OXNARD, Calif. -- As Jason Garrett is fond to say, the Dallas Cowboys are always surveying the landscape in terms of looking for players.

On Thursday, the Cowboys visited with Larry English, the 16th pick in the 2009 draft, according to a source, a few days after he was cut by the San Diego Chargers. For now, the Cowboys will not sign him. He did not work out for the team but spent time with the coaches and staff in Oxnard, Calif.

English played outside linebacker in the Chargers' 3-4 scheme and had just 11 sacks in five years. The Cowboys view him as a defensive end in their 4-3 scheme. English suffered a torn biceps last season on a sack of Peyton Manning.

The Cowboys have 14 defensive linemen eligible to practice, but are always on the lookout for help.

The visit with English also continues their pursuit of former first-round picks from other teams. They signed Brandon Weeden (Cleveland Browns), Amobi Okoye (Houston Texans) and Rolando McClain (Oakland Raiders) in the offseason.

"We feel like we have a good environment," Garrett said on Wednesday about why the Cowboys believe they are a good landing spot for former high picks who did not pan out elsewhere.

"We have a good coaching environment, guys learn, guys improve when they come here. There's no guarantee. These are low risk decisions that we've made. They have talent. We evaluated them coming out of school. We liked them. We evaluated them in the NFL. We liked them. We wanted to give them a chance. As long as the price is right, these are good decisions to make as an organization to give guys a chance. Are they talented guys? Yes. Are they the right kind of people? We think they are from the reports that we have. So you give them a chance. You try to put them in a structure where they can thrive and see how they can do. If it doesn't work out for them for whatever reason you really haven't lost that much."

For now with English, however, the Cowboys will wait.