Lincoln Kennedy was placed on injured reserve with a broken hand he suffered early in camp.

IRVING, Texas - Desperados head coach Will McClay said he'd already decided 18 spots on his 24-man roster by Friday afternoon. That meant he did some serious thinking over the weekend on the final half-dozen players.

McClay turned in his initial 24-player roster for the 2007 season to the AFL on Monday, ending what had been a three-week process of paring down his roster during a three-week training camp. Of the 24 players on the roster, 15 of them played for the Desperados during last year's Eastern Division championship season (13-3). And of the nine new players, five are AFL rookies.

The Desperadoes sliced the needed 14 players off the roster this way: They waived six players, waived four more players injured and placed four guys on injured reserve, including two with prominent names. Former NFL Pro Bowl offensive tackle Lincoln Kennedy and former Cowboys defensive tackle Jermaine Brooks will start the season on injured reserve, along with rookie lineman Jeremy Calahan and second-year WR/DB Jacoby Shepherd. They are required to remain on IR four weeks.

Kennedy, an 11-year NFL veteran and still learning the AFL game, hampered his chances to begin the season on the 24-man roster when he suffered a broken finger at the outset of his rookie AFL camp. Brooks, who spent the majority of two seasons on the Cowboys practice squad (2003-04) and did get signed to the 53-man roster the final week of the 2003 season, still is nursing a high ankle sprain after not playing football the past two seasons.

The Desperados also were involved in one trade, sending OL/DL Jon Rodriguez to Grand Rapids for third-year wide receiver Jermaine Lewis.

Among the 10 players released were wide receivers Reggie Newhouse and Luke Leverson, along with rookie wide receiver Anthony Armstrong. Newhouse, the son of former Cowboys fullback Robert Newhouse, was trying to transition into the AFL after a three-year fling in the NFL with the Cardinals, bouncing around from the practice squad to NFL Europe to a short stay on the Arizona 53-man roster. Leverson spent the 2003 season on the Desperadoes' roster, catching 24 passes and six for touchdowns. Armstrong was a local favorite, from suburban Carrollton, Texas, and having gone to college at West Texas A&M.

The Desperados do return several players from last year's Eastern Division championship team, including first-team All-Arena quarterback Clint Dolezel, Lineman of the Year Colston Weatherington and All-Ironman selections WR/DB Will Pettis and FB/LB Duke Pettijohn.

But the 2007 roster will feature several new faces, including former AFL Offensive Player of the Year Marcus Nash. Dolezel's close friend and old teammate in Las Vegas will become the No. 1 receiving option on a Desperados offense which led the league in scoring last year (58.1). Another new face among the receivers will be five-year AFL veteran Coco Blalock, another favorite target of Dolezel's from Vegas, where he also returned kicks. Blalock has four career kick-off returns for touchdowns,

One camp surprise was rookie Jonathan Jackson, a former University of Oklahoma standout who cracked the first-team defense and could provide some pass rushing punch off the edge in certain packages.

"He's a young player who has shown the ability to do a few different things," McClay said. "He can put his hand down and rush. He can rush from the linebacker spot. He's good at the Jack spot. We're playing with what to do with that."

With the roster down to 24, the Desperados were busy on Monday trying to put together a four-man practice squad, and will begin practicing on Tuesday for Sunday's season-opener against Eastern Division rival New York. The Dragons, beaten by Dallas twice last year, will play host to the Desperados in an 11:30 a.m. game Sunday to be televised nationally by ABC.

The other three players waived along with Newhouse, Leverson and Armstrong were FB/LB Tony Ficklin, WR/DB Byron Jones and WR/DB Antwone Savage. The four players waived/injured were wide receivers Chico Mackey and Jonny Tyson, along with OL/DL Dwane Tauiliili and Teto Simpson.

Here is the current 2007 Dallas Desperados roster:

Quarterbacks:
Clint Dolezel
Nick Browder

Wide Receivers:
Marcus Nash
Coco Blalock
Andrae Thurman
Jermaine Lewis

WR/DB:
Will Pettis
Bobby Keyes
Jermaine Jones

WR/LB:
Chris Brown
Bobby Perry

FB/LB:
Peter Lazare
Jonathan Jackson
Josh White
Duke Pettijohn

OL/DL:
Colston Weatherington
Jaff Chase
Devin Wyman
Terrance Dotsy
Daleroy Stewart
Evan Cardwell
James Cannida
Rickie Simpkins

Kicker:
Dustin Bell

Injured Reserve:
WR/DB Jacoby Shepherd
OL Lincoln Kennedy
DL Jermaine Brooks
OL/DL Jeremy Calahan