The ongoing speculation surrounding the Dallas Cowboys’ secondary all summer centered around whether the team would keep four cornerbacks or five. SMU graduate Bryan McCann was one of three players competing for the last one or two spots.

As it turned out, there were no spots to be had, as McCann and fellow cornerbacks Cletis Gordon and Jamar Wall all were released by the Cowboys, who told McCann that if he cleared waivers, they would like to re-sign him to their practice squad.

SMU graduate Bryan McCann said he is flattered to have been picked up by the Baltimore Ravens, who are known for having one of the NFL's best defenses (photo by Travis Johnston).

No such luck. Before the league-mandated 24-hour waiting period in which players can re-sign with their original team expired, McCann was claimed by the Baltimore Ravens, who annually boast one of the NFL’s premier defenses.

McCann said he thought he had made the Cowboys’ final 53-man roster.

“Definitely,” he said when asked if he was surprised to be let go by the Cowboys. “I worked to become the fourth corner, and they told me I had earned that fourth corner spot. I knew I had earned that spot, but they decided to keep three.”

McCann said he received the news from head coach Wade Phillips and secondary coach Dave Campo.

“We were in a meeting, and they came and got Jamar, and then they came and got Clete (Gordon), too,” McCann said. “Everyone in the room thought ‘wow,’ and I had a smile on my face, because I thought I’d made it. Then (safety) Mike Hamlin came in and said, “Campo wants to talk to you. I thought I had made team. I met Coach Campo and Coach Phillips, and Coach Phillips told me they liked me, that I’d had a good camp, but they were going with just three cornerbacks. Coach Campo told me, ‘I fought for you to be the fourth corner, but we’re just going to keep three. He said, ‘I want you to stay on the practice squad, and I’m going to coach you to get you on the field as soon as possible.”

Campo’s offer became moot, however, when McCann didn’t make it through the league’s 24-hour period through which players must go unclaimed in order to return to their team’s practice squad.

“I got a call from (agent) John (Biggins),” McCann said. “He said ‘are you ready for this? You’re a Baltimore Raven! (Ravens general manager) Ozzie Newsome wants you to call him so that he can welcome you to the Ravens’ family.

“I felt honored. They’re known for their defense, and being a defender, for them to want to pick me up — it felt good. It felt like all my hard work being paid off.”

McCann’s role with his new team, he said, is still being determined, although Biggins said he expects his client to be involved in the return game on special teams as well as on defense at cornerback or nickel back.

“I’m just going to go out there (on the practice field) and work — I’ll let coaches handle all that,” McCann said. “I don’t get paid to make those decisions.”

McCann flew to Baltimore immediately to start working with his new team in preparation for his NFL debut, which will be Monday night against the New York Jets.

Ironically, it is an ex-Cowboy, safety Ken Hamlin, who has helped McCann make the transition to learning the system and terminology used by the Baltimore defense.

“Basically, I got in, had to do tests, blood work, take a physical, went to the hospital to have x-rays on my ankle to make sure that’s all good, and then I just had time to sit down and eat and go out to practice,” McCann said of his routine Monday, his first day with his new team. “I got out there, and it sounded like Chinese to me. I was thinking, ‘just tell me the coverage, so I can line up and go.’ Ken Hamlin played for Dallas last year, and he helped relate the Ravens’ terminology to the Cowboys’, and I realized a lot of it is the same thing, just using different lingo.”

On the first day in Baltimore, McCann and fellow free agent addition T.J. Houshmandzadeh stood up at practice and introduced themselves to their new teammates. Before the end of his first practice session, McCann made a point of introducing himself to his new boss, head coach John Harbaugh.

“I just shook his hand,” McCann said, “and expressed my gratitude for the opportunity.”

When he originally signed with Dallas, McCann said he felt prepared to face the Cowboys’ receivers in practice because of the stiff competition he faced at SMU when he went against receiver Emmanuel Sanders every day in practice. As fate would have it, McCann and Sanders will now see each other twice a year as divisional foes; Sanders was drafted in the third round by the AFC North rival Pittsburgh Steelers.

“I'm excited to be playing against ‘E’ twice a year,” McCann said. “We are really close friends, but even bigger competitors. If anything, it just makes our relationship even better.”

McCann predicted Sanders will thrive in Pittsburgh, but couldn’t resist the urge to poke fun at his friend.

“I know he will find success on this level, so he's going to need me to humble him every now and then,” McCann said. “But regardless of who we play for we will always be friends.

“When I called to tell him I was signed with the Ravens, he picked up the phone and didn't say hello. All I heard was, ‘I'm gonna tear you up! I'm headed to the weightroom right now!’ He told me he was excited for me and proud of me.”

His trip to Baltimore this week is not his first visit to the city — he and his father, Juarez, stayed with family members in Baltimore when they went to President Barack Obama’s inauguration — but his current trip isn’t about seeing Charm City.

“I was disappointed to be cut — not just because it was the Cowboys, but because it represented failure,” said McCann, who replaced his No. 37 jersey in Dallas with a No. 36 jersey in Baltimore. “But then the Ravens called, they came out of nowhere. I thought maybe I’d hear from one of the teams that was considering me before the draft — Houston, Philly, Indianapolis — but Baltimore came out of nowhere.

“The Ravens are known for having a great defense, so this is a better situation for me. Now I have to learn the system and show them they made the right choice. My first goal was to get to the NFL, and I achieved it.”