucas Pouille’s lopsided 6-3, 6-1, 6-0 victory over Steve Darcis in the second reverse singles gave France its 10th Davis Cup title, ending a run of three losses in finals. France joined Britain in third place on the list for the most Davis Cup titles, behind the United States (32) and Australia (28). France had won its last title in 2001, and lost in finals in 2002, 2010 and 2014. Belgium’s top player, David Goffin, earlier kept alive his country’s hopes of a first title in the team competition by leveling the tie at 2-2. Goffin beat Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 7-6 (5), 6-3, 6-2 in the first reverse singles match.

SKIING

Jansrud takes super-G

Kjetil Jansrud of Norway won the World Cup super-G on Sunday at Lake Louise, Alberta, beating Austrian’s Max Franz by 0.28 seconds. Jansrud finished in 1 minute, 30.76 seconds. In 2014, he won both the super-G and downhill at Lake Louise. Austria’s Hannes Reichelt was third, 0.32 seconds back. Reigning world super-G champion Erik Guay of Canada withdrew from the downhill Saturday and super-G Sunday because of a sore back.

Shiffrin wins slalom

American Mikaela Shiffrin picked up her first victory of the season in convincing style, winning both runs of the women’s World Cup slalom on Sunday at Killington, Vt. Shiffrin, who won the slalom at Killington last year, finished with a combined two-run time of 1 minute, 40.91 seconds. She was 1.64 seconds ahead of runner-up Petra Vlhova of Slovakia, who won the last two World Cup slaloms. Bernadette Schild finished third in 1:43.58, a distant 2.67 seconds back. Shiffrin was the runner-up in Saturday’s giant slalom and now leads the overall World Cup standings with 305 points. With a victory and a second-place finish each, Shiffrin and Vlhova are now tied for the slalom points lead.

BASKETBALL

‘Snapper’ Jones dies

Steve “Snapper” Jones, the former ABA and NBA player who had a long career in broadcasting, died Saturday after a lengthy illness. He was 75. The Portland Trail Blazers said family members and friends confirmed that Jones died in Houston. Jones was a three-time All-Star in eight ABA seasons, averaging 16.0 points in 640 regular-season games for Oakland, New Orleans, Memphis, Dallas, Carolina, Denver and St. Louis. He finished his career with Portland in 1975-76, averaging 6.5 points in 64 games in his lone NBA season. Born in Alexandria, La., but raised in Portland, Jones was a standout at Franklin High School, leading his squad to an Oregon state championship in 1959.

FOOTBALL

Toronto wins Grey Cup

Lirim Hajrullahu kicked a 32-yard field goal with 49 seconds left and the Toronto Argonauts stunned the Calgary Stampeders 27-24 on Sunday in the Canadian Football League’s snowy 105th Grey Cup at Ottawa, Ontario. Toronto tied it with 4:35 to go on Cassius Vaughn’s Grey Cup-record 109-yard fumble return and Ricky Ray’s two-point conversion pass to Declan Cross. After Hajrullahu’s field goal, Matt Black picked off Bo Levi Mitchell’s pass in the end zone to send the Stampeders to their second loss in two years in the title game. Toronto won its record-extending 17th championship, and Ray, 38, became the first starting quarterback to win four Grey Cup titles. The Stampeders led the CFL in the regular season with a 13-4-1 record, while Toronto topped the East Division at 9-9.

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