Justin Rogers joined the Cowboys after getting drafted — and then released — in 2007 by the New England Patriots (photo by Webmaster).

What a difference a year makes.

At this time last year, former SMU defensive end Justin Rogers had finished mini-camp and awaiting his first training camp as a member of the New England Patriots after the Pats selected him in the sixth round of the NFL draft. He was getting used to a new city, a new league and a new position.

Fast-forward a year. Rogers was waived by New England just before the 2007 season and picked up by the Dallas Cowboys. He slipped immediately into a backup role behind Pro Bowl linebacker DeMarcus Ware, and was added to several of the Cowboys’ special teams. At first, he survived largely on instinct and raw physical ability.

“I was pretty lost a year ago,” Rogers said at the Cowboys’ veteran mini-camp this week. “I didn’t know what I was doing.”

The adjustments for Rogers were many. He moved from the 4-3 defense in which he played at SMU to the 3-4 employed by the Patriots and Cowboys. After spending his college career with a hand down on the ground as a defensive end, he found himself seeing the line of scrimmage from a different perspective, lining up in a stand-up position. As a linebacker, he even had to drop into coverage.

“That’s something I’d never done before,” he said. “I was used to rushing the passer and playing the run, but coverage was totally new to me.”

Now Rogers feels more comfortable … sort of.

After bulking up to 265 pounds at SMU, Rogers has shed 15 pounds to play linebacker (photo by Webmaster).

“It was hard enough to learn a new position, and get used to playing football as a job,” Rogers said, “but really, I had to learn two new languages last year, on top of the new defenses. There could be a blitz or coverage that we did at SMU that had a different name in New England, and another different name here.”

It doesn’t sound like a lot, but it was a lot to digest. Rogers said it was somewhere around the midpoint of the 2007 season when things started to “slow down,” when he started to feel comfortable with the litany of tasks the Dallas coaches asked of him.

“I don’t remember the specific time, or the specific game, but somewhere along the line, I didn’t think about things so much,” he said. “I just played.”

Of course, if all rookies have to reinvent themselves upon arrival in the NFL, maybe Rogers had an advantage over his first-year colleagues last year. After all, his entire college career was something of an extended metamorphosis. After arriving at SMU as a scrawny, 200-pounder from Commerce High School who even the most avid followers of football recruiting knew little about, Rogers embarked on a well-documented regimen of eating everything in sight and taking up residence in the weight room, transforming himself into the burly, 265-pound all-Conference USA honoree whose 9.5 sacks as a senior are the fifth-highest single-season total in SMU history. So what’s the challenge in learning a new position and new defense?

The blue-collar work ethic that allowed Rogers to bulk up into one of C-USA’s best players is the same approach that might well extend his NFL career. He is listed as the second-string outside linebacker behind Ware, and he starts on nearly every version of the special teams, but to hear Rogers tell it, he has not yet accomplished anything.

Justin Rogers teamed with Adrian Haywood, Brandon Bonds and Cory Muse to form SMU's best defensive line in 20 years (photo by Webmaster).

“I don’t feel like anything is set in stone,” said Rogers, who has two years left on the three-year contract he signed with the Patriots, a deal Dallas picked up when Rogers was grabbed off the waiver wire. “I’ve still got to make the team.”

Maybe he still has to earn a spot, and maybe his versatility already has a position locked up — that will be determined this summer when the team heads to Oxnard, Calif., for training camp. But Rogers retains the old-school approach that made him a success at SMU (his idea of a lavish purchase after he signed his first NFL contract was a relatively modest compound hunting bow), and might well be the foundation for a long NFL career.

“I’ve still got a lot to learn, and a lot of work to do,” he said. “But at least I’m comfortable with what I’m doing now — I didn’t have that when I first got here. I’m a little more comfortable. That’s a start.”