Offseason
The 2009 NFL draft was one of the worst in the history of the Dallas Cowboys, with a lot of experts comparing it unfavorably to the 1995 "backup draft". This draft is infamously known as the "special teams draft", but it was so terrible, that as the years have passed it has garnered different nicknames. Entering the season the team considered their special teams a glaring weakness, so they hired a new coach (Joe DeCamillis) and focused on drafting players who could contribute immediately on this unit. The Cowboys started the day without a first round draft choice (part of the price to acquire Roy Williams) and then traded out of the second round to obtain more picks, reaching a total of 12, which was the most selections since their 1992 NFL draft. The eventual result was that the team couldn't find a starter in the group and most of the players drafted were waived by the 2010 season.
On may 2, 2009 during the rookie mini-camp, the Cowboys air-supported roof practice field (a tent-like structure) collapsed during a storm that turned into a microburst. At the time of the incident there were around 70 people inside (team personnel, coaches, media and rookie players), leaving 12 people injured. The most serious injuries were suffered by scouting assistant Rich Behm who was left paralyzed from the waist down after his spine was severed, Joe DeCamillis the special teams coach fractured one of his cervical vertebrae and Greg Gaither the assistant athletic trainer, sustained a fracture to the tibia and fibula in his right leg. The facility was completely destroyed and was never rebuilt. After the incident fallout, Summit Structures, it's parent company Cover-All Building Systems and the consulting firm JCI (helped design reinforcements), all filed for bankruptcy after serious structural flaws were found with the construction and manufacturing of the facility.
Read more about this topic: 2009 Dallas Cowboys Season