ARLINGTON, Texas -- Rolando McClain made his first preseason start for the Dallas Cowboys in Thursday night's preseason finale at AT&T Stadium.
The eighth overall pick of the 2010 draft started at middle linebacker. Kyle Wilber started on the strongside and Anthony Hitchens was on the weakside.
In an attempt to find Sean Lee's replacement for the year, McClain, who was signed by the Cowboys last month, became the team's third linebacker to start in the middle in four preseason games.
McClain had three tackles Thursday. He finishes the preseason with 11 tackles and a forced fumble in three games.
While the Cowboys are intrigued by McClain's upside, Jerry Jones made sure to pump the breaks after Dallas' 27-3 loss to Denver.
"I don't think Rolando is going to be the savior of this team," the Cowboys owner and general manager said. "We don't have Sean Lee, but Rolando does have the skill level to come in here and really add to what we can do. We're going to need of him.
"But I don't want anybody to think I expect him to be Dick Butkus or even Sean Lee. That's not there. You're a little excited when you see some of the things he does physically, but he hasn't played for a year and a half. Let's let him just come in here and when he gets in a game, he may be the fifth guy in or he may be coming in after we've had a couple of series.
"But let's watch him come in here and let us play. I say that because I don't want him or anybody else to think that we think he's savior of our defense. That's not the way it is."
