SAN ANTONIO — Marcus Spears dedicated the off-season to sticking to a healthy diet heading into his contract year, a boon to joyous catfish in swamps across Louisiana.

“My uncle makes the best fried catfish in the world,” the slimmed-down Dallas Cowboys’ defensive end said. “When I got back to Baton Rouge I told him to stay away from me.”
Spears is lighter, down about 21 pounds from last season, he said. Combining diet with a strenuous off-season workout regimen, he checked into camp weighing 307 pounds, two under the club’s goal weight for him.
“That Louisiana sun will do a lot for your weight loss,” Spears said. “I’ve been doing two-a-days for the last month. I have a lot of energy in practice because I literally tried to kill myself this summer working out.”
It apparently has paid off. Spears said he feels quicker, helping him to jump off the line better, cut sharper and compete harder.
“(Marc) Colombo told me the other day he really has to push out on his sets now when I’m rushing off the edge,” Spears said, referencing his counterpart on the offensive line. “So you notice those things and it makes you feel good and it makes you want to continue to stay where you’re at.”
Like the team, this season is something of a make-or-break campaign for Spears. He’s delivered four seasons as a dependable and durable lineman, and even though he’s coming off the best statistical season of his career, Spears has yet to consistently provide the total impact the Cowboys expected when they drafted him 20th overall out of LSU in 2005.
The way coach Wade Phillips sees it, a lighter Spears can only boost a defensive line that includes Pro Bowl nose tackle Jay Ratliff and solid veteran Igor Olshansky, who started the last five seasons for the San Diego Chargers.
“We talked in the off-season that that was one of the things that we felt like would help our team, and he came in a little leaner than he has been before and I think that’s helped him,” Phillips said. “His quickness is a real asset for him. He can weigh down and keep his quickness up.”
Spears bulked up to 335 pounds his first two years under then-coach Bill Parcells because the scheme required defensive ends to stand their ground and grind one-on-one.
“I never want to get back there,” Spears said of his top weight.
Phillips allows his linemen to stunt and slant more, so speed and quickness become bigger assets than body weight. Spears hopes his rejuvenated agility will help him make more impact plays in the backfield.
“To be honest with you, I’m so much more comfortable now,” Spears said. “I’m in a five-technique, I can get on guys’ shoulders and quickness definitely helps you in that area.”
He got comfortable by ditching catfish and surprisingly falling in love with grilled shrimp salad splashed with vinaigrette dressing. Spears hired a chef, who eliminated fried foods, diminished his “bad” carbohydrates and got him drinking a lot of water.
Now comes the hard part: transferring a successful off-season to the playing field. Spears knows his next contract is riding on it.
“It feels good as a player to put the work in,” he said. “But it has to translate to the football field when you’re playing another jersey.”