Cowboys CB whose gaffe lost game signs with Titans to add on to $6 million in earnings
The key figure in one of the Cowboys' most painful losses of 2024 has found a new home. And he'll be reunited there with the coach who stood by him in his darkest moment.
Cornerback Amani Oruwariye, who appeared in seven games for the Cowboys last season and made four starts, will sign with the Tennessee Titans, per NFL insider Jeremy Fowler of ESPN. The former fifth-round draft pick had been with the Lions, Giants, and Jaguars prior to joining Dallas's practice squad ahead of the 2024 season.
In Tennessee, Oruwariye will provide veteran experience in the secondary, but he will also likely be a regular contributor on special teams. Longtime special teams coordinator John Fassel will be in his first year with the Titans after serving in that role for five seasons with the Cowboys.
Fassel was vocal in defending Oruwariye after a blocked punt turned disastrous late in the team's Week 14 primetime game last season against Cincinnati.
With the score tied and two minutes to play, Cowboys linebacker Nick Vigil blocked a Bengals punt. When the ball managed to travel beyond the line of scrimmage, it became live. Left alone, it would have been whistled dead, and Dallas would have taken possession, already within kicker Brandon Aubrey's range.
But Oruwariye, who had just re-joined the active roster a few hours earlier, tried to grab the bouncing ball, unaware of what had happened. He mishandled the ball, and the Bengals recovered. They would go on to score moments later and seal the 27-20 win, sending Dallas to 5-8.
"He just reacted like I would: 'see ball, get ball,'" Fassel told reporters afterward. "I think I attribute it to sometimes, special teams is the Wild, Wild West."
Fassel and his Cowboys teammates were adamant that the fluke play shouldn't define Oruwariye as a player.
"[I] asked him how he was doing, word for word, and he said, 'I'm doing good,'" Fassel said. "And I said 'Good, because you should be doing good, you have no reason to think that you cost us the game, or that you made a mistake, or that you let the team down.'"
Oruwariye had been the hero in Week 4, when his interception of a pass intended for Jalin Hyatt with five seconds to play put the final nail in the coffin of the Cowboys' 20-15 win over the Giants.
The 29-year-old, who played is college ball at Penn State, has earned $6.8 million with four teams over six seasons in the NFL.
Now Oruwariye he'll begin his seventh year looking to start over once again.
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