Pacman Jones is in the news again for a couple of different reasons. One is a purely football matter, well, almost, because anything to do with our new cornerback is always shaped by what happens with his off the field problems. In this particular case, the details of Pacman’s new contract with the Cowboys have been revealed by Todd Archer.   As expected, Pacman will be playing for minor ducats unless he can reach some significant incentive clauses or if he remains on the team through the 2011 season.

Jones' base salaries total $4.7 million in the first three years of the deal, but there's a huge bump in 2011. Provided he is reinstated by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, Jones will earn a $700,000 base salary this year, but he will not receive any signing bonus. The base salaries in 2009-11 are $1 million, $3 million and $7.25 million.

He has March roster bonuses worth $250,000 and $255,000 due in 2009 and ’10 and a $345,000 reporting bonus in 2010. He also has $250,000 workout bonuses in 2009 and 2010.

So for three years his base salary will never top $3 million. And that $3 million is not until the 2010 season. All in all, that’s a very cheap contract for a guy of Pacman’s talent. I can’t find anything to complain about with that contract structure. The 2011 season is the key season in terms of Pacman finally being paid like a top-flight NFL CB. By that time, we will surely know if he’s turned the corner and decided to straighten out his life or if he hasn’t the Cowboys will surely have cut ties with him along the way. If Pacman meets some quality-of-play goals in the first two years then his salary can make the big leap to the 2011 level a year early.

If he is named to two Pro Bowls or intercepts seven passes in any two of the first three seasons and participates in 65 percent of the snaps, his base salary would jump up to the 2011 franchise tender.

I think Jerry and Co. did a pretty good job of restructuring this contract. His base salaries are very low and his roster bonuses are also very low meaning the Cowboys can get out of the situation should anything go wrong along the way.

But speaking of things going wrong, there’s the other story about Pacman that has hit the news today. It has to do with the shooting at the Las Vegas strip club, of course, and it has to do with the alleged shooter in that case, Arvin Edwards, pointing the finger back at Jones. 

Jones told police Edwards extorted $15,000 from him, telling him he needed to pay for "services rendered."

"I definitely didn't receive no $15,000," Edwards said. "I definitely didn't extort nobody out of no money."

Instead, Edwards said Jones "paid somebody to shoot that club up.  Now, if he wants to tell on somebody he needs to tell on himself and tell them what he actually done."

Basically, Edwards is saying that Pacman knows who the shooter was in that incident and that it was part of his posse. He’s calling Pacman a liar and said Jones is using him as a scapegoat to protect himself from implication in the crime. This is what I was referring to when I said the Cowboys are going to have to wade through some mud to make the Pacman deal happen and pay off on the field. Now, a guy who is facing felony charges is likely to say anything to place the blame elsewhere, so you have to take that with a grain of salt, but it 's still is a very unseemly news story involving a new Dallas Cowboys player. Like all things with Pacman, we’ll just have to see how it plays out and what Roger Goodell ultimately ends up deciding.

John Czarnacki thinks that Goodell will eventually end up reinstating Pacman. As long as he doesn’t find trouble over the next couple of months. 

7. When will Roger Goodell reinstate Pacman Jones?

If Pacman doesn't get in trouble in the next few months, Pacman should be on the field when the Cowboys open training camp. With Pacman and rookie cornerback Mike Jenkins joining Terence Newman in the secondary, the Cowboys probably will be favored over the Giants in the NFC East.

You might as well extend that phrase to the next few years because the Cowboys will be on edge over that time hoping that their risk ends up with a big reward.