FRISCO, Texas — The flirting with Odell Beckham Jr. might not be over, but the Dallas Cowboys on Monday added another veteran wide receiver — T.Y. Hilton.
“The timing is right,” coach Mike McCarthy said Monday. “He’s ready to go. He’s an excellent addition, especially at this time of year.”
Hilton has not been with a team all season, but the Cowboys felt the need to add veteran wide receiver help. In 10 seasons with the Indianapolis Colts, Hilton caught 631 passes for 9,691 yards and 53 touchdowns. He was a four-time Pro Bowl pick.
Hilton had just 23 catches for 331 yards and 3 scores last season, playing in only 10 games.
The Cowboys guaranteed Hilton $600,000 over the final four weeks of the regular season and he will count $800,000 against the cap. He can earn $50,000 for each regular-season game he is on the 46-man roster.
In addition to playoff money that comes from the league, he can earn up to $700,000 in playoff incentives if the Cowboys win the Super Bowl and he plays in 30% of the snaps. Money can max out at $1.8 million.
Beckham visited the Cowboys last week as he recovers from a torn ACL in his left knee suffered in Super Bowl LVI. Micah Parsons said Beckham told him he would need five weeks to get ready to play, which would mean he would be ready only for the playoffs and maybe even late in the postseason.
After the victory Sunday against the Houston Texans, owner and general manager Jerry Jones said he would not rule out the possible addition of Beckham.
Hilton joins a receiver crew that includes CeeDee Lamb, Michael Gallup, Noah Brown, James Washington, KaVontae Turpin and Jalen Tolbert.
“I think as you view this thing as this push through December and into January, the availability for guys is obviously going to be smaller and smaller so for us to have a guy like T.Y. available, he can come in here and he’s going to be able to deal with the transition it will take this late in the season,” offensive coordinator Kellen Moore said Monday. “As a veteran he knows ball. He’s really, really smart. To have a guy like that, he’ll be able to handle the transition really, really well and provide some depth. We’ll see where all the roles transpire.”
Hilton missed the first five games of last season because of a disk injury that occurred late in training camp in August, and he missed two other games during the season because of a quadriceps injury and a concussion. After missing a total of just two games in his first six NFL seasons with the Colts, he missed 16 games over four seasons because of an assortment of injuries.
Hilton spent the majority of his 10 seasons as the Colts’ No. 1 receiver, including a stretch in which he had at least 1,000 yards receiving in five of six seasons.
