His rookie campaign started and concluded in Dallas.

But former James Madison standout defensive lineman and captain Ron’Dell Carter wasn’t with the Cowboys for the full season this past fall. He had a six-week hiatus, when he was with the Indianapolis Colts spanning from late September into early November.

“It was a good experience getting out of Dallas just to see how I competed,” Carter said, “because all I had done was compete against the guys in Dallas. So my mindset when I got to Indy was, ‘I could treat this like a game and I could find out how I would compete against somebody else.’”

The NFL didn’t hold any preseason contests due to coronavirus concerns in 2020, so Carter’s initial opportunity to square off with non-Cowboys offensive linemen came with the Colts. Indianapolis’ roster features Pro Bowl guard Quenton Nelson, longtime tackle Anthony Castonzo and veteran guard Mark Glowinski. Carter said he held his own in practice against the club’s starting offensive line.

“I was able to go against high-quality offensive linemen from another team and I was able to see how I matched up against them,” Carter said, “and that’s when I knew I could play in this league.”

And according to Carter, that wasn’t the only valuable lesson he absorbed through his detour from the Cowboys to the Colts and back.

“You figure out that it is a business,” he said. “And it’s funny, it doesn’t take you long to find out either. … No matter what happens, the games will be played on Sunday whether you’re in there or you’re not in there.”

Baltimore native Carter went without being selected during the NFL Draft last April, but quickly signed an undrafted free-agent contract with Dallas shortly afterward. The Cowboys prioritized Carter in free agency, giving him a guaranteed contract worth more than what a seventh-round pick earns.

Training camp had its highs and lows, Carter said, as he dealt with a minor injury and played well at times. But at the conclusion of preseason practice, he got cut and was signed the next day to Dallas’ practice squad where he stayed through Week 3.

“We had just finished playing Seattle on that Sunday,” Carter said. “And then on that Tuesday, I went in for my regular deal to get my lift in and as I’m leaving my lift, my agent calls me and says, ‘Indy is about to poach you.’ He said that the Colts were going to poach me right now.”

A call from Colts general manager Chris Ballard to Carter followed, letting the former Dukes star know they were signing him to their 53-man roster. The NFL allows teams to protect up to four practice squad players per week and Dallas had protected Carter up until that Tuesday, providing Indianapolis the window to make its necessary move.

Carter said after speaking with Ballard, he rushed to his Dallas apartment to pack everything up in order to be ready for a flight the next morning.

In Indianapolis, Carter was inactive for the five games he was with the franchise. And although he enjoyed getting to know Ballard, Colts coach Frank Reich and appreciated the gains being made from battling against a good offensive line, Carter knew what was next.

“No one is going to keep paying you to not play,” Carter said. “Maybe I was wrong because I’m young and I don’t know everything, but from what I had learned I didn’t think they were just going to keep me there. I was an undrafted kid and I hadn’t played a down yet, so it was like, ‘Are they just going to keep paying me to be on the 53-man roster not to play?’”

His intuition was spot on and the Colts waived him on Nov. 10 with the intent to sign him to their practice squad as long as no other team put a claim in on him.

“This is where it gets a little crazy,” Carter said as he laughed.

He said he gave his agent a heads up about what was happening with the Colts and told him to relay any information about whether or not any other team had interest. Players have 24 hours to clear waivers and Carter, nor his agent, had heard anything about Carter being signed elsewhere as the deadline neared. As Carter remembers, the deadline for him to be claimed was 3 p.m. ET.

“I’m thinking I’m not about to get claimed,” Carter said. “I was guessing I’d have re-sign to the Colts’ practice squad. So with five minutes to go I called my agent again and he was like, ‘We don’t think you got claimed, so I’ll call Indy and tell them you’ll re-sign to the practice squad.’ Then one minute later, my agent called me back and said Indy said they can’t sign me to the practice squad, so I’m like, ‘What the hell? They don’t want me anymore?’

“He says, ‘No, you want to know why? You just got picked up last minute.’ I said, ‘By who?’ He said he didn’t know, no one knows and that the league was going to announce it.”

Carter said he thought only the Cowboys were in play and he was right. Everything he packed and took with him to Indianapolis he had to repack and take back with him to Dallas. He said he did keep his Dallas apartment, so at least he still had a place to live.

But more importantly he carried with him the confidence he gained with the Colts as a springboard for the rest of year with the Cowboys since Carter was joining their 53-man roster instead of the practice squad.

He relearned the Dallas playbook, inside and out and at multiple positions. He said Dallas defensive line coach Jim Tomsula, who was fired earlier this month, liked Carter’s versatility. Tomsula would have Carter take reps in practice as a standup defensive end, hand-in-the-dirt defensive end, defensive tackle and occasionally a nose tackle.

Finally, ahead of Dallas’ Week 14 road contest against the Cincinnati Bengals, Tomsula and special teams coordinator John Fassel let Carter know he was going to be activated for the first time.

“My special teams coach goes, ‘Hey man, you ready to play some football this week?’” Carter said. “I was like, ‘I hope so, man.’ He’s like, ‘No, you’re playing this week.’ I’m like, “Oh, I am?’ He goes, ‘Oh yeah, it’s official.’”

Carter played seven snaps on special teams and seven snaps on defense in his debut, a long awaited one. Before that Dec. 13 contest in Cincinnati, he hadn’t played in a game since JMU’s loss to North Dakota State in the FCS national championship game last January.

At JMU, Carter was a consensus All-American and the Colonial Athletic Association Defensive Player of the Year as a senior. For his Dukes career, he racked up 152 tackles, 48 tackles for loss, 23.5 sacks and two forced fumbles.

“When I stepped out there, finally put that uniform on,” Carter said, “saw that Dallas Cowboys uniform with my name on the back of it, it was a moment where I told myself, ‘You did it.’ Getting signed was a big moment, but I always told people it wouldn’t hit me until I stepped onto the field.”

Carter played in two more games and notched a tackle on special teams in the Week 17 regular-season finale against the New York Giants. In that contest, he was used on 25 total snaps.

He said he hopes to carry the positive momentum into the offseason and into next year.

“I’m just looking to get stronger, get faster,” Carter said. “That’s how I’m approaching it. You can never get too strong and that’s the thing Coach Tomsula taught me. He said you can never be too strong in the NFL, so that’s the approach I’m taking now. I want to get stronger for this league, have a great preseason and hopefully try to crack the 53-man roster again.”