\n
\n <\/a><\/p>\n
Among the Dallas Cowboys additions in free agency last week, safety P.J. Locke — a Beaumont native — signed a one-year deal to return to his home state after six seasons with the Denver Broncos.<\/p>\n
Heading into his third NFL contract, it was a reality he didn\u2019t think he\u2019d see just two years ago.<\/p>\n
For years, Locke had battled aggravating back pain, but he chalked it up to the usual bumps and bruises of the NFL. But in 2024, it grew into something much more concerning.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn 2024, I signed a new deal with the Broncos,\u201d Locke said. \u201cI had been dealing with the back pain over the course of my career. It hadn\u2019t been bad, I just had gotten treatment. It progressed so bad during the season. I started getting bad nerve pain. Throughout the games, I was losing the strength in my leg. Ultimately, it affected my confidence and my movement.\u201d<\/p>\n
Locke had gotten a medical opinion on the issue before, but it was time to get re-evaluated. After the season, a doctor highly recommended a procedure that could relieve the pain — but it could also end his football career.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt wasn\u2019t necessarily a thing where I had to do it,\u201d he said. \u201cBut he advised me to do it. He told me that I needed to be OK with never playing football again if I do the surgery. The downfall of not getting it, if I took the wrong hit, I could sever a nerve and I\u2019d have a dead leg. After football, watching my son grow up and coaching him through sports and stuff like that, that\u2019s the stuff I was thinking about.\u201d<\/p>\n
The decision was a no-brainer. He had the surgery last offseason with the risk of potentially never playing again being on the table. Fortunately for him, that was not the case.<\/p>\n
\u201cLuckily, everything ended up working out,\u201d Locke said. \u201cI healed really well, and it was just a miracle how my body healed up. It\u2019s a true testament to what God can do. I\u2019m here today because of that.\u201d<\/p>\n
While the recovery was swift — he said he didn\u2019t need any injections or any added treatment — it was a long process to get back to the field. But after an injury in front of him on the depth chart opened up an opportunity, Locke never looked back.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t necessarily start last year, but things took a turn of events when Brandon Jones got hurt,\u201d he said. \u201cI went out there feeling better than ever before having a new back and everything. I didn\u2019t have that same nerve pain going through [my body] …I felt like I was playing a bit more free. I wasn\u2019t playing with that in the back of my head that my leg could go out.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201dMaking those plays that I did, honestly, it\u2019s just a miracle that God provided me an opportunity to have all of these different offers in the free agency process.\u201d<\/p>\n
Free agency brought a new challenge, but a conversation with his wife about where they would eventually decide to lay down their family roots resonated. It led them to Dallas.<\/p>\n
\u201cMe and my wife, for the past two years, we\u2019ve been trying to figure out where we\u2019re going to live,\u201d Locke said. \u201cObviously, I\u2019m from Beaumont and that\u2019s closer to Houston. She\u2019s from Fort Worth, so Dallas area. We just went back-and-forth, never really progressed. The fact that I\u2019m playing with the Cowboys backed me into a corner of I have to be in Dallas after football, and my son is getting ready to start kindergarten.\u201d<\/p>\n
The full circle moments don\u2019t just end at Locke and his family returning to the Lone Star State. After spending three seasons with new Cowboys defensive coordinator Christian Parker in Denver when he was the Broncos\u2019 passing game coordinator, the two theorized linking back up one day. Little did they both know it would be in Dallas.<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember when CP was leaving to go to the Eagles,\u201d Locke said. \u201cHe had his aspirations of being a DC someday. We talked about, \u2018Man, if I become a free agent at the time he becomes a DC, we\u2019re going to make this thing happen.\u2019 It\u2019s so crazy how he\u2019s the DC with the Cowboys, I\u2019m from Texas, my wife is from Fort Worth. It just all clicked.\u201d<\/p>\n
For a Texas boy whose family bled Cowboys\u2019 blue while he was growing up, everything just made too much sense for him to sign with Dallas. Now, he will look toward the new chapter in his career.<\/p>\n