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Mooney grad Vinopal upbeat despite injury
Former Mooney star
was playing well as
free agent with Dallas
By Joe Scalzo
Ray Vinopal’s first chance to make an NFL roster ended with an ankle injury.
The Cardinal Mooney High graduate is confident he’ll get another one soon.
Vinopal, who signed with the Dallas Cowboys as an undrafted free agent safety in May, injured his left ankle on a punt coverage play in the third quarter of the Cowboys’ preseason opener against the San Diego Chargers.
He was waived the next day and the injury will sideline him for the indefinite future.
“I was actually having a great camp; against the Chargers, I started on all the special teams,” he said. “I just got in on a tackle and got my leg taken out. It did a pretty good number on my ankle. Coach [Jason] Garrett told me he hated to do it [cut him] and that it wasn’t a talent or a production issue. It’s just that it’s camp and they need guys to practice.”
Vinopal is on injured reserve and will either get an injury settlement from the Cowboys, which would make him a free agent, or stay on IR with Dallas, which would honor his original contract.
Vinopal didn’t give the specifics of the injury — “My agent would rather I didn’t put that out there” — but is hoping to avoid surgery. He is back in Youngstown and will rehab four days a week with Tim Duble of Challenge Performance.
“He’s good with ankles; he’s helped me out with a bunch of them in the past,” said Vinopal, who played the last three seasons at Pitt after starting his college career with Michigan. “It’s pretty tough because I felt like I was having a good camp, doing everything I needed to do to make the roster. I’ve been working for this my whole life and it’s hard when you have an injury that delays your progress.”
Vinopal’s high school teammate, Michael Zordich, went through something similar two years ago when he signed with the Carolina Panthers as an undrafted free agent out of Penn State and tore his ACL in the first preseason game. Zordich eventually made the New Orleans Saints’ practice squad last November.
Vinopal said a few teams have contacted his agent in case the Cowboys release him and is confident he’ll end up with a team this fall.
“It’s tough mentally when you’re knocking on the doorstep but I found comfort from the fact that it’s not something I had any control over,” Vinopal said. “I was doing the things I needed to do and doing them well. Injuries are part of the game, but for an undrafted free agent, it wasn’t necessarily good timing. But I think it will all work out.”