National Football League

Jerry Jones: Cowboys not giving up on Morris Claiborne, but he hasn't met expectations

Published Sep. 23, 2014 10:36 p.m. ET

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Dallas Cowboys cornerback Morris Claiborne has not lived up to the expectations of being the sixth overall pick in the 2012 NFL Draft. Jerry Jones acknowledged that Tuesday.

Of the 96 NFL corners to play at least 25 percent of their team's snaps this season, Claiborne ranks 95th, according to Pro Football Focus. In 28 career games, Claiborne has recorded three interceptions and deflected 15 passes. Certainly not the production Jones was expecting when he was comparing Claiborne to Deion Sanders on draft night.

"You can't deny his ability to play a ball," Jones said on 105.3 The Fan [KRLD-FM]. "He's got skills relative to playing the ball, helping make turnovers. ... He's just got too much skill out there to not continue persistently and diligently to get him to where he can work within the defense and make those kinds of plays for us.

"We're not giving up on him at all. Is he what we had hoped for at this point when we drafted him with the sixth pick, gave up a pick to go up to the sixth pick to get him? No. But he's going to be a good player."

While giving that answer, Jones accidentally said SMU when he referenced Claiborne's college days before quickly correcting himself and saying LSU.

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Ironically, former SMU corner Sterling Moore, currently No. 4 on the Cowboys' depth chart, is who many think should be getting Claiborne's playing time in nickel situations. On Sunday, Claiborne started over Orlando Scandrick, arguably Dallas' best defender.

But Jones doesn't seem to have Moore in the picture. The Cowboys owner and general manager has Claiborne battling Scandrick for the starting spot opposite of Brandon Carr.

"Morris had a really good training camp," Jones said. "Very competitive. And then he suffered a little setback there injury-wise, and didn't quite get it back by the time we left training camp. On the other hand, Scandrick arguably had the best training camp of any player we had, certainly in the top three or four. So we've got to look real hard.

"We've got a guy that's playing lights out, played really good the other day, Scandrick. [He played] probably as well as anybody did in the secondary. So Scandrick or Claiborne, in certain situations, all three of them out there in a lot of situations. It's really something we'll have to see how they practice this week and we'll go from there."

Follow Jon Machota on Twitter: @jonmachota

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