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IRVING (105.3 THE FAN) - The Dallas Cowboys interest in pass-rusher Benson Mayowa isn't a headline-grabber like any word on Greg Hardy is a headline-grabber.

But it's not designed to be.

Dallas signed the talented-but-controversial Hardy a year ago. Now he's a free agent again and he's getting no real attention. The Cowboys planned to solidify their right-end spot with a signing of Adrian Clayborn but he re-upped with Atlanta.

So now we're many tiers down from top-shelf, and Dallas is interested in Mayowa, the furthest thing from a "name'' defensive end but at 24, someone the Cowboys personnel department thinks has promise.

Mayowa is an Oakland restricted free agent given a right-of-first-refusal tender by the Raiders. If Dallas offers him, the Raiders can match and retain.

Mayowa, 24, is undersized at 6-3, 240. But the Idaho product has shown flashes of talent in Oakland. He isn't Hardy and he isn't Clayborn. What he is: a lower-tier prospect that Dallas thinks can develop into something more than a special-teamer.

The interest here is not designed to grab headlines; it's a product of Will McClay's personnel department working to mine talent.

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