IRVING, Texas – Jack Crawford's British accent gives it away that he is not the typical football player.

He came to the United States with “hoop dreams,” he said, but played football as a junior in high school and eventually earned a scholarship to Penn State. In 2012, he was a fifth-round pick of the Oakland Raiders.

On Tuesday, he signed with the defensive line-needy Dallas Cowboys after the Raiders released him.

“I just think having a motor,” Crawford said when asked for a scouting report on himself. “Just playing hard. Being fast for my size and being able to do a little bit of everything. Playing the run and getting after the passer. And being able to come with help, close the pocket on certain quarterbacks, chase quarterbacks down. Pretty much just a little bit of everything. Obviously I still have to work on a lot of skills, but if I can bring that to this defensive front, then hopefully we’ll be successful.”

Crawford (6-foot-5, 275 pounds) played in 19 games for Oakland and did not record a sack or start a game. Coach Jason Garrett said the Cowboys have been monitoring him since his Penn State days and liked what how Crawford worked in two days of practice against the Cowboys while in Oxnard, California.

“He just seems like he’s the right kind of guy,” Garrett said. “Sean Lee played with him at Penn State and reports from him and others were really good, to go along with the tape that we’ve seen.”

Crawford said he played mostly left defensive end in Wednesday’s practice and is learning the three-technique on the fly as well. He said there are things that carry over from the Raiders' defense to what Rod Marinelli wants from the linemen.

“They could also use more D-linemen, athletic D-linemen,” Crawford said, “and I just want to be as big a help as I can to the defensive front.”